Basilinopolis or Basilinoupolis (Greek: Βασιλινούπολις) was a town in Bithynia Prima (civil

Diocese of Pontus The Diocese of Pontus ( la, Dioecesis Pontica, el, Διοίκησις Πόντου/Ποντικῆς) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of northern and northeastern Asia Minor up to the border with the Sassanid ...

), which obtained the rank of a city under, or perhaps shortly before, Roman Emperor

Julian the Apostate Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplato ...

, whose mother was

Basilina Basilina ( gr, Βασιλίνα; died 332/333) was the wife of Julius Constantius and the mother of the Roman emperor Julian (r. 361–363) who in her honour gave the name ''Basilinopolis'' to a city in Bithynia (modern Pazarköy near Gemlik, i ...

. Its exact site is not known.

W. M. Ramsay Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, FBA (15 March 185120 April 1939) was a Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar. By his death in 1939 he had become the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor and a leading scholar in t ...

, placed it on the western side of the Lake of Nicaea, near Pazarköy, between

Kios Cius (; grc-gre, Kίος or Κῖος ''Kios''), later renamed Prusias on the Sea (; la, Prusias ad Mare) after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis (now known as the Sea of Marmara), in Bithynia and in ...

(now

Gemlik Gemlik is a town and center of the Gemlik District of Bursa Province. It is located in the east of the Gulf of Gemlik. It is approximately away from Bursa. In antiquity, Gemlik was the location of the ancient Greek town of Cius. Gemlik is an in ...

) and

Nicaea Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

( Iznik). Modern scholars tentatively identify its site near Yalakdere in

Kocaeli Province Kocaeli Province ( tr, Kocaeli ili, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey and one of only three not to have the same official name as its capital, İzmit, which is thus also sometimes called Kocaeli. The province is the successor of the ...

Bishopric

It was a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

of the

Metropolis of Nicomedia The Metropolis of Nicomedia ( el, Μητρόπολις Νικομηδείας) was an ecclesiastical territory (Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolis) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in northwestern Asia Minor, modern Turk ...

, in the sway of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

. At the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bith ...

(451), the Metropolitans of Nicomedia and Nicaea were in sharp dispute about jurisdiction over the see of Basilinopolis. The council decided to assign it as a suffragan of Nicomedia. It was still reckoned as such in 1170 under

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Manuel Comnenus Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor ...

. The see does not figure in a ''

Notitia episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the -mostly Lati ...

'' of the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

after the 15th century, probably indicating that the city was destroyed in the Osmanli conquest. Historically documented bishops were: * Alexander, first known bishop, was consecrated by

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his homilies, preaching and public speaking, his denunciat ...

about 400. * Gerontius (451) partook in the synod of Constantinople in 448 which condemned

archimandrite The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") who ...

Eutyches and the

council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bith ...

in 451. * Cyriacus (518) signed the letter after the synod of Constantinople in 518. * Sisinnius (680) attended the

Third Council of Constantinople The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as well by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical a ...

in 680 and the

council in Trullo The Quinisext Council (Latin: ''Concilium Quinisextum''; Koine Greek: , ''Penthékti Sýnodos''), i.e. the Fifth-Sixth Council, often called the Council ''in Trullo'', Trullan Council, or the Penthekte Synod, was a church council held in 692 at ...

in 692. * Georgius (787) was at the Council of Nicaea in 787. * Anthimus (878) partook in the Council of Constantinople which rehabilitated the Patriarch Photius of Constantinople in 879-880. * archaeological finds mention bishop Michael, known from an 11th-century episcopal seal.

Catholic titular see

The diocese was nominally restored in no later than the 17th century as Latin

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of ''Basilinopolis'' (Latin; adjective ''Basilinopolitanus'') or ''Basilinopoli'' ( Curiate Italian).''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 847 It is vacant since 1973, having had the following incumbents, all of episcopal rank : *

Luo Wenzao Luo Wenzao, O.P. (alternately: Lou Wenzao, Lo Wen-Tsao, Lo Wenzao, ) (1616 – February 27, 1691) became the first Chinese priest in 1656 and the first Chinese Bishop in 1685. He was also known as Gregory Lopez ( es, Gregorio Lopez) in the P ...

(羅文藻), O.P. (1674.01.03 – 1690.04.10) * Edme Bélot,

M.E.P. The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons ...

(1696.10.20 – 1717.01.02) * Karl Friedrich von Wendt (1784.06.25 – 1825.01.21) * John Joseph Hughes (later Archbishop) (1837.08.08 – 1842.12.20) * François Baudichon (1844.08.14 – 1882.06.11) * François-Eugène Lions (李萬美), M.E.P. (1871.12.22 – 1893.04.24) * Karl Ernst Schrod (1894.04.17 – 1914.04.10) * Pedro Pablo Drinot y Piérola, SS.CC. (1920.10.21 – 1935.09.11) * Alexandre Poncet, S.M. (1935.11.11 – 1973.09.18)

Notes and References

Sources and external links

; Bibliography - ecclesiastical
Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 443

Michel Lequien, ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus'', Paris 1740, vol. I, coll. 623-626
* Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 5, p. 115; vol. 6, p. 117
Raymond Janin, lemma 'Basilinopolis' in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. VI, 1932, coll. 1236-1237
{{coords, 40.60674, N, 29.56402, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/31369 Populated places in Bithynia Catholic titular sees in Asia Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Former populated places in Turkey History of Kocaeli Province