Bela or Vela ( gr, Βελά) was a medieval fortress town and

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

, northwestern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

History

Bela is located near the site of the modern Vella Monastery, some 2 km south of

Kalpaki Kalpaki ( el, Καλπάκι) is a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pogoni, of which it is a municipal unit. It is situated about northwest o ...

. The name is of Slavic origin. The fortress survived until the mid-20th century, when it was documented by N. G. L. Hammond; however, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and its aftermath, as well as the operation of a quarry on the eastern side of the hill, have destroyed most of the remains described by Hammond. Bela first appears in the mid-10th century, when the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

's ''

Notitiae 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 ...

'' mention the see of "

Photice Photice or Photike ( grc, Φωτική) was a city in Epirus in the Roman and Byzantine periods. In the late Middle Ages it was known as Hagios Donatos (Ἅγιος Δονᾶτος). History The city was likely settled since Classical Antiquity, bu ...

, that is Bela" (Φωτικῆς ἤτοι Βελᾶς), implying that the seat of the bishopric of Photice, 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 Naupaktos The Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Ναυπάκτου και Αγίου Βλασίου) is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece. Its seat is the town of Nafpaktos (Naupaktos or Naupactus, in the ...

, had been moved to Bela. This move was temporary, since from the mid-11th century, Photice is again mentioned without further additions. Its only recorded bishop during that time, Constantine, is known from a 10th-century episcopal seal.''Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art'', vol. II, 1994, pp. 15-16 From the early 13th century, however, Bela is attested as a separate bishopric, held by Manuel Makres. It is possible that during the 13th century, Bela formed also a province (

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

), but this is unclear. It appears that by 1367, Bela and nearby

Dryinopolis Dryinopolis or Dryinoupolis ( el, Δρυϊνόπολις or Δρυϊνούπολις) is a historical region in southwestern Albania and northwestern Greece in Epirus. The heartland of this region is the valley of the Drino (Greek: Drinos) river and ...

were no longer suffragans of Naupaktos, but of the

Metropolis of Ioannina The Metropolis of Ioannina ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Ιωαννίνων, ''Iera Mitropolis Ioanninon'') is a Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox diocese centred on the city of Ioannina, in the Epirus (region), Epirus of Greece. As one o ...

, as indeed is confirmed from the late 15th century on. In 1380, Bela was captured by the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

under

Lala Şahin Pasha Lala Şahin Pasha ( tr, Lala Şahin Paşa), 1330 – 1388(?), was an Ottoman commander and first Beylerbey of Rumelia. He was the teacher (''lala'') of Sultan Murad I, and when Murad succeeded the throne, Şahin led the Ottoman campaign of Th ...

, but in 1382 it came under the control of

John Spata Gjin Bua Shpata (sometimes anglicized as ''John Spata'') ( 1358 – 29 October 1399) was an Albanian ruler in Western Greece with the title of Despot. Together with Peter Losha, he led raids into Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia in 1358. He was re ...

's son-in-law Marchesano.

Catholic titular see

The see,

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

throughout its existence, was nominally restored in 1933 as a Latin Catholic

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 ...

. It has had the following incumbents: * José Alves Martins (1935.11.15 – death 1950.04.14) as emeritate * Bernardo Arango Henao,

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

(S.J.) (1950.04.18 – 1962.10.27), while

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

Barrancabermeja Barrancabermeja is a city in Colombia, located on the shore of the Magdalena River, in the western part of the department of Santander. It is home to the largest oil refinery in the country, under direct management of ECOPETROL. Barrancabermeja ...

(

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

) * Gerard William Tickle (1963.10.12 – death 1994.09.14), while

Military Vicar A military ordinariate is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, of the Latin or an Eastern church, responsible for the pastoral care of Catholics serving in the armed forces of a nation. Until 1986, they were called "military ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

(UK) (1963.10.12 – 1978.04.24) and on emeritate * Gerald Frederick Kicanas (1995.03.20 – 2001.10.30), while Auxiliary Bishop of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(Illinois, USA) * Santiago Silva Retamales (2002.02.16 – 2015.07.07), while Auxiliary Bishop of

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

(

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

) * Ricardo Orlando Seirutti (2015.11.07 – today), Auxiliary Bishop of Córdoba (

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

)

References

Sources

GCatholic data for all sections
* Raymond Janin, lemma 'Belle' in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. VII, 1934, col. 794 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bela Catholic titular sees in Europe Medieval Epirus Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Byzantine sites in Epirus (region)