Bigadiç is a town and district of Balıkesir Province in the Marmara region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. As former Ancient bishopric of Achyraus, it remains a Latin Catholic

titular see 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 archbis ...

. Bigadiç has the largest Boron reserves of both Turkey and the world. Also, villages of Bigadiç have natural thermal water reserves which contains

Selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

and Sulfur.

Etymology

The oldest known name of Bigadiç is ancient Greek Achyraos (Αχυράους in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

), Latin(ized) Achyraus, renamed during the Byzantine era Pegadia (Πηγάδια), which means "springs, wells", from which it evolved to Begadia, to Begados, and eventually to the Turkishized name Bugadıç. Some support the popular etymology that Boğadıç would mean "Bull meadow" (''Boğa'' being the Turkish word for a bull).

Ecclesiastical history

Ancient Achyraus was situated in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

of Hellespontus, in the 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 ...

. Circa 400 it became a suffragan see of the provincial capital and

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a ...

Cyzicus Cyzicus (; grc, Κύζικος ''Kúzikos''; ota, آیدینجق, ''Aydıncıḳ'') was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peni ...

, in the sway of

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

. It is held either identical with former episcopal see Adrianothera,''Synecdemus et notitiae Graecae episcopatuum''

Gustav Parthey Gustav Friedrich Konstantin Parthey (27 October 1798 – 2 April 1872) was a German philologist and art historian. Life Born in Berlin, Parthey was the son of (1745–1822), Geheimrat in the General Finance Directorate in Berlin, and Wilhelmine ...

(A. M. Hakkert, 1967 reprint), p. 332 or to have supplanted a neighbouring bishopric of that name, as the Byzantine imperial

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 ...

still listed that name in the tenth century, thereafter only Achiraus from the 11th until the thirteenth century. Four bishops of Adrianothera are known because of their participation in church councils : * Patricius in the

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in 451 * Cyprianus in the

Second Council of Constantinople The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and rec ...

in 553 * Basilius in the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, an ...

in 787 * Gregorius in the 'Photian'

Council of Constantinople (879) The Fourth Council of Constantinople was held in 879–880. It confirmed the reinstatement of Photius I as patriarch of Constantinople. The result of this council is accepted by some Eastern Orthodox as having the authority of an ecumenical co ...

which restored its Patriarch

Photius I Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...

. Two 13th-century bishops of Achyraus are recorded under that title in the thirteenth century : Leo and Laurentius. Although it was suppressed as a residential Byzantine see (circa 900?), one Tommaso (no other prelature) was appointed Latin Coadjutor Bishop of Achyraus (1505.06.06 – ?).

Titular see

The diocese of Achyraus was nominally restored in 1933 by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 Achyraus (Latin) / Achirao (Curiate Italian) / Achyraëb(sis) (Latin adjective).''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 823 It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank and members of Latin congregations : * Victor Bazin,

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(M.E.P.) (1953.05.07 – 1955.01.01) as last

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 Chur ...

of Rangoon (

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= Myanmar) (1953.05.07 – 1955.01.01); next (see) promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Rangoon (Myanmar) (1955.01.01 – retired 1971.06.19), President of Myanmar Catholic Bishops’ Conference (1967 – 1969), died 1975 * Cesário Alexandre Minali,

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(O.F.M. Cap.) (born Italy) (1955.03.01 – 1969.06.13), first as

Bishop-Prelate In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy Orders, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of Holy orders in the Catholic Church, holy orders and is responsible ...

Territorial Prelature of Alto Solimões A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

(Brazil) (1955.03.01 – 1958.04.09), then as Bishop-Prelate of Territorial Prelature of Carolina (Brazil) (1958.04.09 – death 1969.06.13) * Augustín Van Aaken,

Divine Word Missionaries The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Ri ...

(S.V.D.) (born Germany) (1972.07.25 – death 1990.08.11) as Bishop-Prelate of Territorial Prelature of Alto Paraná (

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) (1972.07.25 – death 1990.04.19).

Notes and references

Sources and external links

District governor's official website

Turkish Statistical Institute's official website
; Bibliography - ecclesiastical history * Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 3, p. 217. * Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 445 * Michel Lequien, ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus'', Paris 1740, vol. I, coll. 771-772 * S. Pétridès, lemma 'Achyraus' in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. I, Paris 1909, col. 333 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bigadic Populated places in Balıkesir Province Districts of Balıkesir Province