The Diocese or Bishopric of Amyclae is a defunct Latin and Orthodox

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

and suppressed Latin Catholic titular bishopric in the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

, in peninsular Greece.

History

The see of Amyclae dates to 1082, when the Bishopric of Lacedaemon was raised to the rank of a Metropolitan see, and authorized to form three

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 ...

sees at Amyclae, Pissa (probably encompassing

Kynouria Cynuria ( – ''Kynouria'' or – ''Kynouriake'') is an ancient district on the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, between the Argolis and Laconia, so called from the Cynurians, one of the most ancient tribes in the peninsula. It was believed to ...

) and Ezeroi. Despite its name, the new bishopric was not located at ancient Amyclae, a town near Sparta, but rather on the site of ancient Tegea in

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

, which through some unclear process had received the name of Amyklion (later usually shortened to Amykli and Nikli) by the 10th century. The bishopric of Amyclae was thus regarded as the successor of the long-defunct see of Tegea, attested as late as the

Fourth Ecumenical Council 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, Bithy ...

in 451, but later abandoned, like much of Arcadia, as a result of the Slavic incursions of the late 6th century. The only known bishop of the see's early period is Nicholas Mouzalon in the second half of the 12th century.

Latin bishopric

Nikli and the rest of Arcadia were captured by the Crusaders in circa 1206–09, becoming part of the new Frankish Principality of Achaea, which soon came to encompass most of the

. The '' Chronicle of the Morea'' depicts Nikli as a site of some importance and fortified, which fell to the Crusaders only after a siege. It became the seat of a secular barony, while a Roman Catholic bishop was installed in the episcopal see: the bishop Gilbert of Amyclae is attested in an act of September 1209. In 1222, the bishopric was united with the Metropolitan see of Lacedaemon.

Titular Latin see

It is a suppressed titular see of the Catholic Church, counting 18 incumbents between 1541 and the death of the last holder in 1937. It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank : *

Scipione Rebiba Scipione Rebiba (3 February 1504 – 23 July 1577) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, a protégé of Gian Pietro Carafa, who became Pope Paul IV. He held a variety of positions in the Church hierarchy, including some of the most sen ...

(1541.03.16 – 1551.10.12) as Auxiliary Bishop of Chieti (Italy) (1541.03.16 – 1551.10.12); later Bishop of Mottola (1551.10.12 – 1556.04.13), created Cardinal-Priest of

S. Pudenziana Santa Pudenziana is a church of Rome, a basilica built in the 4th century and dedicated to Saint Pudentiana, sister of Praxedes and daughter of Pudens (mentioned by Paul the Apostle in ''2 Timothy'', 4: 21). It is one of the national churches in ...

(1556.01.24 – 1565.02.07), Metropolitan Archbishop of

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

(Italy) (1556.04.13 – 1560.06.19), Bishop of Troia (Italy) (1560.06.19 – 1560.09.04), created Cardinal-Priest of

S. Anastasia Sant'Anastasia is a minor basilica and titular church for cardinal-priests in Rome, Italy owned by the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Basilica Sant'Anastasia was built in the late 3rd century - early 4th century, possibly by a Roman woman nam ...

(1565.02.07 – 1566.10.07), Titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople (1565.12.08 – 1573.04.08), Cardinal-Priest of S. Angelo in Pescheria (''pro hac vice'' Title 1566.10.07 – 1570.07.03), Cardinal-Priest of

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(1570.07.03 – 1573.04.08), promoted Cardinal-Bishop of Albano (1573.04.08 – 1574.05.05), Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina (1574.05.05 – 1577.07.23) * Archbishop Pietro Vico (1635.09.17 – 1641) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Oristano (Italy) (1635.09.17 – 1641), succeeded as Metropolitan Archbishop of Oristano (1641 – 1657.08.27), later Metropolitan Archbishop of

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

(Sardinia, Italy) (1657.08.27 – 1676.10.19) * Bishop-elect Francisco Ocampo, Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (O.S.) (1660.06.21 – ?), never held episcopal office * Franz Christoph Rinck von Balderstein (1684.05.15 – 1707.05.06) * Johann Kasimir Röls (1708.03.12 – 1715.02.08) * Joseph Anton Reichfreiherr von Delmestri von Schönberg (1718.05.11 – 1720.04.23) * Francisco Sánchez Márquez (1720.05.27 – 1728.09) * Johann Ferdinand Joseph von Boedigkeim (1730.11.22 – 1756.04.28) * Emmanuel Ernst Reichsgraf von Waldstein (1756.05.23 – 1760.01.28) * Albert-Simon d’Aigneville de Millancourt (1760.09.22 – 1793.10.26) * Jean-Baptist-Marie-Anne-Antoine de Latil (1816.03.08 – 1817.10.01), later Bishop of

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(France) (1817.10.01 – 1824.07.12), Metropolitan Archbishop of

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

(France) (1824.07.12 – 1839.12.01), created Cardinal-Priest of

S. Sisto The Basilica of San Sisto Vecchio (in Via Appia) is one of the over sixty minor basilicas among the churches of Rome, and a titular church since 600 AD. As such, it is connected to the title of a Cardinal priest, currently Antoine Kambanda. Bas ...

(1829.05.21 – 1839.12.01) *

Thomas Weld Thomas Weld may refer to: * Thomas Welde (1594/5–1661), first minister of the First Church of Roxbury, Massachusetts * Thomas Weld (of Lulworth) (1750–1810), of Lulworth castle, Catholic philanthropist * Thomas Weld (cardinal) Thomas W ...

(1826.05.23 – 1830.03.15), as

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

(Canada) (1826.05.23 – 1830.03.13 not possessed); later created Cardinal-Priest of

S. Marcello San Marcello al Corso, a churches of Rome, church in Rome, Italy, is a titular church whose cardinal-protector normally holds the (intermediary) rank of cardinal-priest. The church, dedicated to Pope Marcellus I (d. AD 309), is located just ins ...

(1830.07.05 – 1837.04.10) * Francesco Gentilini (later Archbishop) (1832.09.15 – 1833.04.15) * Bishop-elect Antonio Herrán y Zaldúa (1834.01.20 – 1855.01.21) later Metropolitan Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada (Colombia) (1855.01.21 – 1868.02.06) * William Weathers (1872.09.27 – 1895.03.04) * Patrick Foley (1896.03.18 – 1897.12.19) * Patrick Fenton (1904.04.16 – 1918.08.22) * Franciscus Hubertus Schraven (文致和), Lazarists (C.M.) (1920.12.16 – 1937.10.10)

Orthodox see

Nikli was still in Frankish hands in 1280, but was lost to the resurgent Byzantines by 1302. With the progressive Byzantine recovery of much of the Peloponnese in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

clergy was reinstated in many of its former sees, and new ones were founded; thus in the mid-14th century, Amyclae was once more made a bishopric, again as a suffragan of the Metropolis of Lacedaemonia. The Orthodox see continued in existence thereafter: in 1562 it is recorded as the first-ranked (''

protothronos ''Protothronos'' ( el, πρωτόθρονος, "first-throned") is a Greek term used in the Eastern Orthodox Church to denote precedence among bishops (or rather their sees). Thus it can denote the first-ranked metropolitan bishop within a patriarch ...

'') among the suffragans of Lacedaemon. In the aftermath of the Orlov Revolt and the invasion of the Peloponnese by Albanian irregulars, its bishop, Cyril, fled to Zakynthos and thence (along with the bishops of Lacedaemon and Monemvasia and other refugees) aboard four Russian warships to the Crimea. In 1804, the see of Amyclae was united with that of

Tripolitsa Tripoli ( el, Τρίπολη, ''Trípoli'', formerly , ''Trípolis''; earlier ''Tripolitsá'') is a city in the central part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the capital of the Peloponnese region as well as of the regional unit of Arcadi ...

into the Bishopric of Amyclae and Tripolitsa, with the bishop Nikephoros of Amyclae assuming the new see. In May 1817, the see was elevated to the rank of a Metropolis, and in 1819, the

bishopric of Olena 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 associat ...

was merged into it. Following the establishment of the independent Kingdom of Greece and the

autocephaly Autocephaly (; from el, αὐτοκεφαλία, meaning "property of being self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern O ...

of the

Church of Greece The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its ...

in 1833, it became the Metropolis of Mantinea and Megalopolis.

Notes

Sources and external links

* * * *
GCatholic, with titular incumbent biography links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amyclae, Diocese Arcadia, Peloponnese Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Roman Catholic dioceses in the Crusader states Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Greece Principality of Achaea 1082 establishments in Europe 1833 disestablishments in Europe