Orcistus or Orkistos ( grc, Ὀρκιστός) was a city originally in the northeast of ancient Phrygia and later a bishopric in the Roman province of

Galatia Secunda Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...

, situated south of the town now called Ortaköy and previously Alikel Yaila.Eckart Olshausen, "Orcistus" in ''Brill’s New Pauly''
/ref>

City status

Originally an independent city of Galatia, it was annexed to Nacolea in

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

in the late 3rd century AD but was restored to independence by Emperor

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

, to whom the inhabitants of Orcistus appealed in 325. Constantine granted their request in 331. He speaks of them as "supporters of the most holy religion", an ambiguous term that may perhaps refer to Christianity.

Bishopric

By the 5th century, it was an

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 ...

, as shown by the participation of bishops of Orcistus of the province of Galatia Secunda in the

Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

of 431 (Bishop Domnus), the Council of Chalcedon of 451 (Bishop Longinus), and the Council of Constantinople of 692 (Bishop Segermas).Sophrone Pétridès, "Orcistus" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1911)
/ref> Until the 13th century, the see of Orcistus continued to be mentioned in the Notitiae Episcopatuum as 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 Pessinus, the metropolitan see of Galatia Secunda. It is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ), p. 945

References

Populated places in ancient Galatia Populated places in Phrygia Former populated places in Turkey History of Eskişehir Province Roman towns and cities in Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Catholic titular sees in Asia Galatia (Roman province) {{Eskişehir-geo-stub