The Stauropolis ( gr, Σταυρόπολις) is the former

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 t ...

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionians, Ionian and Dorians, Dorian Greeks colonized the west of i ...

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

within the

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

. It remains a

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 archbish ...

of the

Roman 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 ...

History

The

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 ...

was centered on the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

town of Stauropolis (

Aphrodisias Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Hellenistic_period, Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of ...

), on the site of modern

Geyre Geyre is a small town in the District of Karacasu, Aydın Province, Turkey. Also known as ''Yeni koy'' (the "new village"), it was relocated around 1960, from over the ancient Greek city of Aphrodisias archeological site to a new location nearby.N ...

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

. It was the metropolitan seat of 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 ...

in the civil Diocese of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and the

. In the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, the city was called

Aphrodisia The Aphrodisia festival (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίσια) was an annual festival held in Ancient Greece in honor of the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίτη Πάνδημος). It took place in several Ancient ...

. In the Christian era, it was renamed Stauropolis ( grc-gre, Σταυρούπολις) 'city of the cross'. In later

Byzantine 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 ...

times, it assumed the name of Caria, a name preserved by the village of Geyre. Stauropolis was home to an ancient Christian community. The

Roman Martyrology The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved ...

May 3 Events Pre-1600 * 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. * 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. ...

remember the

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s Diodorus and Rodopiano, who were condemned to be stoned to Aphrodisias during the

Diocletianic Persecution The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights ...

.
The Roman Martyrology
'' Transl. by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Last Edition, According to the Copy (Printed at Rome in 1914). Revised Edition, with the Imprimatur of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1916. pp. 125-126. 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) bishops signed the documents of confession as ''Aphrodisiadis Metropolitan Cariae''. There are about thirty known bishops of Stauropoli in the first Christian millennium, many of them thanks to

epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

and sigillografiche discoveries. In the ''

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 ...

'' composed during the reign of Emperor

Heraclius I Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, led a revolt ...

(about 640), the seat of Stauropolis is listed at the 20th place in the hierarchical order of metropolitanates under the

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

and are attributed 28 dioceses suffragan. In the ''Notitia'' attributed to Emperor

Leo VI Leo VI (or Leon VI, notably in Greek) may refer to : * Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine emperor 886 to 912 * Pope Leo VI, 928 to 929 * King Leo VI of Armenia (1342 – 1393), of the House of Lusignan, last Latin king of the Armenian crusader Kingdom of C ...

(early tenth century) Stauropolis fell to 21st place among the metropolitanates of the Patriarchate, and the suffragan dioceses have become 26.

Residential bishops

* Ammon (mentioned at the First Council of Nicæa in 325) * Eumenius (Eudocius) (mentioned at the

First Council of Constantinople The First Council of Constantinople ( la, Concilium Constantinopolitanum; grc-gre, Σύνοδος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως) was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in AD 381 b ...

in 381) * Cyrus (at the

First 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 Emperors, Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus deci ...

in 431 – after 449) * Critonianus (mentioned at the

in 451) * Nonnus (mentioned in about 488) * Euphemius (? – 518

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

d) (

monophysite Monophysitism ( or ) or monophysism () is a Christological term derived from the Greek (, "alone, solitary") and (, a word that has many meanings but in this context means "nature"). It is defined as "a doctrine that in the person of the incarn ...

bishop) * Severianus (mentioned at 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) * Paul (558-576

deposed Deposition by political means concerns the removal of a politician or monarch.
ORB: The Online Reference for Med ...

) (monophysite bishop) * Deuterius (about 577 – about 582) * Theopropius (5th–7th century) * Ortagoras (5-7th century) * Theodore I (mentioned in 680) * Sisinnius (mentioned in 692) * Eustacus (before 730 or between 787 and 815) * Anonymous (mentioned in 787) * Michael (8th century) * Nicephorus I (first half of

9th century The 9th century was a period from 801 ( DCCCI) through 900 ( CM) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Carolingian Renaissance and the Viking raids occurred within this period. In the Middle East, the House of Wisdom was founded in Abba ...

) * Theodore II (before 861 – after 869) * Niephorus II (mentioned in 879) * Sergius (8th – 11th century) * Ephraem of Caria (

11th century The 11th century is the period from 1001 ( MI) through 1100 ( MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium. In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. Th ...

) * Joseph (

10th century The 10th century was the period from 901 ( CMI) through 1000 ( M) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the last century of the 1st millennium. In China the Song dynasty was established. The Muslim World experienced a cultural zenith, ...

) * Anonymous (10th century) * John I (mentioned in 997) *

Leo the Deacon Leo the Deacon ( el, Λέων ο Διάκονος) (born c. 950) was a Byzantine Greek historian and chronicler. He was born around 950 at Kaloe in Asia Minor, and was educated in Constantinople, where he became a deacon in the imperial palace. Whi ...

(10th - 11th century) * Eustation II (11th century) * Anonymous (after 1025 - before 1043) * John II (mentioned in 1030) * Constantine (mentioned in 1032) * Ignatius (mentioned in 1039) * John III? (first half of the 11th century) * Demetrius (mentioned in 1054) Surviving ''acta'' record that between 1356 and 1368 it was without a metropolitan, but was under the administration of the metropolitan of

Bizye Vize ( el, Βιζύη, bg, Виза) is a town and district of Kırklareli Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The district governor is Elif Canan Tuncer, and the mayor is Ercan Özalp ( CHP). According to the Turkish Statistical Instit ...

. In 1369 metropolitan reappears as the recipient of the churches of

Miletus Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...

and Antioch on the Maeander, and another is mentioned in 1399. Isaias of Stauropolis attended the

Council of Florence The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1449. It was convoked as the Council of Basel by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in ...

(1439) and fled to avoid signing the decree of union.

Catholic titular see

The see ( la, Archidioecesis Stauropolitana) survives only as a

(archdiocese) of the

: * Diego Hortiago de Escacena (28 August 1693 – 1696) * Aloisio Scacoz (2 December 1831 – February 22, 1842) * Guglielmo Massaia (August 2, 1881 – August 6, 1889) * Francesco Domenico Reynaudi (Raynaud) (May 5, 1885 – July 24, 1893) * Alessandro de Risio (November 30, 1896 – April 20, 1901) * Aurelio Zonghi (January 9, 1902 – June 27, 1902) * Giovanni Battista Guidi (September 6, 1902 – July 22, 1904) *

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Guido Maria Conforti Guido Maria Conforti (3 March 1865 – 5 November 1931) was a Roman Catholic Italian archbishop who founded the Xaverian Missionary Fathers on 3 December 1895. He was known to make frequent visits to his parishes and worked to support the rel ...

(November 14, 1904 – December 12, 1907) * Bernard Christen (May 29, 1908 – March 11, 1909) * Emilio Maria Miniati (April 29, 1909 – March 17, 1918) * Ricardo Isaza y Goyechea (July 19, 1918 – June 28, 1929) *

Giovanni Battista Dellepiane Giovanni Battista Dellepiane (21 February 1889 – 13 August 1961) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, including nineteen years leading the Vatican's mission to the Belgian Co ...

(July 18, 1929 – August 13, 1961) * Joseph Wilhelmus Maria Baeten (September 8, 1961 – August 26, 1964) *

Gabriel Thohey Mahn-Gaby Gabriel Thohey Mahn-Gaby (19 September 1927 – 5 May 2016) was a Catholic archbishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 1951, Mahn served as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciation ...

(November 9, 1964 – June 19, 1971) of Rangoon

References

{{Authority control Catholic titular sees in Asia Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Byzantine Anatolia Aphrodisias