Arethusa (or Aretusa) was a city in the

Roman province of Syria Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into te ...

, near Apameia. The modern Arabic name of the city is

Al-Rastan Al-Rastan ( ar, الرستن) is the third largest city in the Homs Governorate, located north of its administrative capital Homs and from Hama. Nearby localities include Talbiseh and al-Ghantu to the south, al-Zaafaraniyah and al-Mashrafah ...

Ecclesiastical history

Arethusa's episcopal list (325-680) is given in Gams (p. 436). It was a Latin see for a brief period during the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

(1099–1100). According to the hagiography of its Bishop Marcus of Arethusa, under the Roman Emperor Flavius Julius Constantius (337-361), Marcus destroyed a heathen temple, which under

Emperor Julian Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplaton ...

, he was ordered to rebuild. To avoid this, he fled from the city, but eventually returned to save the Christian people from paying the penalty in his stead, and underwent very cruel treatment at the hands of the pagan mob (

Sozomen Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos ( grc-gre, Σαλαμάνης Ἑρμείας Σωζομενός; la, Sozomenus; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church. Family and home He was born aro ...

, Historia Ecclesiastica, x, 10) in 362. He was later canonized. Marcus is said to have been the author of the Creed of Sirmium (351) and is counted by Tillemont as an

Arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...

in belief and in factious spirit. He was struck from 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 approve ...

for years, but research by the

Bollandists The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century h ...

vindicated him and restored his name to the roles; his liturgical memorial is on March 29.

Titular see

Arethusa has been used as a titular episcopal see in both the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while di ...

and the

West Syriac Rite The West Syriac Rite, also called Syro-Antiochian Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in the West Syriac dialect. It is practised in the Maronite Church, the Syriac Orthodox ...

, but as if 1913, is vacant in both.

References

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Catholic Forum- Saints- Mark of Arethusa

Catholic titular sees in Asia {{RC-diocese-stub