The Metropolis of Kitros, Katerini, and Platamon ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Κίτρους, Κατερίνης και Πλαταμώνος) is an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

metropolis of the Church of Constantinople, but is de facto is administered (by agreement) for practical reasons as part of the Church of Greece. 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 ...

is centered on the ancient town of

Pydna Pydna (in Greek: Πύδνα, older transliteration: Pýdna) was a Greek city in ancient Macedon, the most important in Pieria. Modern Pydna is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern part of Pieria regional unit, Greece. Sin ...

, on the coast of

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

although named for the nearby

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

s of Kitros, and

Katerini Katerini ( el, Κατερίνη, ''Kateríni'', ) is a city and municipality in northern Greece, the capital city of Pieria regional unit in Central Macedonia, Greece. It lies on the Pierian plain, between Mt. Olympus and the Thermaikos Gulf, ...

. Confusingly the village of

Platamon Platamon, or Platamonas (, ''Platamónas''), is a town and sea-side resort in south Pieria, Central Macedonia, Greece. Platamon has a population of about 2,000 permanent inhabitants. It is part of the Municipal unit of East Olympos of the Dio-Oly ...

is today in the

Metropolis of Larissa and Tyrnavos The Metropolis of Larissa and Tyrnavos ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Λαρίσης και Τυρνάβου) is a Greek Orthodox metropolitan see in Thessaly, Greece. History Christianity penetrated early to Larissa, though its first b ...

History

The see is ancient and has a tradition of both

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-pa ...

and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

bishops. The Kitros bishopric is mentioned 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 ...

'' of

Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, called the Wise ( gr, Λέων ὁ Σοφός, Léōn ho Sophós, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well ...

(). Its bishop Germanus participated in the Council of Constantinople (879-880). after the Fourth Crusade Kitros became a Catholic diocese, as witnessed by a letter of

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...

in 1208, to an unnamed bishop of the see. It returned to Orthodox control soon after, when the region was conquered by the Despotate of Epirus. Today the episcopal residence and two early Christian

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

s dating from the 4th and 6th centuries remain in nearby Pydna. Today there is a resident Orthodox bishop, while the see is also maintained by 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 ...

as a vacant

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 ...

Known bishops

* Germanus participated in the Council of Constantinople (879-880) * Panaretos, Bishop of Kitros, 996. * Unnamed Catholic Bishop * Unnamed Orthodox bishop in 1235 * Anonymous Orthodox bishop of Kitros * John of Kitros * Unnamed Bishop forced to flee slaughter of the inhabitants of Kitros in 1612. * Nikolaos, 1840–1882 * Theocletos. * Parthenios Vardakas, 1904–1933. * Konstantinos Koidakis, 1934–1954 * Barnabas (Nikolaos) Tzortzatos, 1954–1985 (in Greek) * Agathonikos (Fatouros) of Kitros, 1985–2013 (in Greek) * Georgios Chrysostomou, 2014– (in Greek)

Cathedral

The Cathedral is in nearby

Monasteries

* Monastery of St. Dionysios in Olympos (For Men) * Monastery of St. Efrem in Kontariotissa (For Women) * Monastery of St. Athanasios (For Women) * Monastery of the Virgin (Panagia) in Makrirachi (For Women)

References

Bibliography

* {{coord missing, Greece Dioceses of the Church of Greece Eastern Orthodox dioceses in Greece Kitros Pieria (regional unit) Katerini