The Metropolis of Thebes and Livadeia ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Θηβών και Λεβαδείας) is a

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 ...

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 ...

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. Since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

it has also existed as a

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 ...

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 archbi ...

. The current metropolitan (since 2008) is Georgios Mantzouranis.

History

Seal of John, Metropolitan of Thebes (Schlumberger, 1889)

Christianity is said to have come to

with

Apostle Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

and

Luke the Evangelist Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...

in 56/57 AD, who are said to have installed the first local bishop,

Saint Rufus There are several saints named Rufus, of which the ''Roman Martyrology'' records ten; historical mention is made of the following ones, which have liturgical feasts: # On 19 April, a group of martyrs in Melitene in Armenia, one of whom bears the n ...

. Luke spent much of his life in Boeotia and died there. He came to be regarded as the patron saint of Thebes, the capital of Boeotia, and his remains were interred in the city's cathedral. The first attested bishop, Cleonicus, attended the

First Council of Nicaea The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort ...

in 325.

Le Quien Michel Le Quien (8 October 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 12 March 1733, Paris) was a French historian and theologian. He studied at Plessis College, Paris, and at twenty entered the Dominican convent in Faubourg Saint-Germain, where he made his p ...

also lists Julius at the

Synod of Sardica The Council of Serdica, or Synod of Serdica (also Sardica located in modern day Sofia, Bulgaria), was a synod convened in 343 at Serdica in the civil diocese of Dacia, by Emperors Constans I, augustus in the West, and Constantius II, augustus in th ...

in 344; Anysius at 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 t ...

in 431; Architimus in 458; Marcianus in 867. The history of the city and the bishopric in the early

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 ...

period is obscure. However, based on the ''

Notitiae 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 Lat ...

'', the see had been elevated to an

archbishopric 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 ...

by 906, possibly connected to the city becoming the capital of the theme of Hellas, occupying the 30th place among the archdioceses of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. By the 12th century, it had become a

, numbering five

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 jurisdiction ...

sees ca. 1170. At this time, the see was headed by

John Kaloktenes John Kaloktenes ( gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Καλοκτένης; ) was a 12th-century Byzantine Metropolitan of Thebes. Known for his charitable works, he was declared a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church, with the surname the New Merciful (), ...

, who became a saint as "Saint John the New Merciful" due to his charitable works. In the late 13th century, the see ranked as 57th among the 110 metropolitan sees. Following the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

, Thebes became the seat of a Latin Archbishop and a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

custody. Following the Ottoman conquest in the mid-15th century, The Latin archbishopric became a

, vacant since 1965. Under

Ottoman rule Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

, the Metropolis of Thebes ranked 37th among 72 metropolitan sees of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. By the early 18th century, however, it appears as a simple bishopric, and following Greek independence, it was renamed as the Bishopric of Thebes and Livadeia, with its seat at

Livadeia Livadeia ( el, Λιβαδειά ''Livadiá'', ; grc, Λεβάδεια, Lebadeia or , ''Lebadia'') is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the Boeotia regional district. Livadeia lies north-west of Athens, west of Chalkida, south-ea ...

, on 9 July 1852. Since 1922, the see was again promoted to a metropolis, covering three eparchies: Thebes, Livadeia, and

Avlida Avlida ( el, Αυλίδα, ) or Aulis () a former municipality in Euboea regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Chalcis, of which it is a municipal unit. The population was 9,300 inhabitants a ...

. It currently has 130 parishes and 24 monasteries.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Boeotia Thebes Thebes 1st-century establishments in the Roman Empire Dioceses established in the 1st century Thebes, Greece