Bigadiç is a municipality and
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
of
Balıkesir Province
Balıkesir Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in northwestern Turkey with coastlines on both the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, Aegean. Its area is 14,583 km ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. Its area is 1,108 km
2, and its population is 48,917 (2022).
As former Ancient bishopric of Achyraus, it remains a Latin Catholic
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 ...
.
Bigadiç has the largest
Boron
Boron is a chemical element; it has symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three ...
reserves of both Turkey and the world. Also, villages of Bigadiç have natural thermal water reserves which contains
Selenium
Selenium is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Se and atomic number 34. It has various physical appearances, including a brick-red powder, a vitreous black solid, and a grey metallic-looking form. It seldom occurs in this elem ...
and
Sulfur
Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...
.
Etymology
The oldest known name of Bigadiç is ancient Greek Achyraos (Αχυράους in
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
), Latin(ized) Achyraus, renamed during the Byzantine era Pegadia (Πηγάδια), which means "springs, wells", from which it evolved to Begadia, to Begados, and eventually to the turkified name Bugadıç. Some support the
popular etymology
A false etymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a folk etymology (or po ...
that Boğadıç would mean "Bull meadow" (''Boğa'' being the Turkish word for a bull).
Composition
There are 80
neighbourhoods
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...
in Bigadiç District:
* 4 Eylül
* Abacı
*
Adalı
*
Akyar
*
Alanköy
*
Altınlar
*
Aşağıçamlı
*
Aşağıgöcek
*
Babaköy
*
Bademli
* Balatlı
*
Başçeşme
*
Beğendikler
* Bekirler
*
Bozbük
* Çağış
* Cami
*
Çamköy
* Çavuş
*
Çayüstü
*
Çekirdekli
*
Çeribaşı
*
Çıtak
*
Çömlekçi
*
Davutça
*
Davutlar
*
Dedeçınar
* Değirmenli
* Dere Çerkes
*
Dikkonak
* Doğançam
*
Dündarcık
*
Durasılar
*
Elyapan
* Emek
*
Emirler
*
Esenli
* Fethibey
* Güvemçetmi
*
Hacıömerderesi
*
Hamidiye
* Hisarköy
*
İğciler
* İlyaslar
* Işıklar
* İskeleköy
*
Kadıköy
Kadıköy () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district on the Asian side of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 467,919 (2023). It is a large and populous area in the Asian si ...
*
Kalafat
*
Karabahçe
*
Kargın
*
Kayalıdere
* Kayırlar
*
Kırca
*
Kızılçukur
*
Köseler
* Kozpınar
*
Küçükyeniköy
* Kürsü
* Kuyu
* Mecidiye
*
Meyvalı
* Okçular
*
Okçularyeri
* Orta
*
Osmanca
* Özgören
*
Panayır
* Salmanlı
* Servi
*
Topalak
*
Tozağan
* Turfullar
* Yağcıbedir
* Yağcılar
*
Yeniköy
* Yeşildere
*
Yolbaşı
*
Yörücekler
*
Yukarıçamlı
*
Yukarıgöçek
Ecclesiastical history
Ancient Achyraus was situated in the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (, pl. ) 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 ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...
of
Hellespontus, in the civil
Diocese of Pontus
The Diocese of Pontus (, ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of northern and northeastern Asia Minor up to the border with the Sassanid Empire in Armenia. The diocese was established after the reforms of Diocle ...
. Circa 400 it became a
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...
see of the provincial capital and
metropolitan see
Metropolitan may refer to:
Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical)
* Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop
** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see"
* Metropolitan ...
Cyzicus
Cyzicus ( ; ; ) was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peninsula (the classical Arctonnesus), a tombolo which is said to have or ...
, in the sway of
Patriarchate of Constantinople.
It is held either identical with former episcopal see Adrianothera,
[''Synecdemus et notitiae Graecae episcopatuum'']
Gustav Parthey Gustav Friedrich Konstantin Parthey (27 October 1798 – 2 April 1872) was a German philologist and art historian.
Life
Born in Berlin, Parthey was the son of (1745–1822), Geheimrat in the General Finance Directorate in Berlin, and Wilhelmine ...
(A. M. Hakkert, 1967 reprint), p. 332 or to have supplanted a neighbouring bishopric of that name, as the Byzantine imperial
Notitia Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') were official documents that furnished for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church.
In the Roman Church (the mos ...
still listed that name in the tenth century, thereafter only Achiraus from the 11th until the thirteenth century.
Four bishops of Adrianothera are known because of their participation in church councils :
* Patricius in the
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon (; ) 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, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...
in 451
* Cyprianus in 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 re ...
in 553
* Basilius in the
Second Council of Nicaea
The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics and others. ...
in 787
* Gregorius in the 'Photian'
Council of Constantinople (879)
The Fourth Council of Constantinople was held in 879–880. It confirmed the reinstatement of Photius I as patriarch of Constantinople.
The result of this council is accepted by the Eastern Orthodox as having the authority of an ecumenical c ...
which restored its Patriarch
Photius I.
Two 13th-century bishops of Achyraus are recorded under that title in the thirteenth century : Leo and Laurentius.
Although it was suppressed as a residential Byzantine see (circa 900?), one Tommaso (no other prelature) was appointed Latin
Coadjutor Bishop
A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese.
The coa ...
of Achyraus (1505.06.06 – ?).
Titular see
The diocese of Achyraus was nominally restored in 1933 by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
as Latin
titular bishopric
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 Achyraus (Latin) / Achirao (Curiate Italian) / Achyraën(sis) (Latin adjective).
[''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 823]
It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank and members of Latin congregations :
* Victor Bazin,
Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) (1953.05.07 – 1955.01.01) as last
Apostolic Vicar
Apostolic may refer to:
The Apostles
An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission:
*The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles
*Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...
of
Rangoon
Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
(
Burma
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
= Myanmar) (1953.05.07 – 1955.01.01); next (see) promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Rangoon (Myanmar) (1955.01.01 – retired 1971.06.19), President of Myanmar Catholic Bishops’ Conference (1967 – 1969), died 1975
* Cesário Alexandre Minali,
Capuchin Friars Minor (O.F.M. Cap.) (born Italy) (1955.03.01 – 1969.06.13), first as
Bishop-Prelate of
Territorial Prelature of Alto Solimões (Brazil) (1955.03.01 – 1958.04.09), then as Bishop-Prelate of
Territorial Prelature of Carolina (Brazil) (1958.04.09 – death 1969.06.13)
* Augustín Van Aaken,
Divine Word Missionaries (S.V.D.) (born Germany) (1972.07.25 – death 1990.08.11) as Bishop-Prelate of
Territorial Prelature of Alto Paraná (
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
) (1972.07.25 – death 1990.04.19).
Notes and references
Sources and external links
District governor's official website
Turkish Statistical Institute's official website
; Bibliography - ecclesiastical history
* Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 3, p. 217.
* Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 445
* Michel Lequien, ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus'', Paris 1740, vol. I, coll. 771-772
* S. Pétridès, lemma 'Achyraus' in ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques'', vol. I, Paris 1909, col. 333
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigadic
Populated places in Balıkesir Province
Districts of Balıkesir Province
Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey