- Nicopolis (titular see, Armenia)
Nicopolis, now a Catholic
titular see , was once asuffragan ofSebasteia , inArmenia Prima .History
Founded by
Pompey after his decisive victory overMithridates , it was inhabited by veterans of his army and by members of the neighboring peasantry, and was situated in a well-watered plain lying at the base of a thickly-wooded mountain. All the Roman highways intersecting that portion of the country and leading toComana ,Polemonium ,Neocæsarea , Sebasteia, etc., radiated from Nicopolis which, even in the time ofStrabo [XII, iii, 28.] , boasted quite a large population.Given to
Polemon byMark Anthony , in36 BC ., Nicopolis was governed from54 byAristobulus of Chalcis and definitively annexed to the Roman Empire byNero , in the year64 . It then became the metropolis ofLesser Armenia and the seat of the provincial diet which elected theArmeniarch .Besides the altar of the Augusti, it raised temples to
Zeus Nicephorus and to Victory.=Christianity in Nicopolis=
45 Martyrs of Nicopolis in Armenia
Christianity reached Nicopolis at an early date and, under
Licinius , about 319, forty-five of the city's inhabitants were martyred; theEastern Orthodox Church andRoman Catholic Church venerates them on10 July ,St. Basil ["Patrologia Graeca ", XXXII, 896.] calls the priests of Nicopolis the sons of confessors and martyrs, and their church [P. G., XXXII, 834.] the mother of that ofColonia .About 472,
St. John the Silent , who had sold his worldly goods, erected a church there to the Blessed Virgin.In 499 Nicopolis was destroyed by an earthquake, none save the bishop and his two secretaries escaping death [Bull. Acad. de Belgique, 1905, 557.] . This disaster was irreparable, and although
Justinian rebuilt the walls and erected a monastery in memory of the Forty-five Martyrs [Procopius, "De Ædificiis", III, 4.] , Nicopolis never regained its former splendour.Under
Heraclius it was captured byChosroes [Sebeos , "Histoire d'Heraclius", tr. Macler, p. 62.] and thenceforth was only a mediocre city, a simple see and a suffragan of Sebasteia in Lesser Armenia, remaining such at least until the eleventh century, as may be seen from the various 'Notitiae episcopatuum ".Under the Ottomans, the site of ancient Nicopolis was occupied by the Armenian village of
Purkh , near the city ofEnderes , in the "sanjak " ofKara-Hissar and the "vilayet " ofSivas .Bishops
Notable among the eight bishops mentioned by
Le Quien isSt. Gregory who, in the eleventh century, resigned his bishopric and retired toPithiviers in France. The Catholic Church venerates him on14 March .References
*
Le Quien , "Oriens christianus" (Paris, 1740), I, 427-30
*"Acta Sanctorum ", July, III, 34-45
*Cumont , Studica Pontica (Brussels, 1906), 304-14Notes
External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11070b.htm Source]
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