Emesa

Emesa
Emesa
A titular see of Phœnicia Secunda, suffragan of Damascus, and the seat of two Uniat archdioceses, Greek Melchite and Syrian

Catholic Encyclopedia. . 2006.

Emesa
    Emesa
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Emesa
    A titular see of Phœ;nicia Secunda, suffragan of Damascus, and the seat of two Uniat archdioceses (Greek Melchite and Syrian). Emesa was renowned for its temple of the sun, adored here in the shape of a black stone, whose priests formed a powerful aristocracy. One of them, Bassianus, became Roman emperor under the name of Elagabalus (A. D. 218). A native Arab dynasty ruled over the city between 65 B.C. and A. D. 73, from which period the series of Emesa coins dates. Emesa was the birthplace of the philosopher Longinus (c. A.D. 210), the friend of Queen Zenobia, and St. Romanos, the great Byzantine hymnographer (in the sixth century). Among twelve Greek bishops, known from the fourth to the eighth century, are: St. Silvanus, a martyr under Maximinus in company with the physician Julian (c. 312); Eusebius, a famous rhetorician suspected of Arianism; Nemesius (fourth century) and Paul, writers and friends of St. Basil and St. Cyril of Alexandria (Lequien, Or. christ., II, 837). Another, whose name is unknown, was burned by the Arabs in 666 (Lammens in "Mélanges de la faculté orientale de Beyrouth", 1906, 3-14). The diocese was never suppressed and still exists for the Greek Melchites, both non-Catholic and Uniat (Echos d'Orient, 1907, 223, 226). It was raised to the rank of an autocephalous archbishopric in 452, when the supposed head of St. John the Baptist was found at the monastery of the Spelæon, and it was made a metropolitan see with four suffragan sees in 761, when the relic was transferred to the cathedral (Echos d'Orient, 1907, 93-96, 142, 368). Sozomen (Hist. eccl., III, xvii) speaks of this church as a marvel; the Arabs on capturing the city in 636 took over half of it; later it was changed into a mosque. In 1110 Emesa was taken by the Crusaders, and in 1157 suffered severely from an earthquake. The modern city, which the Arabs call Homs (Hems, Hums), built on the Orontes in sand-coloured basalt, is the chief town of a caza, in the sanjak of Hamah, vilayet of Damascus. The population is about 50,000 including some 30,000 weavers. There are 33,000 Mussulmans ( see Mohammed and Mohammedanism ), 14,500 Greeks, 1000 Jacobites, 500 Greek Catholics, 350 Maronites, and a few Catholics of other rites. The Orthodox Greek metropolitan and the Jacobite bishop live at Homs. (For lists of ancient Jacobite bishops see Lequien, op. cit., II, 1141, and "Revue de l'Orient chrétien", 1901, 196, 199.) The greek Melchite metropolitan resides at Iabroud; he has jurisdiction over 8000 faithful, 20 priests, 12 churches, 7 schools, and 2 monasteries of Schooerites. The Syrian Catholic archbishop resides at Damascus; his diocese includes 2000 faithful, with 4 parishes and 5 churches. The Jesuits have a residence and school at Homs, and native Mariamet Sisters conduct a school for girls.
    PAULY-WISSOWA, Real-Encyc., s. v.; DUSSAUD, Histoire et religion des Nosaïris (Paris, 1900), passim; IDEM, Voyage en Syrie (Paris, 1896); LAMMENS, Notes épigraphiques et topographiques sur l'Emésène (Louvain, 1902); KALINKA in Jahreshefte des österr. arch. Instituts in Wien (1900), III; CUINET, Syrie, Liban et Palestine (Paris, 1898), 447 sqq.; JULLIEN, Sinaï et Syrie (Lille, 1893), 186 sqq.; IDEM, La nouvelle mission de la Compagnie de Jésus en Syrie (Paris, 1899), II, 189 sqq.; Missiones catholicæ (Rome, 1907), 781, 804; SMITH, Dict. Greek and Roman Geogr. (London, 1878) 824.
    S. VAILHÉ
    Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to St. Mary's Church, Akron, Ohio

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


Catholic encyclopedia.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • EMESA — (now Homs), city in Syria. It was ruled by a dynasty which enjoyed friendly political relations in the first century C.E. with Agrippa I (Jos., Ant., 18:135; 19:338) and with Agrippa II (ibid., 20:139). The marriages contracted between members of …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Emĕsa — (Emessa, a. Geogr.), Stadt in der syrischen Landschaft Apamene am Orontes, der Sitz arabischer Stammfürsten, später Hauptstadt der Provinz Phoenicia Libanesia, mit berühmtem Sonnentempel, Geburtsort der Kaiser Heliogabal u. Alexander Severus; j.… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Emĕsa — (Hemesa), im Altertum Stadt in Kölesyrien, am Orontes, war berühmt wegen ihres Tempels des Sonnengottes, dessen 14jähriger Priester, Bassianus oder Elagabal, 217 n. Chr. von den Legionssoldaten zum Kaiser ernannt wurde. Hier siegte 272 Kaiser… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Emesa — Emĕsa (jetzt Homs oder Hems; ca. 60.000 E.), uralte Stadt in Cölesyrien, am Orontes, seit Ende des 1. Jahrh. n. Chr. römisch, besaß einen berühmten Tempel des Sonnengottes Elagabal und war Geburtsort des röm. Kaisers Heliogabalus; 273 n. Chr.… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Emesa — Emesa, jetzt Hems, syr. Stadt am Orontes, theilte im Alterthum Syriens Schicksale, wurde von den Römern colonisirt; hatte einen berühmten Tempel des Sonnengottes (Elagabal), von dem Kaiser Heliogabal (218–222 n. Chr.) den Namen hatte, soll… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Emesa — DMS …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • emesa — ˈeməsə Etymology: New Latin, from Emesa (now Homs), ancient city in Syria, from Latin, from Greek synonym of ploiaria …   Useful english dictionary

  • Emesa — geographical name see Homs …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Emesa —    City in Syria ([q.v.]; modern Homs), west of Palmyra (q.v.). The Persians (q.v.) occupied it from 609 628, and it fell to the Arabs (q.v.) in 636, after the defeat of Herakleios at the battle of Yarmuk (qq.v.). Thereafter, it remained in… …   Historical dictionary of Byzantium

  • emesa — em·e·sa …   English syllables

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”