Diocese of Gaza

According to Dorotheus of Tyre, the first bishop was a certain Philemon who was believed to have been one of the seventy disciples of Jesus and was mentioned by St. Paul. An early bishop called saint Silvanus (not to be confused with Abba Silvanus) is said to have been killed with thirty-nine other martyrs in the copper mines of Phaeno around the year 310. In the early 4th century, the emperor Constantine endowed the town of Maiuma, which formerly had served as Gaza's harbour, with city rights and the status of an episcopal see. Though its city rights were cancelled later, it remained its own bishopric. The first attested bishop is Asclepias (also Asclepas) of Gaza who is known to have attended the First Council of Nicaea in 325. As an ardent supporter of Athanasius of Alexandria, he was deposed around the year 326 or 327, but was later reinstated at the council of Serdica while Quintianus, who in the meantime had usurped the episcopal see, was excommunicated. As Gaza was still fairly pagan, Asclepias constructed an oratory, later referred to as "Old Church", to the west of the city. His successor Irenaeus seems to have been able to erect a small church in the city, attended the council of Antioch in 363 and is commemorated as a saint. Under Porphyrius, who became bishop around the year 395, the temple of Marnas and all other pagan temples of the town were closed and destroyed. His successor Netoras attended the council of Ephesus and the council of Chalcedon. The next bishop, Cyril, attended a council in Jerusalem in 518. Quite exceptionally, Marcianus also headed the school for a time, possibly until a "full-time professor" could be found to fill the position. Marcianus commissioned churches, walls, stoas and bathhouses, defended the citizens from being exploited by soldiers, operated social welfare for the benefit of the poor and went to Constantinople as diplomatic representative of his town. Marcianus was also in close contact with the monastic communities around the town, especially those of the monastery of Seridus. He regularly sought advice from the two hermits Barsanuphius and John the Prophet, such as on who to ordain as priest. Marcianus also attended the council of Jerusalem in 536. == Middle Ages==

The next known bishop is Sulayman al-Ghazzi (also known as Solomon of Gaza) who became bishop in his 1080s after having lived through a period of hardship under the caliph al-Hakim who ordered the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the mandatory wearing of discriminatory clothing for Christians. He holds a unique space in the history of Arab Christian literature as he composed a large body of protest devotional poetry in Arabic which was the first collection of Christian religious Arabic poetry in Arabic in the Near East. Sulayman died some time after 1027. ==Early Modern Period==

During the 16th century the Christian population of Gaza increased as many Christians of the Transjordan towns migrated to Gaza, making it the biggest Christian city in the region. In 1838, there were only 150 Orthodox families left. Orthodox Metropolitan In 1652, Patriarch Paisius I of Jerusalem, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, appointed the Greek scholar and adventurer Paisios Ligarides (–1678) as the Metropolitan (bishop) of Gaza. Although a Greek Catholic (a Catholic of the Eastern Rite) cleric in the employ of the Vatican's , Ligarides presented himself to the Patriarch as Eastern Orthodox, while maintaining to local Franciscans that he was, in effect, a Catholic acting as a "double agent", working to bring "schismatics" over to Rome; his actual motives are not entirely clear. He never spent a single day in the city of Gaza, absenting himself from his diocese in contravention of church law. By the 1670s, he had been disavowed by the See of Rome and defrocked by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. == Restoration as Titular See==

In 1895, the diocese was restored as a titular see. Since the death of James Henry Ambrose Griffiths it is unoccupied. which is under the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. ==List of bishops==

Resident bishops • Philemon (1st century) • Silvanus of Gaza (died • Henricus (Hendrik) van de Wetering 1850–1929), in office 8 February 1895 – 11 July 1895, until his installation as archbishop of Utrecht and Primate of the Netherlands • Paolo Schinosi, appointed 19 April 1897, died in office 8 April 1901 † • Alfonso Archi, in office 13 July 1901 – 10 October 1902 † • Costanzo Castrale, appointed 27 March 1905; died 26 November 1936 † • Giovanni Battista Tirinnanzi, O.F.M. Cap., 2 July 1937 – 27 January 1949 † • James Henry Ambrose Griffiths, appointed 15 October 1949; died in office 24 February 1964 † • Sede vacante since 24 February 1964 == See also ==