Euchaita, in the
Roman province of
Helenopontus (
civil diocese of
Pontus) is known mostly due to its role as a major pilgrimage site dedicated to Saint
Theodore of Amasea (martyred c. 306). Its episcopal see was originally a
suffragan (no incumbents known) of the Metropolitan of the provincial capital Amasea, in the sway of
patriarchate of Constantinople. In the 5th century, the town was a favourite site of exile for disgraced senior churchmen. In 515, the unfortified town was sacked by a
Hunnic raid, after which it was rebuilt, fortified and raised to the status of a city by
Anastasius I Dicorus (r. 491–518). It became an
autocephalous archbishopric in the early 7th century, as attested by the
Notitia Episcopatuum edition of pseudo-Epiphanius, from the reign of Byzantine emperor
Heraclius I (circa 640). The city was burned down by the
Sassanid Persians in 615, and attacked by the Arabs under second Umayyad Caliph
Mu'awiya I in 640. A second Arab attack captured the city in 663; the raiders plundered the city, destroyed the church of St. Theodore, and wintered there, while the population fled to fortified refuges in the surrounding countryside. The city was rebuilt and soon recovered. The Arabs scored a victory in its vicinity in 810, taking captive the local
strategos of the
Armeniac Theme and his entire treasury. A hagiography of the 8th or 9th century claims that the relics of Saint Theodore were at this time still located at Amaseia, but that the Christians of Euchaita, with increasing persistence, were asking for their transfer to their own city, claiming that this had been the wish of the saint himself when he was alive. Euchaita became a full
metropolitan see under
Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912) and Patriarch
Photius of Constantinople, ranking 51st among the Metropolitanates of the Patriarchate, with four suffragan sees:
Gazala,
Koutziagra,
Sibiktos and
Bariané, but apparently lost them all no later than the 10th century. In 972, Emperor
John I Tzimiskes renamed the neighbouring
Euchaneia, whose exact relation or identity with Euchaita is unclear, into Theodoropolis. The town is recorded as having a vibrant fair during the festival of St. Theodore in the middle of the 11th century. After the
Battle of Manzikert Euchaita was at the frontier of the
Turkoman invasions, and there are no more records about its fate. The settlement was most likely depopulated, and from the 12th century, it was within the
Seljuk Sultanate. By the 16th century, under
Ottoman rule, the settlement of
Avkat was largely abandoned but there was a
dervish lodge or
zawiya, dedicated to a
sufi named Elwan Çelebi, on what were presumably the remnants of the church of Saint Theodore. When the German traveller
Hans Dernschwam visited the site in 1555, he noted that the dervishes cultivated a remnant of the worship of St. Theodore as the dragon slayer, under the name of
Khidr-Ilya. Dernschwam was shown by the dervishes the remains of the dragon slain by "Khidr", Greek inscriptions referring to Theodore, as well as a hoofprint and a spring made by his horse, and the tomb of Khidr's groom and his sister's son. Dernschwam also records the presence of the remnants of a church and other fragments of the ancient city. The
mosque of Elwan Çelebi is now situated some 5km west of Beyözü (, at the
Çorum-
Tokat road,
D.180).
Episcopal Ordinaries ; Bishops •
Peter Mongus (c. 447) • Mamas (acceded under
Anastasius I Dicorus, r. 491—518) •
unknown • John (6th c.) •
unknown ; Archbishops • Epiphanios (before 681—later 692), attended the Ecumenical
Third Council of Constantinople (680–681, which repudiated as heresies
Monothelitism and
Monoenergism) and the disciplinary
Quinisext Council at Trullo in 692 •
unknown • Theophylact (in 787), participated in the Ecumenical
Second Council of Nicaea in 787 • Peter (c. 7th/8th c.) ; Metropolitans • Euthymios (Euphemianos) (9th c.), expelled • Euthymius (Euphemianus) (869/870—later 882/886), got a second term • Theodorus Santabarenos (880—886) • Symeon (9th c.) • Philaretos (in 945) • Philotheos (fl. 963—971),
synkellos • Theophilus (?—?) • Symeon (early 11th c.) • Michael (1028—1032) • Manuel (Emmanuei) (11th c.), synkellos • Eustratios •
John Mauropous (fl. 1047),
protosynkellos • Nikolaos (in 1054) • Theodore (before 1082) • Basil (1082—1092) •
unknown metropolitan (1157) • Constantine (1161—1171) • Leo (1173) •
unknown metropolitan (1185) • Basil (1260) • Alexius (1275) •
unknown metropolitan (1318) ; Titular metropolitans In 1327, the sees of Euchaita,
Sebasteia and
Iconion were unified with the see of
Caesarea. From the 17th century, titular metropolitans were consecrated in
Wallachia. • Meletius (1632) • Jacob (1656) • Parthenius (1674) • Joasaph (later 1674) •
unknown • Synesius (1835—1840) •
vacant Latin Titular archbishopric The archbishopric was nominally restored in 1922 as Latin
titular archbishopric of Eucaita. In 1925 it was demoted as
titular bishopric of Eucaita, but before another incumbent could take possession it was in 1929 again promoted as titular archbishopric, now under the names
Euchaitæ,
Eucaita or
Euchaitenus. There have been only three titular archbishops, between 1922 and 1972: • Bernard Adriaan Gijlswijk (
O.P.) (2 December 1922 – 22 December 1944) •
Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (
O.P.) (2 May 1945 – 10 December 1961) •
Bolesław Kominek (19 March 1962 – 28 June 1972). == Archaeology ==