- Synnada
Synnada (Greek: polytonic|Σύνναδα) was an ancient town of
Phrygia Salutaris inAsia Minor . Its site is now occupied by the modern Turkish town ofŞuhut , inAfyonkarahisar Province . [Barrington|62 & notes] Synnada remains a Roman CatholicTitular metropolis .ituation
Synnada was situated in the south-eastern part of eastern
Phrygia , orParorea , thus named because it extended to the foot of the mountains ofPisidia , at the extremity of a plain about 60 stadia in length, and covered with olive plantations.Early history
Synnada is said to have been founded by
Acamas who went to Phrygia after theTrojan war and took someMacedon ian colonists. It enters written history when the Romanconsul Gnaeus Manlius Vulso passed through that city on his expeditions against theGalatia ns (189 BC E). [Livy xxxviii. 15, xlv. 34.] After having belonged to the kingdom of theAttalids , it became the capital of a district of the province ofAsia , except on two occasions during the last century of theRoman Republic when it was temporarily attached toCilicia . UnderDiocletian at the time of the creation ofPhrygia Pacatiana , Synnada, at the intersection of two great roads, became themetropolis (capital). InStrabo 's time it was still a small town, [Strab. xii.] but when Pliny wrote it was an important place, being the conventus juridicus for the whole of the surrounding country. [Plin. "H.N.", v. 29]Cicero mentions that he passed through Synnada on his way fromEphesus toCilicia . [Cic. "ad Att." v. 20; comp. "ad Fam." iii. 8. xv. 4] The city was celebrated throughout the Roman Empire on account of the trade in a beautiful kind ofmarble , which came from nearby quarries and was commonly called Synnadic marble, though it came properly from a place in the neighborhood,Docimia , whence it was more correctly called "Docimites lapis". This marble was of a light color, interspersed with purple spots and veins. [Strab. "l. c."; Plin. xxxv. 1; Stat. Silv. i. 5. 36; Comp. Steph. B. "s. v."; Ptol. v. 2. § 24;Martial , ix. 76; Symmach. ii. 246.] UnderDiocletian at the time of the creation ofPhrygia Pacatiana , Synnada, at the intersection of two great roads, became themetropolis (capital). On its coins, which disappear after the reign ofGallienus , its inhabitants call themselvesDorians andIonians . Under Ottoman rule it became the city ofSchifout Kassaba , situated five hours south ofAfyonkarahisar , in the provincevilayet of Broussa .Ecclesiastical history
Christianity was introduced at an early date into Synnada. The "
Martyrologium Hieronymianum " mentions several of its martyrs. ForSt. Trophimus , honoured by the Latin (Catholic) and Greek (Orthodox) Churches on19 September [See "Acta Sanctorum ", VI Sept., 9 sq.] . Areliquary in the form of asarcophagus containing some of the bones of this martyr has been discovered at Schifout Kassaba and transported to the museum atBroussa ; this monument may date back to the third century [See Mendel in " _fr. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique", XXXIII (1909), 342 sq.] .Eusebius of Caesarea ["Church History", VI, 19.] speaks of its pious bishop Atticus who entrusted to the layman Theodore the duty of instructing the Christians. About 230-5 a council on the rebaptizing of heretics was held there [Eusebius, "Church History", VII, 7.] .St. Agapetus , mentioned in theRoman Martyrology on 24 March as Bishop of Synnada, belonged toSynaus . For a list of other bishops seeLe Quien , "Oriens christianus", I, 827. Mention must be made of:*Procopius (321); Cyriacus, friend of
St. John Chrysostom
*Theodosius and his competitor Agapetus, at first aMacedonian heretic
*Severus (431)
*Marinianus (448-51)
*Theogenes (536)
*Severus (553);St. Pausicacus , during the reign ofEmperor Maurice , honoured by the Greek Church on 13 May
*Cosmas, 680
*John, adversary of theiconoclasts in the time ofPatriarch St. Germanus
*St. Michael, honoured by the Latin and Greek churches 23 May, died 23 May, 826, in exile for his zeal in defending the worship of images
*Peter under Patriarch Photius
*John under Photius
*Pantaleon underLeo the Wise
*Leo underBasil II
*Nicetas in 1082
*Georgios at theCouncil of St. Sophia , about 1450, if one can believe the apocryphal Acts of this council, which perhaps never occurred.The last Bishop of Synnada spoken of in the documents, without mentioniong his name, probably lived under
John Cantacuzenus (see "Cantacuz. Hist.", III, 73) and probably never lived at Synnada on account of the Turkish conquest. Several years after (1385) the see was committed to theMetropolitan of Philadelphia . FinallySt. Constantine , a converted Jew of Synnada, lived in the tenth century; he became a monk, and is honoured by the Greek Church 26 December.A famous incumbent of the titular archbishopric was the dissident traditionalist Catholic
Archbishop Marcel-François Lefebvre .ources and references
*SmithDGRG
*Catholic [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14387a.htm "Synnada"]
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