COLONIA

• A titular see of Armenia

• A titular see in Armenia Prima

    ♦ Colonia

    ^{† Catholic_Encyclopedia ► Colonia}

    A titular see of Armenia (see In Partibus Infidelium). Procopius (De Ædif., III, iv) informs us that Justinian restored a fortress which had been captured by Pompey, then fortified it and called it Colonia. This city figures in the "Syneedemus" of Hierocles and in the "Notitiæ episcopatuum" as a suffragan of Sebaste, metropolis of Armenia Prima. Lequien (I, 429) mentions five bishops: Euphronius, later transferred to Nieopolis, a friend and correspondent of St. Basil; Eustathius in 458; St. John the Silent, who died a monk at St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, in 557; Proclus, exiled by the Emperor Justin in 518 as a Severian; Callinicus in 680 and 692. Bénay published in "Echos d'Orient" (IV, 93) a curious Byzantine inscription concerning a drungarius of Colonia.In the ninth century the city was the capital of a Byzantine theme. Its modern name is Koilu Hissar; it is the chief town of a caza in the vilayet of Sivas, and has about 1800 inhabitants, among them 600 Greeks, 200 Armenians, and a few Protestant (Protestantism) and Catholic Armenians (Cuinet, Turquie d'Asie, I, 792). Another Colonia, later Taxara, situated in Cappadocia Tertia, was a suffragan of Mocessus; seven bishops are mentioned by Lequien (I, 413).

    S. PÉTRIDÈS

    Transcribed by Anthony J. Stokes

    

    ♦ Colonia

    ^{† Catholic_Encyclopedia ► Colonia}

    A titular see in Armenia Prima (see In Partibus Infidelium). Colonia should be identified with Kara Hissar, chief town of a sanjak of the vilayet of Sivas. It has about 10,000 inhabitants, all Mussulmans ( see Mohammed and Mohammedanism ), excepting 700 Greeks, and 2500 Armenians (1500 Gregorian, 700 Protestant (Protestantism), and 300 Catholic). It trades in agricultural products and alum from the neighbouring mines. Colonia retained its importance under the Seljukian Turks and even under the Ottomans, who captured it in 1473. In the present city there are the curious ruins of the citadel built by Justinian, and rebuilt and enlarged during the Middle Ages. Colonia was one of the centres of the Paulician heresy.

    For the identification of Colonia see RAMSEY, Asia Minor, 57, 267; F. AND E. CUMONT, Studia Pontica (Brussels, 1906), 296-302. For the modern city see CUINET, La Turquie d' Asie, I, 779.

    S. PÉTRIDÈS

    Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary