6 which, and many other authorities, Bp. Pearson unanswerably proves, that this India can be understood of no other but the Ethiopic India, whereof Axumis was the metropolis. This the Ancients called India as well as the other: for Virgil says the Nile 30 flowed from the Blackamoor Indians,' and Procopius Gazensis styles the Red Sea the Indian Sea 31, because it bordered upon this India beyond Egypt. Now, in this country, Frumentius was the first bishop that we read of, being ordained bishop of Axumis by Athanasius and a synod of Egyptian bishops, and sent thither to convert the country, and settle churches among them; which, therefore, we need not doubt were of the same species with those in Egypt and the rest of the world. For Axumis was not the only place that had a bishop; for Palladius 32 mentions one Moses, bishop of Adulis, which was another city of Ethiopia: and, in his Life of St. Chrysostom 33, he also speaks of one of his own name, Palladius, bishop of the Blemyes, which were a people of Ethiopia, adjoining to Egypt, as Strabo 3+, and Pliny 35, and other geographers inform us. Bp. Pearson gives some other proofs, out of Cedrenus and the Arabic canons of the Nicene Council, and their ancient Liturgies, that they had bishops in that country ever since this their first conversion. But nothing more particular occurring concerning their dioceses, for want of better light, we can give no further account of them. For the same reason, I must omit several other Eastern nations, as the Parthians, and Indians about Ganges, which were con ceptus, ultra annui temporis spatia debet Alexandriæ de cætero commorari. 30 As cited in n. 28, preceding. 31 See n. 28, preceding, and Procopius, de Bell. Persic. 1. 1. c. 19. (t. I. p. 57 a. 7.) Αὕτη δὲ ἡ θάλασσα ἐξ Ινδων ἀρχομένη, κ. τ. λ. -Conf. ibid. (p. 58 c. 12.) Πλοῖα μέντοι ὅσα ἔν τε Ινδοῖς καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐστὶν, κ.τ.λ. [The version in this place has, In hoc autem atque Indico mari, &c., but I do not find the express term Ινδικὴ θάλασσα applied to the Red Sea. ED.] 32 De Gent. Ind. [Lond. 1665. fol. p. 2.] (as cited by Pearson, Vind. Ignat. p. 332; see n. 28, preceding,) Ἐγὼ δὲ εἰς τὰ ἀκρωτήρια μόνον ἔφθα σα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς πρὸς ἐτῶν ὀλίγων μετὰ τοῦ μακαρίου Μωϋσέως τοῦ ἐπισκόπου τῶν ̓Αδουληνῶν. 33 C. 20. p. 194. (Oper. Chrysost. t. 13. p. 77 b.) Haλλádiov de Breμμύων, ἢ Αἰθιόπων, ἐκ γειτόνων φρουρεῖσθαι Συήνῃ καλούμενον τὸ χωρίον. 34 [L. 17. p. 786. (t. 2. p. 1134 c. 1.) Τὰ δὲ κατωτέρω ἑκατέρωθεν Μερόης, παρὰ μὲν τὸν Νεῖλον πρὸς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν, Μαγάβαροι, καὶ Βλέμμυες, Αἰθιόπων ὑπακούοντες, Αἰγυπτίοις δ ̓ ὁμópot. 35 L. 5. c. 8. (p. 69. 11.) Horum oppidum Mavin quidam solitudinibus imposuerunt. Atlantas juxta eos, Ægipanas semiferos, et Blemmyas, &c. Grischov.] verted by St. Thomas the Apostle; and the Iberians and other nations lying upon the Caspian Sea, which Ruffin 36 says were converted first by a captive woman, in the time of Constantine. Ancient history affords us but slender accounts of the original of these Churches, and less of the constitution and settlement of them. So that, taking our leave of these far distant regions, we will come next to a part of the world which is better known, which is the patriarchate of Constantinople, under which were anciently comprehended all the provinces of Thrace and Asia Minor, except Isauria and Cilicia, which always belonged to the patriarch of Antioch. I shall first speak of Asia Minor, and then proceed to the European provinces, taking each country as they lie in their natural order. CHAP. III. Of the ex Minor and of dioceses contained therein. A continuation of this account of the provinces of Asia Minor. 1. To understand the state of diocesan churches in Asia tent of Asia Minor, it will be proper, before we descend to particulars, to the number examine the extent of the country in gross, and see how many dioceses are to be found in the whole: for by this we may make an estimate of them in general, allowing each diocese its proportion, upon an equal distribution of the country into so many parts as there were dioceses in it. Not that they were really so equally divided; for, in summing up the particulars, we shall find here were some of the largest and some of the smallest dioceses in the world. But we may conceive them as equal, in order to make a division of the whole country at once among them. Now Dr. Heylin, in his Geography 37, reckons the length of Asia Minor, from the Hellespont to the river Euphrates, to be 36 L. 1. [al. 10.] c. 10. (p. 226 a. 5.) Per idem tempus Iberorum gens, quæ sub axe Pontico jacet, verbi Dei fœdera et fidem futuri susceperat regni. Sed hujus tanti boni præstitit causam mulier quædam captiva, quæ apud eos reperta, cum fidelem et sobriam satis ac pudicam duceret vitam, totisque diebus et noctibus obsecrationes Deo pervi giles exhiberet, in admiratione esse ipsa rei novitas barbaris cœpit, et quid hoc sibi velit curiosius perquirebant. Illa, ut res erat, simpliciter Christum se Deum hoc ritu colere fatebatur, &c. 37 Cosmograph. b. 3. (p. 3.) So having cleared our way in regard of the name, &c. 630 miles, and the breadth, from Sinus Issicus in Cilicia, to [Trapezus, or] Trebizond in Pontus, to be 210 miles. The ancient geographers, Strabo 38 and Pliny 39, make it almost 200 miles more in length. But then their accounts are taken from some ancient Periplus, or Sea-Voyage, which never proceeds in a direct line, but takes in the bendings and windings of the sea, which may easily stretch from 600 to 800 miles: so that the accounts may be the same, when allowance is made for the excesses of one way of measuring above the other. As to the breadth, Pliny's account is rather less: for he 40 makes it but barely 200 miles from Sinus Issicus to the Euxine sea. But then he says, this was the narrowest part of it, where the two seas almost made it a peninsula. And it is certain in other parts it was much broader: for Strabo 41 reckons the breadth of Cappadocia only, from Pontus to Mount Taurus, 1800 stadia, which is above 200 miles: and yet Casaubon 12 supposes, that by Pontus he does not mean the Pontus Euxinus, but the province of Pontus, which was to be added to the breadth of Asia, on one side of Cappadocia, as Cilicia was on the other. So that we can hardly suppose the breadth of Asia, taking one part with another, to be less than 300 miles. Now this was 40 L. 6. c. 2. (ibid. 24.) Ejusdemque nominis sinus tanti recessus, ut Asiam pene insulam faciat 200. m. passuum haud amplius per continentem ad Issicum Cilicia Sinum. 41 L. 12. p. 539. (t. 2. p. 813 d. 2.) Μέγεθος δὲ τῆς χώρας κατὰ πλάτος μὲν, τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πόντου πρὸς τὸν Ταῦρον, ὅσον χίλιοι καὶ ὀκτακόσιοι στάδιοι. 42 In loc. supr. citat. (ibid. 3.) Falsum hoc: nam libro secundo, p. 73, docuit nos, Bagadoniam, partem Cappadociæ inter Argæum et Taurum, distare a Ponto stadia 3000. Putabam legendum, ὅσον δισχίλιοι Kai OKT. σTao. Verum auctor Epitomes retinet vulgatam lectionem: quam si probamus, non erunt illa verba ἀπὸ Πόντου, de ipso Ponto et mari Euxino intelligenda, sed de regione Ponto, quam separant a reliqua Cappadocia montes Tauro paralleli. Sic non erit discedendum a vulgata lectione. 44 divided by the Romans into two large civil dioceses, the Asiatic and the Pontic, each of which had ten or eleven provinces in them, and every province several cities and episcopal dioceses, beside those of Isauria and Cilicia, which are reckoned to the Oriental diocese, and were under the patriarch of Antioch. Christophorson, in his translation of Theodoret 43, makes a strange mistake concerning these bishoprics; for, whereas Theodoret says, that Asia, or the Asiatic diocese, was vπò Evdekа aрxóvтwr, under eleven civil prefects, he translates it undecim antistites; as if there had been but eleven bishops in all the Asiatic diocese, and only as many in the Pontic diocese; because Theodoret says, it had ισαρίθμους ἡγουμένους, the same number of governors: whereas Theodoret is not speaking of ecclesiastical governors, but civil governors of provinces, whereof there was the number Theodoret speaks of in each of those dioceses. But bishoprics were abundantly more numerous; for some single provinces had above forty; and, in the whole number, they were, according to Carolus à Sancto Paulo's reckoning, 388, viz. in Asia, 42; Hellespont, 19; Phrygia Pacatiana Prima, 29; Pacatiana Altera, 5; Phrygia Salutaris, 20; Lydia, 24; Caria, 25; Lycia, 28; Pamphylia Prima, 12; Pamphylia Secunda, 24; Pisidia, 19; Lycaonia, 19; Cappadocia Prima, 6; Cappadocia Secunda, 6; Cappadocia Tertia, 5; Armenia Prima, 5; Armenia Secunda, 10; Galatia Prima, 7; Galatia Secunda, 4; Pontus Polemoniacus, 6; Hellenopontus, 6; Paphlagonia, 5; Honorias, 5; Bithynia Prima, 14; Bithynia Secunda, 4; Cilicia Prima, 7; Cilicia Secunda, 9; Isauria, 23. In the latter Notitia, which the reader will find at the end of this Book, the number is a little increased to 403; for though some provinces decreased, yet others increased in their numbers: so that, in the eighth century, we find fifteen dioceses more than were in former ages, which is no great alteration in such a multitude, considering what great additions have been made in some other countries in comparison of 43 [Colon. Agripp. 1570. (p. 716.) Et cuncta etiam Asiæ, quæ undecim habet antistites. ED.] 44 L. 5. c. 28. (v. 3. p. 230. 16.) Καὶ ταύτην ἐποιεῖτο τὴν προμήθειαν, οὐ μόνης ἐκείνης τῆς πόλεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς Θρᾴκης ἁπάσης εἰς ἓξ δὲ αὕτη ἡγεμονίας διήρηται· καὶ τῆς ̓Ασίας ὅλης, ὑπὸ ἕνδεκα δὲ καὶ αὕτη ἀρχόν τῶν, ἰθύνεται καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὴν Ποντικὴν τούτοις κατεκόσμει τοῖς νόμοις ισαρίθμους δὲ καὶ αὕτη ἔχει τῆς ̓Ασίας τοὺς ἡγουμένους. this. Now then, supposing 400 dioceses to have been in a country 600 miles in length, and 300 in breadth, let us examine how much, upon an equal distribution, will fall to every diocese. And it appears, upon an exact computation, that, supposing there had been 450 dioceses, there would have been twenty miles to each diocese; and, consequently, there being not so many by fifty, every diocese must have so much the more, upon an equal distribution. But then it must be owned, that the distribution was generally unequal in this country; for the bishoprics of the Pontic provinces were, for the most part, very large, and those of the Asiatic provinces consequently the smaller upon that account, and abundantly more numerous: so that here the reader may view the largest and smallest dioceses in the world together, and yet the same species of episcopacy maintained in all, without distinction. Armenia 2. To begin with the Pontic provinces. Cappadocia was a Of Cappavery large country, and had but few bishoprics. Strabo 45 docia and reckons it 3000 stadia in length, that is, 375 miles. But then Minor. he takes it in a larger sense than we do now, as including all from the provinces of Lycaonia and Phrygia to the Euphrates, which takes in Armenia Minor as well as Cappadocia; for anciently they were all one kingdom, though afterwards divided into five provinces, three Cappadocias, and Armenia Prima and Secunda. But, now, in all these five provinces there were not thirty dioceses at first, and some of those were newly erected in the fourth century, as Sasima, where Gregory Nazianzen was made bishop, which before belonged either to Cæsarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia Prima, from which it was 100 miles distant; or to Tyana, the metropolis of Cappadocia Secunda, from which it lay thirty-two miles, as Ferrarius 46 computes. This shows that these dioceses were of great extent but we have still more certain evidence of the thing; 45 L. 12. p. 539. (t. 2. p. 813 d. 2.) Μέγεθος δὲ τῆς χώρας Καππαδοκίας κατὰ πλάτος μὲν, τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πόντου πρὸς τὸν Ταῦρον, ὅσον χίλιοι καὶ ὀκτακόσιοι στάδιοι μῆκος δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Λυκαονίας καὶ Φρυγίας, μέχρι Εὐφράτου πρὸς τὴν ἕω καὶ τὴν ̓Αρμενίαν, περὶ τρισχιλίους. 46 Lexic. Geogr. voce Sasima. (t. 2. p. 164.) Sasima, Sasum, teste |