Qlaudia (or Claudia) was a diocese in the Syriac Orthodox metropolitan province of Melitene (Malatya), attested between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. Sixteen Jacobite bishops of Qlaudia are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or Bar Hebraeus. By 1283, as a result of several decades of warfare and brigandage, the diocese of Qlaudia was ruined. The diocese is not again mentioned, and seems to have lapsed around the end of the thirteenth century.
The main primary source for the Jacobite bishops of Qlaudia is the record of episcopal consecrations appended to Volume III of the Chronicle of the Jacobite patriarch Michael the Syrian (1166–99). In this Appendix Michael listed most of the bishops consecrated by the Jacobite patriarchs of Antioch between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Twenty-eight Jacobite patriarchs sat during this period, and in many cases Michael was able to list the names of the bishops consecrated during their reigns, their monasteries of origin, and the place where they were consecrated. For the thirteenth century, Michael's lists are supplemented by several references in the Chronicon Syriacum and Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of the Jacobite maphrian Bar Hebraeus (ob.1286).
Qlaudia was a district near Melitene (modern Malatya), in eastern Turkey.[1]
Fourteen bishops of Qlaudia are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian.[2]
| Name | From | Consecrated in the reign of | Place of consecration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter | not known | Yohannan V (936–53) | not known | |
| Michael | Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene | Yohannan VI Sarigta (965–86) | not known | |
| Mushe | not known | Yohannan VI Sarigta (965–86) | Germanicia (Marʿash) | |
| Dionysius | not known | Athanasius IV Laʿzar (987–1003) | not known | |
| Thomas | Monastery of Nahra d'Qarire | Yohannan VII bar ʿAbdon (1004–30) | not known | |
| Basil | Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene | Yohannan VII bar ʿAbdon (1004–30) | not known | |
| Peter | Monastery of Hur ʿEbar | Yohannan bar ʿAbdon (1042–57) | not known | |
| Timothy | Monastery of Qarqafta | Yohannan VIII bar Shushan (1063–73) | not known | |
| Gregory | Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene | Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129) | not known | |
| Timothy | not known | Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129) | Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene | |
| Basil | Monastery of Modiq | Athanasius VII bar Qutreh (1139–66) | not known | |
| Timothy (1) | Monastery of Modiq | Michael I (1166–99) | not known | |
| Timothy (2) | Monastery of Modiq | Michael I (1166–99) | not known | |
| Gregory | Monastery of Modiq | Michael I (1166–99) | not known |
The bishop Dionysius of Qlaudia is mentioned in several sources for the middle decades of the thirteenth century.
In 1283, according to Bar Hebraeus, the diocese of Qlaudia and the other suffragan dioceses of the province of Melitene were ruined:
Even if I wanted to be patriarch, as many others do, what is there to covet in the appointment, since so many dioceses of the East have been devastated? Should I set my heart on Antioch, where sighs and groans will meet me? Or the holy diocese of Gumal, where nobody is left to piss against a wall? Or Aleppo, or Mabbugh, or Callinicus, or Edessa, or Harran, all deserted? Or Laqabin, ʿArqa, Qlisura, Semha, Gubos, Qlaudia and Gargar—the seven dioceses around Melitene—where not a soul remains?[3]
Despite the gloomy testimony of Bar Hebraeus, there is evidence that the diocese of Qlaudia continued to exist at this period. According to the colophon of a contemporary manuscript, the metropolitan Ignatius 'of Qlaudia, which is Qust', was among the fifteen bishops consecrated by the patriarch Philoxenus Nemrud (1283–92).[4]
The diocese of Qlaudia is not mentioned in any later source, and probably lapsed around the end of the thirteenth century.
. Jean Maurice Fiey. Pour un Oriens Christianus Novus: Répertoire des diocèses syriaques orientaux et occidentaux. 1993. Beirut. Orient-Institut.