Silandus Explained

Silandus or Silandos (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σιλάνδος) was an episcopal city in the late Roman province of Lydia. It was near and gave its name to the present town of Selendi in Manisa Province, Turkey.

Historical diocese

The see of Silandus, a suffragan of the see of Sardis, is mentioned in the Greek Notitiae episcopatuum until the 13th century; the city is not mentioned by any ancient geographer or historian. Some of its coins survive, showing representations of the River Hermus. Some inscriptions but no ruins are now found there.

Residential Bishops

The list of bishops of Silandus given by Le Quien, Oriens christianus, I, 881, needs correction:

• Markus, present at the Council of Nicaea, 325;^[1]
• Alcimedes at Chalcedon, 451;^[2]
• Andreas, at the Council of Constantinople 680; Stephanus, at Constantinople, 787;
• Eustathius, at Constantinople, 879.^[3]

The bishop mentioned as having taken part in the Council of Constantinople, 1351, belongs to the See of Synaus.^[4]

Titular bishopric

The bishopric was nominally revived in 1900 as a Latin titular see of the lowest (episcopal) rank, but is vacant since 1968, after only two incumbents:

• Bishop Próspero París (姚宗李), S.J. (1900.04.06 – 1931.05.13)
• Bishop James Albert Duffy (1931.05.07 – 1968.02.12)

References

• William Mitchell Ramsay, Asia Minor (London, 1890), 122;
• Texier, Asie mineure (Paris, 1862), 276.

Notes

1. Less probably bishop of Blaundus, as suggested by Ramsay, Asia Minor, 134.
2. Anatolius, who signed the letter of the bishops of the province to Emperor Leo, 458, belongs rather to Sala, Ramsay, ibid., 122.
3. Perhaps Bishop of Blaundus.
4. Wächter, Der Verfall des Griechentums in Kleinasien im XIV Jahrhundert, Leipzig, 1903, 63, n. 1.

External links

• GigaCatholic, with titular incumbent biography links

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