Diocese of Amatunte (Cyprus)

History

The diocese of Amatunte (Latin: Dioecesis Amathusia in Cypro) is a suppressed and titular seat of the Catholic Church. The city of Amatunte, whose ruins lie about ten kilometers east of Limassol, was an ancient episcopal seat of the autocephalous Church of Cyprus, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Salamina.

Ancient Bishops

There are five bishops attributed to this diocese:

* Mnemonium and Ticone, two saints, who were among the earliest known bishops.
* Heliodorus participated in the Concilius of Chalcedon in 451 AD.
* Theodore was sent to Jerusalem by Patriarch John the Elishaman, a native of Amatunte, after 614 AD, to redeem some slaves.
* Alexander attended the second council of Nicea in 787 AD.

Suppression and Revival

The diocese disappeared during the Crusades, when the city was occupied and razed to the ground by Richard Coeur de Lion (Richard the Lionheart) in 1190. Since the 19th century, Amatunte has been one of the titular bishoprics of the Catholic Church.

Titular Bishopric

Amathus in Cypro is a titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church, dating back to an earlier diocese of the ancient city of Amathous in the Roman province of Cyprus. It belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Salamis.

See Also

* List of Roman Catholic titular bishoprics