Arindela

Arindela is identified with the ruins at Gharandal in the southern Jordanian highlands, on routes joining Petra, the Arabah, and the Red Sea approaches. Literary geography and archaeological survey together support the identification. It is not the modern Jordanian village alone, nor should its name be confused with similarly spelled towns in other Roman provinces.^[2]

Under the late Roman administrative system the town belonged to Palaestina Tertia. A sixth-century geographical list ranks it among the province's significant urban communities, although such rankings do not provide a population count. Military installations, water systems, roads, and domestic remains place the church buildings within a functioning settlement.

Excavators at Gharandal have uncovered a three-aisled basilica with an apse and mosaic pavements. The building and its associated rooms underwent changes during their use. Architectural fragments and liturgical arrangements provide evidence for public Christian worship even where inscriptions do not name the bishop who presided.

Additional church remains, burials, and objects place Christianity within the local economy and settlement. The archaeological sequence extends beyond a single conciliar date and includes continuity into the early Islamic period. Religious buildings could be repaired, repurposed, or abandoned at different times, so the end of the residential see cannot be dated merely from the latest bishop in an old catalogue.

Bishops attributed to Arindela occur in the records of the fifth and sixth centuries, when the see was a suffragan of Petra. Theodorus represented it at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and Macarius attended the synod called by Peter of Jerusalem in 536. The exact spelling of names and sees must still be checked against the council manuscripts.

These attestations establish participation in the wider Church but do not amount to a complete succession. Older catalogues printed a span from 431 to 536 as though it were the lifespan of the diocese. It is more accurate to say that identifiable episcopal witnesses occur within that interval while the beginning and end of the community remain less precise.

The Latin Church later retained Arindela as a titular see, assigning its title to bishops serving in auxiliary or other non-residential offices. Holy See appointment bulletins use the ancient name in this juridical sense. They do not claim that a Latin bishop governs the archaeological site in Jordan.^[4]

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia supplied only a provincial label and an episcopal date range. Modern Jordanian archaeology makes an ordinary exact-title article possible, while the surviving limitations of the written record still require caution. The older notice is preserved below as a clearly marked historical source.