Camachus
Camachus was a town in the Roman province of Armenia III. The true primitive name seems to have been Camacha. Camachus, Camachum and Camache are later forms. It is today Kemah in eastern Turkey.
History
The town enclosed a celebrated temple of the god Aramazd, containing a great number of literary monuments, which were destroyed by the orders of St. Gregory of Armenia. Here were deposited the treasures of the Armenian kings, as well as many of their tombs: hence the name - the word Gamakh by which it was known in Armenian signifying "corpse". The Byzantine emperors kept a strong garrison there to defend the eastern part of their empire from the attacks of the Muslims, up to the commencement of the 11th century.[1]
Bishopric
The episcopal see of Camachus does not appear in ecclesiastical history before the 7th century. When the Pseudo-Ecthesis of Epiphanius was drawn up (about 640), it was not yet a see. But in 681, George, "Bishop of Daranalis or Camachus", was present at the Third Council of Constantinople and subscribed its acts as "bishop of the clima of Daranalis"; a third name of the see, Analibla, is given by the old Latin version. The same prelate subscribed (692) the acts of the Trullan Council. Another bishop of Camachus, Sisinnius, took part in a synod called by Patriarch Alexius of Constantinople in 1029.[2][3]
About the end of the 9th century, Camachus, until then a suffragan of Sebaste (metropolis of Armenia I), was made a metropolitan see by Leo the Philosopher; it had five, and at one time eight, suffragan sees.
By the 15th century the residential see had disappeared. Accordingly, it is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[4]
Canonical status and jurisdiction
Camachus is a titular see of the Catholic Church.[5]
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
A titular see in Armenia. This city does not appear in ecclesiastical history before the seventh century of our era. The true primitive name seems to have been Camacha. Camachus or Camache are later forms. When the "Pseudo- Ecthesis" of St. Epiphanius was drawn up (about 640), it was not yet a see. In 681 George, "Bishop of Daranalis or Camachus", was present at the Council of Constantinople and subscribed its acts as "bishop of the clima of Daranalis"; a third name of the see, Analibla, is given by the old Latin version. The same prelate subscribed (692) the acts of the Trullan Council. About the end of the ninth century, Camachus, until then a suffragan of Sebaste (metropolis of Armenia Prima), was made a metropolitan see by Leo the Philosopher; it had five, and at one time eight, suffragan sees. Bishop Sisinnius is mentioned in 1028 (Lequien, I, 435). The Assumptionist manuscript lists contain many other names. By the fifteenth century the see had disappeared. Three Latin titulars are mentioned by Lequien (III, 1109). Camachus is to-day Kemakh, the chief town of a caza in the vilayet of Erzeroum; the whole district has about 20,000 inhabitants (5000 Christians, mostly Armenians). It is a village of the western Euphrates (Kara-Sou), half way between Sivas and Erzeroum, about 135 miles from both towns, and carries on a trade in gloves and carpets. In the neighbourhood are many old Byzantine or Turkish castles, and turbés (Mussulman tombs).
Smith, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog., (London, 1878), I, 486.
References
- Back to citation William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, "Camacha"
- Back to citation Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 435-436
- Back to citation Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 440
- Back to citation Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 856
- Back to citation Wikidata item Q1027944