Sasima
Sasima (Ancient Greek: Σάσιμα) was a town of ancient Cappadocia and in the late Roman province of Cappadocia Secunda, located 24 Roman miles to the south of Nazianzus.
Its site is located near Hasanköy, Asiatic Turkey.[1][2]
History
Sasima is mentioned in only three non-religious documents: "Itiner. Anton.", 144; "Itiner. Hiersol.", 577; Hierocles, 700, 6. The very small town is known for being the first see of St. Gregory of Nazianzus who was appointed to it by his friend St. Basil as an aspect of Basil's conflict with Anthimus. Gregory was there only briefly, if at all. Anthimus, bishop of Tyana, had claimed status as an archbishop and jurisdiction over Sasima after the Emperor Valens divided Cappadocia into two parts. Anthimus appointed a competing claimant bishop for Sasima to whom Gregory effectively ceded the town. All the Greek Notitiae episcopatuum consider Sasima part of Cappadocia Secunda,[3] as does the Annuario Pontificio, making it a suffragan of Tyana.[4]
Ambrose of Sasima signed the letter of the bishops of the province to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian in 458. About the same time Eleusius appears as an adversary of the Council of Chalcedon.[3]
Towards 1143 Clement was condemned as a Bogomile. The "Notitiae" mention the see until the following century.[3]
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
A titular see in Cappadocia. Sasima is mentioned only in three non-religious documents: "Itiner. Anton.", 144; "Itiner. Hiersol.", 577; Hierocles, 700, 6. This poor hamlet, hidden in an arid region, is known to all as the first see of St. Gregory of Nazianzus who was appointed to it by St. Basil. The saint soon left it without having exercised any episcopal functions there. One of the reasons was that Anthimus, metropolitan of Tyana, claimed jurisdiction over the see, which is, in fact, said by all the Greek "NotitiÊ episcopatuum" to be subject to Cappadocia Secunda; however, the official catalogue of the Roman Curia continues to place it under Cappadocia Prima, i.e., as a suffragan of CÊsarea. Ambrose of Sasima signed the letter of the bishops of the province to Emperor Leo in 458. About the same time Eleusius appears as an adversary of the Council of Chalcedon. Towards 1143 Clement was condemned as a Bogamile. The "NotitiÊ" mention the see until the following century. Sasima is the present village of Zamzama, a little to the north of Yer Hissar, in the vilayet of Koniah, where a few inscriptions and rock tombs are to be found.
SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography, s. v.; RAMSAY, Asia Minor, 293 and passim; LE QUIEN, Oriens Christianus, I, 405; GRŠGOIRE in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, XXXIII 129.
References
- Back to citation Talbert, Richard, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9, with accompanying Map-by-Map Directory.
- Back to citation Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 Sophrone Pétridès, "Sasima" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1912)
- Back to citation Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 964