Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Athens

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Athens (Latin: Archidioecesis Atheniensis or Athenarum) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the city of Athens in Greece. The seat is the neoclassic Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysius the Areopagite.

History

The See of Athens is one of the oldest Christian bishoprics, dating back to Hierotheos the Thesmothete in the mid-1st century AD. Ca. 800, it was raised to a metropolitan see.

In 1205, the city was captured by the Crusaders, who had conquered Constantinople and dissolved the Byzantine Empire the year before. The city's incumbent Greek Orthodox bishop, Michael Choniates, retired to the island of Ceos, and a Roman Catholic archbishop was installed in his place, with the French cleric Berard being elected to the post in 1206. As the premier see of Central Greece, Athens had several suffragans: Negroponte, Thermopylae, Davleia, Aulon, Oreoi, Karystos, Koroneia, Megara, Ceos, Andros and Skyros.

Beginning with Dorotheus I ca. 1388, the Orthodox bishops of Athens, who had been continued to be appointed as titular holders since the Latin conquest, were allowed to resume residence in the city, but the Latin Archbishop retained his pre-eminent position until the conquest of the Duchy of Athens by the Ottoman Empire in 1456. The last Latin Archbishop, Nicholas Protimo, fled to Venetian-held Euboea, where he died in 1482. The Catholic see was held by titular archbishops thereafter.

On 23 July 1875, the see was restored as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Athens, ministering to the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the Greek capital and most of mainland Greece.

List of Archbishops of Athens

Medieval metropolitan archbishops

Titular archbishops

Restored metropolitan archbishops

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Greece
• List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Greece

Notes

References

Coordinates: 37°58′45″N 23°44′05″E / 37.9791°N 23.7347°E / 37.9791; 23.7347