Ryahovo (Bulgarian: Ряхово) is a village in northern Bulgaria, and as Ancient Ap(p)iaria a former bishopric, remaining a Latin Catholic titular see.

Ryahovo
Ряхово
Village
Ryahovo is located in Bulgaria
Ryahovo
Ryahovo
Location in Bulgaria
Coordinates: 43°59′20″N 26°14′38″E / 43.989°N 26.244°E / 43.989; 26.244
CountryBulgaria
ProvinceRuse
MunicipalitySlivo Pole

It is located in the municipality of Slivo Pole in Ruse Province.

As of February 2011, it had a population of 1,637 inhabitants.

History

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An ancient Roman fort known as Appiaria (Greek: Ἀππιάρια) was built on the site under Roman Emperor Vespasian forming part of the limes Moesiae defences on the banks of the Danube. Its garrison was at some time Ala I Atectorigiana.[1]

It was probably destroyed by seventh century Bulgarian invaders.

In late 1916, it came under Romanian occupation, from the early morning of October 1st to the late night of October 3rd, during the Flămânda Offensive.[2]

Apiaria Bight on Brabant Island in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica, was named after the village.[3]

Ecclesiastical History

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Appiaria was important enough in the Roman province of Moesia Inferior (=Secunda) to become a suffragan diocese of the capital's Metropolitan Archdiocese of Marcianopolis, in the sway of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

It has two documented incumbents :

The see isn't mentioned in the Notitia Episcopatuum by pseudo-Epifanius, edited under Emperor Heraclius I (circa 640), probably having ceased after the ruinous Bulgarian invasion.[4]

Titular see

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The diocese was nominally restored (in 1920?) as Titular bishopric of Apiaria (Latin until 1925) / Appiaria (Italian from the start, Latin since 1925) / Appiaren(sis) (Latin adjective).

It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank, including an Eastern Catholic:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Nicolay Sharankov, An Overlooked Inscription of Ala I Atectorigiana from Appiaria. – Archaeologia Bulgarica, 3, 2016 pp 33-40
  2. ^ Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 136-137 and 142-143
  3. ^ "Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer" (PDF) (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. May 2021. p. 14. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  4. ^ Raymond Janin, La hiérarchie ecclésiastique dans le diocèse de Thrace, in Revue des études byzantines, Vol. 17, 1959, p. 140-141
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Bibliography
  • Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 428
  • Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 1225-1226
  • Daniele Farlati e Jacopo Coleti, Illyricum Sacrum, vol. VIII, Venice 1819, pp. 110–111