See of Tyre facts for kids
The See of Tyre was a very old and important Christian church area. It was located in the city of Tyre, which was a major city in the Roman province of Phoenicia. The Bible, in the Acts of the Apostles, even mentions that Christians lived there when Saint Paul was alive.
The bishop of Tyre was a "metropolitan," meaning he was in charge of several other bishops in the region. For a short time in the mid-400s, another city called Berytus tried to challenge Tyre's importance. But after 480 AD, the bishop of Tyre became known as the "first" (or protothronos) among all the bishops under the Patriarch of Antioch, who was a very high-ranking church leader.
In 2017, a large Greek mosaic was found near the Sea of Galilee. It named Irenaeus as a bishop of Tyre. The mosaic also said the church was finished in 445 AD. This suggests that Irenaeus might have become bishop as early as 444 AD.
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History of the Church in Tyre
Tyre During the Crusades
A big split happened in Christianity called the East–West Schism. After this, the church in Tyre was no longer connected to the Pope in Rome.
When Christian soldiers, known as Crusaders, captured Tyre in 1124, the Eastern Orthodox archbishop left for Constantinople. A new archbishop, named Eudes, was then appointed by the Western Church (connected to Rome). However, he died that same year.
One of the most famous Latin archbishops of Tyre during this time was William of Tyre. He was a historian and served as archbishop from 1175 to 1185.
Tyre was part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was a Crusader state. It was not part of the Principality of Antioch. The Latin Patriarch of Antioch, a high church leader, thought he should choose Tyre's archbishop. But the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem also claimed this right. Pope Innocent II decided that Jerusalem had the right to appoint the archbishop. This was based on an earlier decision by Pope Paschal II. That decision said that any church areas the Crusaders took from Muslims would be under Jerusalem's control. Finally, in a special church meeting in April 1141, the issue was settled. Antioch's claim to Tyre was rejected. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was often also the archbishop of Tyre or of Caesarea.
In 1187, after Saladin's army invaded, Tyre was the only Crusader city left. For a while, it was even thought of as the new capital of the kingdom. Later, Acre became the capital. But Tyre remained the place where kings were crowned, and the archbishop of Tyre had the important job of leading the coronation ceremony.
The End of the Active See
Starting with Sultan Baibars in 1254, Islamic leaders declared a holy war against the Crusaders. They slowly began to remove the remaining Christian communities along the coast. The last archbishops, John and Bonacourt, worked hard to stop the Mamluk army from taking the city. They tried to free enslaved Christians and cared for refugees. They also prepared for the coming attack.
After a long siege, the Mamluks captured Tyre in 1291. Most people had already left the city. But those who remained, including the archbishop, were killed or enslaved. The churches were destroyed. After this, the archdiocese of Tyre became "titular." This means it was an honorary title, and there was no longer an active church area there. Only in the 1700s and 1800s was a new archbishop appointed. This was done to help protect the newly reopened routes for Christian pilgrims. Because of ongoing problems in modern Lebanon and fewer Christians there, the position of archbishop of Tyre has been empty since 1984.
Early Bishops or Archbishops of Tyre
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- Cassius (around 190 AD)
- Marinus (around 250)
- Tyrannio, killed for his faith under Diocletian
- Dorotheus I, killed for his faith under Julian the Apostate
- Paulinus
- Zeno I (mentioned in 325)
- Paulus (mentioned in 335)
- Vitalis (mentioned in 344), an Arian Christian
- Uranius (mentioned in 359), an Arian Christian
- Zeno II (before 366–381)
- Diodorus (381–?)
- Reverentius †
- Cyrus (?–431, removed at the Council of Ephesus for supporting Nestorius)
- Berenicianus (431–?)
- Irenaeus (in or before 445–449), a Nestorian Christian
- Photius (around 449)
- Dorotheus II (mentioned in 458)
- John Codonatus (before 482 – around 488), who became Patriarch of Antioch
- Epiphanius (mentioned in 518)
- Eusebius (mentioned in 553)
- Thomas (before 869 – after 879)
Latin Archbishops of Tyre
- Odo (around 1122–1123 or 1124)
- William I (around 1127–1135)
- Fulcher (around 1135–1146)
- Ralph (1146–1150) (elected archbishop, but not made a bishop)
- Peter I (1151–1164)
- Frederick (1164–1174)
- William II (1175–1186) (the historian)
- Joscius (1186–1202)
- Clarembaud of Broies (1202–1215)
- Simon of Maugastel (around 1216–1229)
- Hugh (around 1231–around 1234)
- Peter II of Sargines (1235–1244)
- Philip of Tripoli (elected archbishop, but disputed, resigned 1250)
- Nicholas Larcat (1251–1253)
- Gilles (1253–1266)
- John of Saint Maxentius (1267–1272)
- Bonacursus de Gloire (1272–1295)
- Scolaius de Ardinghelli (1295-1299) Titular as Bishop of Arborea
- Joseph Simon Assemani (titular, 1700s)
- Annibale della Genga (titular, 1793–1816)
- Giacomo Giustiniani (1817–1826)
- Domenico Maria Jacobini (1881–1896)
- Franz Xaver Nagl (1910–1911, later Archbishop of Vienna)
- Vittorio Ranuzzi de' Bianchi (1911–1916)
- Rodolfo Caroli (1917–1921)
- Pietro Benedetti (1921–1930)
- Egidio Lari (1931–1965)
- Bruno Wüstenberg (1966–1984)
