A titular see of Lycia in Asia Minor. The city was from time immemorial one of the chief places in the province. It was situated on the banks of the River Andriacos, twenty stadia from the sea (Appian, "Bell. civil.", IV, 82, Strabo, XIV, iii, 7; Pliny, XXXII, 8; Ptolemy, V, vi, 3; Stephen of Byzantium, s.v.). The hamlet of Andriaca served as its port. On his way from Caesarea to Rome St. Paul stayed at Myra ( Acts 27:5 ); at least the "textus receptus" reads thus, but the Vulgate has substituted the Codex Bezae, the Gigas Bible, and the ancient Egyptian version also mention Myra after Patara of Lycia ( Acts 21:1 ). The "Acta Pauli" probably testify as to the existence of a Christian community at Myra in the second century (Harnack, "Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums", 465, 487). Le Quien (I, 965-70) opens his list of the bishops of this city with St. Nicander, martyred under Domitian about A.D. 95, and whose feast is celebrated 4 November (Acta SS., Nov., II, 225). As to St. Nicholas Thaumaturgus, venerated on 6 December, the is "Index" of Theodorus Lector (sixth century) is the first document which inscribes his name among the fathers of Nicaea in 325 (Gelzer, "Patrum Nicaenorum nomina", 67, n. 161). Theodosius II made the flourishing city of Myra the capital of Lycia and it is said, erected there a church to St. Nicholas. Peter, Bishop of Myra composed in defence of the Council of Chalcedon writings quoted by St. Sophronius and by Photius (Bibliotheca, Codex 23). At the Sixth Ecumenical Council (787) two bishops of Myra, Theodore and Nicholas, assisted, one representing the orthodox party, the other the Iconoclasts.

Eubel ("Hierarchia catholica medii aevi;", II, 1370) mentions five Latin titulars of the fifteenth century. At present Myra is only a village called Dembre in the sanjak of Adalia and the vilayet of Koniah. Its ruins are numbered among the most beautiful of Asia Minor. Among them are the remains of a temple of Apollo, mentioned by Pliny, those of a magnificent theatre, several burial-places hewn in the rock, with tombs inscribed in Lycian and Greek, some of them ornamented with bas-reliefs. Numerous Christian ruins are also found, and among them those of the Church of St. Nicholas, around which Russians have recently erected a monastery.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online