A titular see of Macedonia Secunda, suffragan of Philippi. When Philippi was made a metropolitan see Polystylum was one of its suffragans ( Le Quien, "Oriens christ.", II, 65). It figures as such in the "Notitiæ episcopatuum" of Leo the Wise about 901-7 (Gelzer, "Ungedruckte und ungenügend veröffentlichte Texte der Notit. episcopat.", Munich, 1900, 558); the "Nova Tactica" about 940 (Gelzer, "Georgii Cyprii descr. orbis romani", Leipzig, 1890, 80); "Notices" 3 and 10 of Parthey, which belong to the thirteenth century. In 1212 Innocent III mentions it among the suffragans of the Latin Archdiocese of Philippi (P. L., CCXVI, 585). In 1363 the Greek bishop Peter became Metropolitan of Christopolis and the see was united to the Archdiocese of Maronia (Miklosich and Müller, "Acta patriarchatus Constantinopolit", I, 474, 475, 559; Petit, "Actes du Pantocrator", Petersburg, 1903, p. x and vii). About the same time the city was restored and fortified by the Emperor Cantacuzenus (Cantacuz, III, 37, 46; Niceph. Gregoras, XII, 161). Cantacuzenus says that Polystylum was the ancient Abdera ; this statement also occurs in a Byzantine list of names of cities published by Parthey (Hierocles, "Synecdemus", Berlin, 1866, 314). This is not absolutely correct. Polystylum is the modern village of Bouloustra in the villayet of Salonica, situated in the interior of the country north of Kara Aghatch where the ruins of Abdera are found, but it is doubtless because of this approximate identification that the see of Abdera is placed among the titular sees, although such a residential see never existed.

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