Colonia, a titular see of Armenia. Procopius (De aedif., III, iv) informs us that Justinian restored a fortress which had been captured by Pompey, then fortified it and called it Colonia. This city figures in the “Synecdemus” of Hierocles and in the “ Notitize episcopatuum” as a suffragan of Sebaste, metropolis of Armenia Prima. Lequien (I, 429) mentions five bishops: Euphronius, later transferred to Nicopolis, a friend and correspondent of St. Basil; Eustathius in 458; St. John the Silent, who died a monk at St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, in 557; Proclus, exiled by the Emperor Justin in 518 as a Severian; Callinicus in 680 and 692. Bénay published in “ Echos d’Orient” (IV, 93) a curious Byzantine inscription concerning a drungarius of Colonia. In the ninth century the city was the capital of a Byzantine theme. Its modern name is Koilu Hissar; it is the chief town of a caza in the vilayet of Sivas, and has about 1800 inhabitants, among them 600 Greeks, 200 Armenians, and a few Protestant and Catholic Armenians (Cuinet, Turquie d’Asie, I, 792). Another Colonia, later Taxara, situated in Cappadocia Tertia, was a suffragan of Mocessus; seven bishops are mentioned by Lequien (I, 413). S. Pirripgs.
The Catholic Encyclopedia
Colonia
1 section
Charles G. Herbermann and others (editors)
Transcribed from a dated scan; artifacts may remain. Edition notes
Trans. None. Written in English by the contributors whose signatures close each article., The Catholic Encyclopedia, An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, in fifteen volumes, 1907-1908. Public domain.