Thessalonica

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(SALONIKI)

Titularmetropolis inMacedonia. It was at first a village called Alia, situated not far from Axius, the modern Vardar; it subsequently took the name of Therma, from the thermal springs east and south of it. The gulf on which it was situated was then called the Thermaic Gulf. After having sheltered the fleet of King Xerxes and having belonged to the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War, Therma passed to the kings ofMacedonia after the death of Alexander. Cassander, the son of Antipater, having enlarged the village and transported thither the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, called it Thessalonica, inhonour of his wife. Thenceforth the city grew steadily in importance. Unsuccessfully besieged by Æmilius Paulus, it only opened its gates after the victory of Pydna which made the Romans masters ofMacedonia (168 B.C.). The kingdom was then divided into four districts, each of which had its capital and itsconventus. Thessalonica was the capital of the second district. In 146 B.C.Macedonia was made a single province with Thessalonica as capital. This was the arrangement until the third and fourth century of our era, when four provinces were again formed. The proconsul had his residence at Thessalonica, as did later the prefect of Illyricum Orientale, who first resided atSirmium. During the first civilwar Thessalonica was the principal headquarters of Pompey and the Roman senators; during the second it supported Anthony and Octavius against the Triumvirs, receiving from them after the battle ofPhilippi the title of free city and other advantages, being allowed to administer its own affairs and obeying magistrates called politarchs.

Thessalonica received the title ofcolonia under theEmperor Valerian.Theodosius the Great punished the revolt of its inhabitants (390) by a general massacre in which 7000 were slain. In 479 theGoths attacked the city. Between 675 and 681 theSlavs unsuccessfully besieged Thessalonica four times. On 31 July, 904, aMussulman corsair, Leo of Tripoli, came unexpectedly with his fleet and attacked the city, then the second in the empire, captured and pillaged it, and took away a great manyprisoners. A dramatic account of the affair was written by apriest of Thessalonica, John Cameniates, who was an eyewitness (Schlumberger, "Nicéphore Phocas", Paris, 1890, 35 sqq.). In 1083 Euthymius, GreekPatriarch ofJerusalem, was commissioned by Alexius I Commenus to negotiate peace at Thessalonica with Tancred ofSicily, who had conquered a portion of Epirus andMacedonia and threatened to take possession of the rest. In August, 1185, Guillaume d'Hauterive, King ofSicily, besieged Thessalonica by sea with a fleet of 200 ships and by land with an army of 80,000 men; the city was captured, and all resistance from the Greekspunished with death. In the following year the city was recaptured by theByzantines; themetropolitan Eustathius wrote an account of the campaign in ahomily, which was read during theLent of 1186. In 1204, after the Latins had occupied Constantinople and a portion of theByzantine Empire, Boniface, Marquis of Monferrato, proclaimed himself King of Thessalonica, his Latin Kingdom depending on the Latin Empire of Byzantium. He defended it against the Bulgars, whose tsar, the terrible Calojan, was assassinated under the walls of Thessalonica in 1207, and against the Greeks from Epirus. In 1222 the latter put an end to theFrankish Kingdom and took possession of Thessalonica, setting up an independent empire, the rival of that of Nicaea, with Theodore Comnenus as first sovereign. He was defeated in 1230 at Klokotinitza by the Bulgar Tsar, Assen II, and most of empire passed into the hands of the Bulgars. Thessalonica with the remaining cities was given to Theodore's brother, the Emperor Manuel.

In 1242 after a successful campaign against the Emperor of Thessalonica, John Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea, forced John Angelo to take only the title of despot and to declare himself the vassal. After the expedition of Vatatzes in 1246 Thessalonica lost all independence and was annexed to the Empire of Nicaea which in 1261 was once more removed to Constantinople. Unable to defend it against theTurks, the Greeks in 1423 sold Thessalonica to theVenetians, the city being captured 28 March, 1430, by the Sultan Murad and definitively incorporated in theOttoman Empire. It was the scene of unheard-of-cruelties on the part of theTurks. In order to weaken the Greek element, so powerful in the city and in that part ofMacedonia, the Sublime Porte offered a refuge about the end of the sixteenth century to theJews driven fromSpain by Philip II. They now number 80,000 out of 120,000 inhabitants; the remainder of the population consists ofTurks, Greeks, Bulgars,Armenians, and nearly 3000Catholics. Theparish is directed by theLazarists, theschools by theChristian Brothers. Thessalonica, which is the capital of a vilayet, grows constantly in importance, owing to its situation and its commerce, as well as to the part it played in the two military revolutions of 1908 and 1909 which modified the authoritative régime of theTurkish Empire.

The establishment ofChristianity in Thessalonica seems to date fromSt. Paul's first journey to the city (seeE T). Secundus and Aristarchus, companions ofSt. Paul, were natives of Thessalonica (Acts 20:4); Demas who abandoned the Apostle to go thither, seems likewise to have been born there (2 Timothy 4:9). According toOrigen, who repeats an ancient tradition ("Comment in Ep. ad Rom.", in P.G., XIV, 1289), Gaius was the firstBishop of Thessalonica. Fourpersons of this name are mentioned in theNew Testament, but the Gaius ofOrigen would be a native ofCorinth (1 Corinthians 1:14). Melito ofSardes relates thatAntoninus Pius wrote to the Thessalonians not to tolerate in their city the tumult against theChristians (Eusebius,Church History IV.26). Alexander assisted at theCouncil of Nicaea in 325, atTyre in 335, and at theconsecration of the Holy Sepulchre in the same year. At the end of the same century AcholiusbaptizedTheodosius the Great.Le Quien has compiled a list of 74 Greek titulars of this city, some of whom do not belong to it. Father Petit continued his task and gives a biographical account of more than 130. The most famous were: Rufus, who in the early fifth century acted constantly as intermediary between thepapacy and theEastern Churches;Eusebius, the correspondent ofSt. Gregory the Great and author of a work in ten books against theMonophysites; John, who early in the seventh century compiled the first book on themiracles ofSt. Demetrius; St. Joseph, brother of St. Theodore the Studite, and the victim in 832 of theIconoclast persecutions; Leo the Philosopher, professor at the Magnaura, the master of Photius and of all the literary celebrities of the period; Michael Chumnos, the author of several canonical treatises in the twelfth century; Basil ofAchrida, who took part in thetheological discussions with the envoys of thepope or of the Emperor of the West; Eustachius, the celebrated scholiast of Homer; Gregory Palamas, the defender of theHesychast theories and the bitter enemy of theCatholics in the fourteenth century, who is still regarded as one of the greatestdoctors of the Schismatic Church; Isidore Glabas; Simeon, liturgist and canonist, d. in 1429, a year before the capture of the city by theTurks.

When Illyricum Orientale, comprising the two civildioceses of Dacia andMacedonia, was ceded by Gratian in 379 to the Empire of the East, Pope St. Damasus in order to retainjurisdiction over these distant provinces appointed theBishop of Thessalonica hisvicar Apostolic. In this capacity thebishop resided at the local councils of the various provinces, judging and solving difficulties, save in more serious matters, wherein the decision was reserved to thepope. He also confirmed the election ofmetropolitans and simplebishops and granted authorization to proceed toordination. Finally, he occupied a privileged place at the oecumenical councils and signed their decisions immediately after thepatriarchs. He thus enjoyed the prerogatives of a patriarch, even to bearing the title, but was subject to thePatriarch ofRome. TheBishop of Constantinople sought to modify this organization by inducing Theodosius II to pass a law (14 July, 421) which attached all thebishops ofIllyria to theByzantine Church, and by having thislaw inserted in the Code (439); but thepopes protested against thisinjustice and prevented the application of thelaw. Until 535 theVicar Apostolic of Thessalonica exercisedjurisdiction over all the provinces of Illyricum Orientale, but subsequent to Novel xi of Justinian the authority was divided between him and the newArchbishop of Justiniana Prima. The latter, likewise appointedvicar Apostolic of thepope, directed the seven provinces of the north while theBishop of Thessalonica continued to occupy the six others:Macedonia Prima, Thessalia,Achaia, Creta, Nova and Vetus Epirus. Matters remained so until 732 when the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, after hisexcommunication by thepope, connected all thebishoprics ofIllyria with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Thenceforth, despite the protests ofRome, Thessalonica was dependent on theChurch of Byzantium.

After the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1205 Nivelo de Chérisy,Bishop ofSoissons, who had taken an active part in theFourth Crusade, was appointed byInnocent III (10 December, 1206) first Latinarchbishop of the city. He died in the following year; his successors were at first residential and afterwards titular (see list inLe Quien, "Oriens Christ.", III, 1089-96; Eubel, "Hierarchia catholica medii aevi", I, 510; II, 275). From a letter ofInnocent III written in 1212 we learn that Thessalonica had then eleven suffragans. Apart from the saintlybishops mentioned above Thessalonica had othersaints: Agape, Irene, and Chionia,martyred underDiocletian; Agothopodus,deacon, and Theodulus,rector,martyred underDiocletian; Anysia,martyred underMaximian; Demetrius,martyr, the protector of the city, from whosetomb flowed an oil which workedmiracles, and whose superb basilica has been converted into a mosque; David, solitary (sixth century); Theodora, d. in 892; etc. The Vicariate Apostolic ofMacedonia, for the Bulgars, whose titular resides at Thessalonica, was established in 1883. It has upwards of 6000Catholics 26 residential stations, 33secular priests, most of them married, 10Lazaristpriests, 21churches andchapels, 27 primaryschools for boys and girls with 1110 pupils. Theseminary, directed by theLazarists, is at Zeitenlik, near Thessalonica. The Sisters of Charity and theBulgarian Eucharistine Sisters also haveschools andorphanages.

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