Aprus orApros (Ancient Greek:Ἄπρος), alsoApri orAproi (Ἄπροι), was a town ofancient Thrace and, later, aRoman city established in theRoman province ofEuropa.
Stephanus of Byzantium collects a quote ofTheopompus that mentions Aprus.[1]Pliny the Elder notes that Aprus is situated in the interior of Thrace, 22M.P. fromResisto (likely the same asBisanthe), 50Roman miles fromBizya and 180 Roman miles fromPhilippi.[2]
The city was re-founded asColonia Claudia Aprensis in the mid-1st century AD, probably in connection with the emperorClaudius's annexation ofThracia, and was intended for retired members of the Roman military. It was situated on theVia Egnatia that ran from theAdriatic coast in the province ofIllyricum toByzantium, the city that was to becomeConstantinople.[3][4]
In the 4th century, Aprus was the principal city of the region southwest ofHeraclea, the capital of the province.
The city was calledTheodosiopolis (Greek: Θεοδοσιούπολις) in documents of the 6th century,[5] in honour ofTheodosius II, emperor from 401 to 450, or ofTheodosius I (347–395).
After the capture of Constantinople during theFourth Crusade (1204), theHenry of Flanders, brother ofBaldwin I, attacked the city and killed many of the citizens.[6] TheLatin Empire madeTheodore Branas (called Li Vernas byGeoffroi de Villehardouin) lord of Aprus. In 1206, TsarKaloyan of Bulgaria destroyed the city, but Branas rebuilt it.
In theBattle of Apros of July 1305, theCatalan Company annihilated the Byzantine imperial army underMichael IX Palaiologos.
Its location is near the modernTurkish village ofKermeyan.[7][8]
TheRomans named the town Colonia Claudia Aprensis,[9] and the Byzantines called it Apros and latter Theodosiopolis.
The former archbishopric was a double Catholic titular archbishopric - under the name Theodosiopolis ante Apri it was the only Bulgarian Catholictitular see, but has been suppressed as such, yet it remains a Latin titular see as Aprus.
In aNotitia Episcopatuum of about 640, the bishopric appears as anautocephalous archdiocese and as the 22nd in order of precedence among 34 sees dependent upon thePatriarchate of Constantinople. Perhaps due to error, it is missing from the next such document, composed at the start of the 10th century, but reappears in the middle of the same century. In the 15th century it was dropped from the official lists of the dioceses dependent on the Patriarchate of Constantinople.[5][10]
No longer a residential diocese, it has been listed by theCatholic Church as a doubletitular see, but remains only Latin[11]
No later than 1848, the diocese was nominally restored as a Latin Episcopal asTitular bishopric under the names ofTheodosiopolis (Latin) / Teodosiopoli (Curiate Italian) / Apri / Apros / Aprus.
It was repeatedly renamed : in 1926 as Titular Episcopal See of Theodosiopolis (Latin) / Teodosiopoli d’Europa (Italian) / Apri / Apros / Aprus; in 1929 as Titular Episcopal See of Theodosiopolis (Latin) / Teodosiopoli di Frigia (Italian) and in 1930 as Titular Episcopal See of Theodosiopolis (Latin) / Teodosiopoli d’Europa (Italian) / Apri / Apros / Aprus.
In 1931 it was suppressed, having had the following incumbents,however none of the then fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank, all of the higher (and present) Archiepiscopal (intermediary) rank:
In 1933 however, it was restored, renamed and promoted asTitular archbishopric ofAprus (Latin) / Apro (Italian) / Apren(sis) (Latin adjective).
It has been vacant for several decades, having had the following incumbents, so far of the now fitting Archiepiscopal (intermediary) rank;
No later than 1907, it was also and separately restored as the only-ever titular see of the particularBulgarian Byzantine Catholic Church (Bulgarian Catholics of theByzantine Rite) asTitular archbishopric ofTheodosiopolis ante Apri (Latin) / Teodosiopoli (Curiate Italian).
In 1924 it was suppressed, having had a single incumbent of the fitting Archiepiscopal (intermediary) rank :
40°55′37″N27°06′26″E / 40.9269409°N 27.1073556°E /40.9269409; 27.1073556
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