Chytri

Chytri

A titular see of Cyprus. The Greek see of similar title was suppressed in 1222 by Cardinal Pelagius, papal legate. It was beautifully located in the centre of the island, in the territory of Chytraea, west of Messaria. The flourishing modern village Kyrka (pronounced tsirka), in Greek officially Kythraia, Turkish Deirmennik has preserved the ancient name. There has been found here a pre-Phoenician necropolis. In the time of Assurbanipal, Pilagura was King of Kitrusi, one of the ten kingdoms in the island. Numerous inscriptions have been found in the Cypriot dialect, some in ordinary Greek. Chytri was noted for the worship of Apollo, Artemis, and Aphrodite Paphia. Later forms of the name are Cythraia, Cythereia, Cythroi, Chytrides; according to the late Greek work of Sakellarios (Kypriaka, 2nd ed., 202-205) Kyrka should be Cythera or Cythereia; he identifies Chytri with Palo-Kythro, a village with ruins two hours south of Kyrka. The historical texts, however, mention only one town. Chytri was at an early date an episcopal see. Lequien's list of the bishops of the see (II, 1069) is very incomplete, only eight being recorded: the first is St. Pappus, who suffered martyrdom under Licinius, Maximinus, or Constantius; the most famous is St. Demetrian, 885-912 (?).

S. PÉTRIDÈS