Modra

Modra

A titular see of Bithynia Secunda, suffragan of Nicæa. The city of Modra figures only in Strabo (XII, 543), who places it in Phrygia Epicteta, at the sources of the Gallus. It was probably situated at or near Aine Gueul, in the vilayet of Broussa. The region is called Medrena by Theophanes the Chronographer and Constantine Porphyrogenitus (De themat., vi). Several "Notitiæ episcopatuum" mention the See of Medrena, or Mela. The name of this second place is also written Melina, and was called for a time Justinianopolis Nova in honour of Justinian. As from the twelfth century we find only Melagina, Melangeia, or Melania, it is evident that the earlier Mela is the Malagina often mentioned by Byzantine historians as the first large station of the imperial armies in Asia Minor on the road from Constantinople to Dorylæum, and an important strategic point. This city must have been located between Lefke and Vezirkhan, two railway stations on the Constantinople-Bagdad line. The bishops recorded are: Macedonius of Justinianopolis Nova, present at the Council of Constantinople (555); Theodorus of Justinianopolis Nova or Mela, present at Constantinople (680); Nectarius, or Nicetas of Mela, present at Nicæa (787); Constantius of Mela, present at Constantinople (869); Paul of Mela, present at Constantinople (879); John of Malagina (1256); Constantine of Melangeia (thirteenth century); N. of Melaneia (1401).

RAMSAY, Asia Minor, 202 sq. See also XANTHOPOULOS in Echos d'Orient, V (1901-2), 161 sq.

S. PÉTRIDÈS.