Zygris (Greek: Ζυγρίς; the inhabitants were called Zygritae, Ζυγρῖται) was a small town in the Roman province of Marmarica, a province also known as Libya Inferior. It was in the eastern part of this region, which some geographers considered a separate area, called Libycus Nomus, distinct from both Marmarica and Aegyptus. It may have been located at Zaviet-El-Chammas in modern Egypt. Diderot's Encyclopedia gave Solonet as its modern name.
Ptolemy describes it as only a village.Book 4, chapter 5
An ancient guide for sailing, the Stadiasmus Maris Magni, says that there was at Zygris an islet at which it was possible to put in and find water on the shore.James Beresford, The Ancient Sailing Season (BRILL 2012) , p. 193
Bishopric
Although Zygris was only a village, it had its own bishopThomas Forrester, Causa Episcopatus Hierarchici Lucifuga: Or, A Confutation of J.S's Vindication of the (pretended) Principles of the Cyprianic Age. (heirs and successors of Andrew Anderson, 1706) page 91 from an early date.Thomas C. Oden, Early Libyan Christianity: Uncovering a North African Tradition, (InterVarsity Press, 2011). page 228. Joseph Bingham. Origines ecclesiasticæ; or, The antiquities of the Christian church, and other works, of the Rev. Joseph Bingham Chap. II:51.
The bishopric was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Darnis, the capital of the Roman province. However, the extraprovincial authority exercised by the bishop of Alexandria over not only Egypt but also Libya (as was recognized at the First Council of Nicaea) meant that Zygris was also directly subject to the see of Alexandria.Charles Rollin 1760-65, Dictionnaire universel, dogmatique, canonique, historique, géographique et chronologique des sciences ecclésiastiques (Charles Louis et Giraud Richard, 1762) page 675.
Marcus, bishop of Zygris, attended a synod convoked by Athanasius of Alexandria in 362 under Julian the Apostate.Michel Le Quien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, (Paris, 1740), vol. II, coll. 635-636. Lucius took part in the Robber Council of Ephesus in 349, a record of which was read at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.Michel Le Quien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 635-636Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 462Acts of the Council of Chalcedon .
No longer a residential bishopric,Apostolische Nachfolge – Titularsitze.Entry at gcatholic.org]. Zygris is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 1013Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae,(Leipzig, 1931), p. 462.
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