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Pachoras
Modern Faras, Sudan, the ancient metropolitan see of
Nobadia and apparently all
Nubia. In the earlier
centuries of the Dongolan
Empire, Pachoras was the headquarters of the
miaphysite church;
there was a rival "melchite" (Eastern Orthodox) see
in Taifa, but it appears never to have had much
influence. However in the XI Century
Bishop John III
apparently adopted the melchite faith, and
for the remainder of its history the see
was contested by melchites and miaphysites.
As the influence of Muslim groups in Nubia
increased, Pachoras declined in importance
and was eclipsed by its somewhat older
rival Primis.
The cathedral's existence was so completely
forgotten that the Polish archæologists who rediscovered
it thought they were going to excavate a tell (city
mound) and were astonished to find instead
a single huge mediæval building.
---Norman Hugh Redington
Under construction --- far from complete! Read with caution.
- ABOUT:
- R. A. Lobban:
Historical Dictionary of Ancient and
Medieval Nubia, p. 162.
- W. Godlewski:
The Paulos Cathedral in Faras (Pachoras), (1995).
In D. Mouriki et al., eds.,
Byzantine East, Latin West,
Princeton University Dept. of Art and Archaeology, 1995.
- Stefan Jakobielski:
Faras III: A History of the Bishops
of Pachoras on the Basis of
Coptic Inscriptions, (1972).
Warsaw: PWN, 1972.
-
Sandstone frieze:
Early VII Century art from one of the
cathedrals, now in the British Museum.
--- British Museum
- PEOPLE: BISHOPS:
- PEOPLE: VARIOUS:
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