Diocese of Arsinoe in Arcadia

The Holy Diocese of Arsinoe is a titular diocese in Egypt under the jurisdiction of the Church of Alexandria. The archdiocesan area is currently served by the Archdiocese of Ptolemais. Its current hierarch is His Grace Vasilios (Varvelis) of Arsinoe.

History

Arsinoe is an ancient city of Middle Egypt. It became inhabited during the old dynasties when its oasis, the Lake Moeris, had fresh water coming from the Nile (even today, the city is known as Faiyum in Arabic or Phiom in Coptic, meaning “lake”). Because of this, the region became associated with the cult of the Egyptian god Sobek, the crocodile, and was called Shedet, or Crocodilopolis. The Egyptians managed to pet a crocodile, adorn it with gold and bring it to the Temple of Sobek where they would worship it. After its death, a new one would be brought and so on. During the 3rd century BC Pharaoh Ptolemy II (284–246 BC) made his sister the Queen Arsinoe II goddess and dedicated Crocodilopolis to her. After Queen Cleopatra VII's death, Egypt became a Roman province.

Christianity reached the region at an early stage. Its first known bishop was Nepos near the Persecution of Emperor Decius (249–251). He became known for his very popular book (now lost), called Refutation of the Allegorists, in which he advocated for Millennialism, a heresy that considered that Christ's terrible second coming would take place literally 1,000 years after his Ressurrection instead of allegorically. Saint Dionysius, Patriarch of Alexandria (248–264) harshly criticized Nepos' book for his heresy, and the patriarch himself had to visit every village near Alexandria refuting his book given its popularity at the time.

After Emperor Diocletian's Great Persecution (303–305), the heretical Meletius of Lycopolis ordained himself many of his followers as bishops, and among them was Melas in Arsinoe. Meletius' heresy consisted on his opposition to Saint Peter I's (300–311) readmission of lapsed Christians (who offered sacrifices to the idols when threatened by the Persecution) after some years of repentance. Meletius sided with Arius, but later had his excommunication lifted by Saint Alexander (313–328). Of course, this Melas can't be listed as bishop.

Ruling bishops

Ancient bishops

• Nepos (fl. 250)
• Andreas (fl. 362)
• Calosyrios (fl. 431)
• Sergios (fl. 630)
• Victor (fl. 640)
• Menas (fl. 670)
• Abrahamios (fl. 740)

(supressed in the 8th century following the Islamic conquest of Egypt)

Modern bishops

• Stephanos (Papacharalambos) 1976–1994
• Vasilios (Varvelis) 2016–Present