See of Sardis

It was one of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse, held by metropolitan bishops since the middle to late 1st century,[1] with jurisdiction over the province of Lydia, when this was formed in 295.

[1] Excavations in 1912 revealed a small "Church M", containing coins which were dated to the 5th century and an apse overhanging one of the earliest known Christian altars, near the north eastern corner of the Temple of Artemis.

[1] Arabs sacked Sardis in 716, but the city remained a part of a resurgent Roman (Byzantine) Empire until the aftermath of the battle of Manzikert in 1071.

[17] However, a bearer of the title of Metropolitan of Sardis, Dionysius, participated in the Council of Florence in 1438, but died before its conclusion and thus was not asked to sign its decree.

[18] From the 17th century, there were appointments of Roman Catholic archbishops of Sardis as a see in partibus infidelium, meaning "within territory held by the infidels" (the Muslims), a term replaced in 1882 by that of "titular see".