History
Also known as Tucca Terebentina, the diocese is an ancient episcopal see of the Roman province of Byzacena. In antiquity the bishopric was centered on [3] [4] Dougga. [5]
Thucca Terenbenthina, also known as Thugga, was an ancient Roman-Berber town in the province of African Proconsularis. In late antiquity, it was made a municipium of the province of Byzacena. Thucca Terenbenthina is identified with ruins located in the modern town of Dougga, Tunisia.
The word diocese is derived from the Greek term dioikesis (διοίκησις) meaning "administration". Today, when used in an ecclesiastical sense, it refers to the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic and, until the tetrarchy, the largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The word province in Modern English has its origins in the Latin term used by the Romans.
The diocese was founded during the Roman Empire and survived through the Arian Vandal and Orthodox Byzantine empires, only ceasing to function with the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. The bishopric was re-founded in name at least in the 20th century and it remains today a Roman Catholic Church titular see. [6]
The Roman Empire was the post-Roman Republic period of the ancient Roman civilization. An Iron Age civilization, it had a government headed by emperors and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. From the constitutional reforms of Augustus to the military anarchy of the third century, the Empire was a principate ruled from the city of Rome. The Roman Empire was then divided between a Western Roman Empire, based in Milan and later Ravenna, and an Eastern Roman Empire, based in Nicomedia and later Constantinople, and it was ruled by multiple emperors.
Arianism is a nontrinitarian Christological doctrine which asserts the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was begotten by God the Father at a point in time, a creature distinct from the Father and is therefore subordinate to him, but the Son is also God. Arian teachings were first attributed to Arius, a Christian presbyter in Alexandria of Egypt. The teachings of Arius and his supporters were opposed to the theological views held by Homoousian Christians, regarding the nature of the Trinity and the nature of Christ. The Arian concept of Christ is based on the belief that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten within time by God the Father.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 200–260 million members. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Near East. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops in local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the Pope of Rome, but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by all as primus inter pares of the bishops.
Very little is known of the history of the Bishopric. The donatist bishop Pascasio, who was present at the Carthage conference of 411 may have belonged to this town but it is uncertain.
Today Thucca Terebentina survives as a titular bishop's seat having been re-founded in the 1930s and the current titular bishop is Gerardo Antonio Zerdín Bukovec, apostolic vicar of San Ramón. Modern bishops have included:
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place. There are more bishops than there are functioning dioceses. Therefore, a priest appointed not to head a diocese as its diocesan bishop but to be an auxiliary bishop, a papal diplomat, or an official of the Roman Curia is appointed to a titular see.
The Apostolic Vicariate of San Ramón is a Roman Catholic apostolic vicariate located in the city of San Ramón in Peru.
- André Lefebvre (Bishop),(1967 - 1976 ) who was dismissed.
- Pío Bello Ricardo, (1977 - 1981) who was appointed bishop of Los Teques.
- Luis Sáinz Hinojosa,(1982 - 1987 ) who was appointed archbishop of La Paz.
- Gerardo Antonio Zerdín Bukovec, who has held the office since 19 January 2002.
Bishop Pío Bello Ricardo was Titular Bishop of Thucca terebenthina and Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Los Teques from 1981 to 1995.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Los Teques is a diocese located in the city of Los Teques in the Ecclesiastical province of Caracas in Venezuela.
