Nazianzus, titular metropolitan see of Cappadocia Tertia. Nazianzus was a small town the history of which is completely unknown. It is the modern village of Nenizi east of Ak-Serai (formerly Archelais), in the villayet of Koniah, but has sometimes been wrongly identified with Diocaesarea. At the beginning of the fourth century Nazianzus was suffragan to Caesarea; under Valens it formed part of Cappadocia Secunda, the metropolis of which was Tyana. Later it depended on Cappadocia Tertia and on Mocessus, and finally became a metropolitan see under the Emperor Diogenes. In 1370 it was united to the metropolitan See of Caesarea. Up to the year 1200, fourteen of its bishops are known. Its name is inseparably connected with its illustrious doctor and poet-bishop, St. Gregory.
S. PÉTRIDÈS