Editing Antioch (section)

=== Christianity ===
[[Early centers of Christianity#Antioch|Antioch was a chief center of early Christianity]] during Roman times,<ref name="edwards">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Edwards |first1=Robert W. |title=Antioch (Seleukia Pieria) |encyclopedia=The Eerdmans Encyclopedia of Early Christian Art and Archaeology |editor-first=Paul Corby |editor-last=Finney |date=2017 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing| location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |isbn=978-0-8028-3811-7| pages=73–74}}</ref> and converts there were the first people to be called Christians.<ref>{{bibleverse||Acts|11:26|KJV}}</ref> The city had a large population of Jewish origin in a quarter called the [[Kerateion]], and so attracted the earliest missionaries.<ref>Acts 11:19</ref> Among these was [[Saint Peter|Peter]] himself, according to the tradition upon which the [[Patriarch of Antioch|Patriarchate of Antioch]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pelikan |first1=Jarislov |title=The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600–1700) |date=1974 |publisher=U of Chicago P |location=Chicago |page=162 |isbn=9780226653730 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lr3ebI4iiwcC&dq=primacy+antioch+peter&pg=PA162 |access-date=15 Dec 2022}}</ref> still rests its claim for primacy.<ref>{{bibleverse||Acts|11|KJV}}</ref> This is not to be confused with [[Antioch, Pisidia|Antioch in Pisidia]], to which [[Barnabas]] and [[Paul of Tarsus]] later travelled.<ref>{{bibleverse||Acts|13:14–50|KJV}}</ref>

Between 252 and 300 AD, [[Synods of Antioch|ten assemblies]] of the church were held at Antioch and it became the seat of one of the five original [[patriarchate]]s,{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}} along with [[Constantinople]], [[Jerusalem]], [[Alexandria]], and [[Rome]] (see [[Pentarchy]]). Today five churches use the title of patriarch of Antioch for their prime bishops: one [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodox]] (the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]]); three [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] (the [[Maronite Church|Maronite]], [[Syriac Catholic Church|Syriac Catholic]], and [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]]es); and one [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] (the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]]). This title has been maintained though most of them have moved their seat to [[Damascus]]. This is somewhat analogous to the manner in which several popes, heads of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] remained "Bishop of Rome" even while residing in [[Avignon]], in present-day France, in the fourteenth century. The Maronite Church, which has also moved the seat away to [[Bkerké]], Lebanon, continues the Antiochene liturgical tradition and the use of the [[Syro-Aramaic]] language in their liturgies.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

[[Emperor Constantine]] who had [[Edict of Milan|decriminalised Christianity in 313]], begun the building of the [[Domus Aurea (Antioch)|Domus Aurea or Great Church]] in 327 which served for the next two centuries as the leading church of Antioch.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=J. N. D.|title=Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom – Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2TNPY3qjlIC&pg=PA2 |year=1998|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-8573-2|pages=2–3}}</ref>

[[John Chrysostom]] writes that when [[Ignatius of Antioch]] was bishop in the city, the ''dêmos,'' probably meaning the number of free adult men and women without counting children and slaves, numbered 200,000.<ref name="AncientAntiochPop"/> In a letter written in 363, [[Libanius]] says the city contains 150,000 ''anthrôpoi'' (plural of anthropos, [[human]]) a word which would ordinarily mean all human beings of any age, sex, or [[social status]], seemingly indicating a decline in the population since the first century.<ref name="AncientAntiochPop"/><ref>A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, Vol. II 1984 pp. 1040 & 1409 {{ISBN|0-8018-3354-X}}</ref> Chrysostom also says in one of his homilies on the [[Gospel of Matthew]], which were delivered between 386 and 393, that in his own time there were 100,000 Christians in Antioch, a figure which may refer to orthodox Christians who belonged to the [[Great Church]] as opposed to members of other groups such as [[Arians]] and [[Apollinarians]], or to all Christians of any persuasion.<ref name="AncientAntiochPop"/>