KARPUT (KHARPUT), DIOCESE of. — City of the fourth Armenia, in the district of Hantzit (Arzitene), in Turkey. The Mechitarists were the first to bring Catholicism there; in 1858 many other Catholic priests joined the apostolate. In 1805, Pius IX decreed the establishment of K. as an episcopal see; Stefano Israelian was its first pastor.
In 1867, Latin missionaries also arrived in the diocese of K., forming several communities of the Latin rite. At present, the diocese is devastated.
BIBL.: B. Gams, Series episcoporum, Ratisbona 1873, p. 456; S. Eprikian, Dizionario topogr. dell'Armenia, II, Venezia 1907, V. index; A. Alexandrian, Histoire abrégée des sièges, Beirut 1908, pp. 37-39. Serafino Akelian