HISTORY AND HAGIOGRAPHY. — DIONIGI of Alessandria recalls a bishop of Tarsus named Eleno together with the other bishops of the region (EUSEBIO, Hist. eccl., VI, 46, VII, 5).
At the Council of Nicaea the bishops of Adana, Alessandria-parva, Castabala, Aegea, Epiphania, Flavia, Mopsuestia (towards the end of the 4th century the noted TEODORO [v.] was bishop of this city), Neronia, Tarsus — that is, nine bishops and a chorepiscopus — attended, thus demonstrating the flourishing state of the Church in Cilicia at the Constantinian period. The two ecclesiastical provinces of Cilicia were respectively under Anazarbus and Tarsus (famous for its bishop DIADORO [v.]), and belonged to the patriarchate of Antioch. The Arab conquests of the second half of the 7th century divided Cilicia, gradually destroying the Christian communities already torn apart by doctrinal disputes (Melkites and Jacobites).
The most venerated martyrs of Cilicia are: at Anazarbus, the saints TARACHUS, PROBUS and ANDRONICUS, venerated on 11 October (BHG, nos. 1574-75). A not very authoritative Passio assigns to the same city the martyr MARINUS (BHG, no. 1171).
At Aegea, an Arabic legend (BHG, nos. 378-379) recalls a basilica in honor of the saints COSMAS and DAMIAN.
St. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM gives as a martyr of Cilicia St. JULIAN (BHG, no. 667), whom the Hieronymian Martyrology records on 14 February: “In Cilicia Aegeas natale Juliani.”
At Aegea pilgrims went to venerate the tomb of St. TALELAEUS (BHG, nos. 1707-1708), a martyr also venerated at Jerusalem and in Bithynia. There were also venerated the saints ZENOBIUS and ZENOBIA (BHG, nos. 1884-85). But most renowned of all at Aegea are the martyrs CLAUDIUS, ASTERIUS, NEON, DOMNINA (in some documents also THEONILLA), whom the Hieronymian Martyrology records on 23 August and the synaxaria on 30 October.
Assentius, bishop of Mopsuestia, erected a basilica outside the walls in honor of the martyrs TARACHUS, PROBUS and ANDRONICUS, placing their relics, obtained from Anazarbus, in veneration. Mopsuestia boasted the relics of St. NICETAS the Goth.
For Tarsus the most venerated martyrs were TARACHUS, PROBUS and ANDRONICUS (BHG, no. 1574), whom the Hieronymian Martyrology indicates on three dates, the traditional one being 11 October. In the same city the Greek synaxaria also list the martyrs QUIRICUS and JULITTA.
Remains of Christian basilicas have been found at Corycus, Sebaste, Anazarbus, Flaviopolis, Geropolis, Castabala.