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{{Short description|Former Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox ancient site
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<!--This article has employed the convention BCE/CE since its inception, 4 May 2004: "corrections" to BC/AD are discourteous-->
<!-- Note that these are actually the coords for [[Sarafand]], which is 1.5 kilometers away but that's all that is available-->
'''Sarepta''' (near modern [[Sarafand, Lebanon|Sarafand]], [[Lebanon]]) was a [[Phoenicia]]n city on the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] coast between [[Sidon]] and [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]], also known biblically as '''Zarephath'''. It became a bishopric, which faded, and remains a double (Latin and Maronite) Catholic [[titular see]].

Most of the objects by which Phoenician culture is characterised are those that have been recovered scattered among Phoenician colonies and trading posts; such carefully excavated colonial sites are in [[Spain]], [[Sicily]], [[Sardinia]] and [[Tunisia]]. The sites of many Phoenician cities, like Sidon and Tyre, by contrast, are still occupied, unavailable to archaeology except in highly restricted chance sites, usually much disturbed. Sarepta<ref>Identification of the site is secured by inscriptions that include a stamp-seal with the name of Sarepta.</ref> is the exception, the one Phoenician city in the heartland of the culture that has been unearthed and thoroughly studied.

== History ==
[[File:Sarepta April 27th 1839 - David Roberts, R.A. LCCN2002717517 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Sarepta in ''[[The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia]]'']]
Sarepta is mentioned for the first time in the voyage of an [[ancient Egypt]]ian in the 14th century BCE.<ref>[[Francois Chabas|Chabas]], ''Voyage d'un Egyptien'', 1866, pp 20, 161, 163</ref> [[Obadiah]] says it was the northern boundary of [[Canaan]]: “And the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath ({{lang|he|צרפת}}), and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the south.”<ref>{{Bibleverse|Obadiah|1:20|HE}}</ref> The medieval lexicographer [[David ben Abraham al-Fasi]] identified ''Zarephath'' with the city of Ṣarfanda ({{langx|jrb|צרפנדה}}).<ref>The Hebrew-Arabic Dictionary known as "Kitāb Jāmi' Al-Alfāẓ (Agron)," p. xxxviii, pub. by Solomon L. Skoss, 1936 Yale University</ref> Originally [[Sidon]]ian, the town passed to the [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyrians]] after the invasion of [[Shalmaneser IV]], 722 BCE. It fell to [[Sennacherib]] in 701 BCE.

[[1 Kings 17]]:8-24 describes the city as being subject to Sidon in the time of [[Ahab]] and says that the prophet [[Elijah]], after leaving the [[Chorath|wadi Kerith]] ({{langx|he|נַחַל כְּרִית|naḥal Kəriṯ}}, multiplied the meal and oil of the widow of Zarephath and [[raising of the son of the widow of Zarephath|resurrected her son]], an incident also referred to by [[Jesus]] in [[Luke 4]]:26.

Zarephath ({{lang|he|צרפת}} ''ṣārĕfáṯ'') became the [[eponym]] in Hebrew for any [[smelter]] or [[forge]], or [[metalworking]] shop. In the [[1st century]], the Roman port of Sarepta about {{convert|1|km|abbr=on}} to the south,<ref>Designated Area I, it was excavated in 1969-70.</ref> is mentioned by [[Josephus]]<ref>[[Antiquities of the Jews]], Book VIII, 13:2</ref> and by [[Pliny the Elder]].<ref>''[[Pliny's Natural History|Natural History]]'', Book V, 17</ref>

Sarepta is the location of a [[Shia Islam|Shi'i]] shrine to [[Abu Dharr al-Ghifari]], a [[companion of Muhammad]]. The shrine is believed to have been built several centuries after Abu Dharr's death.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Mohammad |last1=Rihan |title=The Politics and Culture of an Umayyad Tribe: Conflict and Factionalism in the Early Islamic Period |year=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780857736208 |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WraODwAAQBAJ |via=books.google.com}}</ref>

After the Islamization of the area, in 1185, the [[Byzantine Greece|Byzantine]] [[monk]] Phocas, making a gazetteer of the [[Holy Land]] (''De locis sanctis'', 7), found the town almost in its ancient condition. A century later, according to [[Burchard of Mount Sion]], it was in ruins and contained only seven or eight houses.<ref>Monachus Borchardus, Descriptio Terrae sanctae, et regionum finitarum, vol. 2, pp. 9, 1593</ref> Even after the [[Crusader states]] had collapsed, the [[Catholic Church]] continued to appoint purely [[titular bishop]]s of Sarepta, the most noted being Thomas, the auxiliary Bishop of Wrocław, who held the post from 1350 until 1378.<ref>Piotr Górecki, Parishes, Tithes and Society in Earlier Medieval Poland c. 1100-c. 1250, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. i-ix+1-146, 1993</ref>

== Ecclesiastical history ==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}}
Sarepta as a Christian city was mentioned in the ''[[Itinerarium Burdigalense]]''; the ''Onomasticon'' of [[Eusebius]] and in [[Jerome]]; by Theodosius and Pseudo-Antoninus who, in the 6th century call it a small town but very Christian.<ref>Geyer, ''Intinera hierosolymitana'', Vienna, 1898, 18, 147, 150</ref> It contained at that time a church dedicated to [[Elijah]]. The ''[[Notitiae Episcopatuum]]'', a list of bishoprics made in [[Antioch]] in the 6th century, speaks of Sarepta as a suffragan [[see of Tyre]]; all of its bishops are unknown.

=== Titular sees ===
The diocese was nominally restored as [[titular see]], twice: in Latin and [[Maronite Church|Maronite]] traditions.

==== Sarepta of the Maronites ====
This [[titular bishopric]] was established in 1983.

It has had the following incumbents of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank:
* Emile Eid (1982.12.20 – death 2009.11.30), in the [[Roman Curia]]: Vice-President of [[Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Code of Oriental Canon Law]] (1982.12.20 – 1990.10.18) and on emeritate; previously [[Defender of the Bond]] of [[Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura]] (1969? – 1974), [[Promoter of Justice]] of the same Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura (1969 – 1980)
* Hanna G. Alwan, [[Congregation of the Lebanese Maronite Missionaries]] (L.M.) (2011.08.13 – ...), [[Bishop of Curia]] of the Maronites at the Patriarchate of Antioc; previously [[Prelate Auditor]] of [[Tribunal of the Roman Rota]] (1996.03.04 – 2011.08.13).

==== Sarepta of the Romans ====
It was established as titular bishopric no later than the 15th century.
It has been vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents:
* Theodorich, (around 1350), as [[Auxiliary Bishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Olomouc]] ([[Moravia]])
* [[Jaroslav of Bezmíře]], appointed Bishop of Sarepta on 1394.7.15 by [[Pope Boniface IX]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Inkvizitoři v Českých zemích v době předhusitské |url=https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/42900/BPTX_2011_2__0_285232_0_106569.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=13 March 2021 |page=63}}</ref>
* Guillaume Vasseur, [[Dominican Order]] (O.P.) (1448.10.23 – death 1476?), no actual prelature
* Gilles Barbier, [[Friars Minor]] (O.F.M.) (1476.04.03 – death 1494.03.28) as [[Auxiliary Bishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Tournai|Diocese of Tournai]] ([[Belgium]]) (1476.04.03 – 1494.03.28)
* Nicolas Bureau, O.F.M. (1519.12.02 – death 1551) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Tournai|Diocese of Tournai]] (Belgium) (1519.12.02 – 1551)
* Guillaume Hanwere (1552.04.27 – 1560) as Auxiliary Bishop of above Tournai (Belgium) (1552.04.27 – 1560)
* Johannes Kaspar Stredele 'Austrian) (1631.12.15 – death 1642.12.28) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Passau|Diocese of Passau]] ([[Bavaria]], Germany) (1631.12.15 – 1642.12.28)
* Wojciech Ignacy Bardziński (1709.01.28 – death 1722?) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Kujawy–Pomorze|Diocese of Kujawy–Pomorze]] (Poland) (1709.01.28 – 1722?)
* [[Charles-Antoine de la Roche-Aymon]] (1725.06.11 – 1730.10.02) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Limoges|Diocese of Limoges]] (France) (1725.06.11 – 1730.10.02); later Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarbes|Tarbes]] (France) ([1729.12.27] 1730.10.02 – 1740.11.11), Metropolitan Archbishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse|Toulouse]] (France) ([1740.01.10] 1740.11.11 – 1752.12.18), Metropolitan Archbishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Narbonne|Narbonne]] (France) ([1752.10.02] 1752.12.18 – 1763.01.24), Metropolitan Archbishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims|Reims]] (France) ([1762.12.05] 1763.01.24 – death 1777.10.27), created [[Cardinal-Priest]] with no Title assigned (1771.12.16 – 1777.10.27)
* Johann Anton Wallreuther (1731.03.05 – 1734.01.16) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Worms|Diocese of Worms]] (Germany) (1731.03.05 – 1734.01.16)
* Jean de Cairol de Madaillan (1760.01.28 – 1770.01.29) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Narbonne|Archdiocese of Narbonne]] (France) (1760.01.28 – ?); later Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Vence|Vence]] (France) (1770.01.29 – 1771.12.16), Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Grenoble|Grenoble]] (France) (1771.12.16 [1772.01.23] – 1779.12.10)
* Jean-Denis de Vienne (1775.12.18 – death 1800) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lyon|Lyon]] (France) (1775.12.18 – 1800)
* Alois Jozef Krakowski von Kolowrat (1800.12.22 – 1815.03.15) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olomouc|Archdiocese of Olomouc]] (Olomütz, [[Moravia]], now Czech Republic) (1800.12.22 – 1815.03.15), Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Hradec Králové|Hradec Králové]] (now Czech Republic) (1815.03.15 – 1831.02.28), Metropolitan Archbishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Praha|Archdiocese of Praha]] (Prague, [[Bohemia]], now Czech Republic) (1831.02.28 – death 1833.03.28)
* Johann Heinrich Milz (1825.12.19 – death 1833.04.29) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Trier|Trier]] (Germany) (1825.12.19 – 1833.04.29)
* Johann Stanislaus Kutowski (1836.02.01 – death 1848.12.29) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Chełmno|Diocese of Chełmno]] (Kulm, Poland) (1836.02.01 – 1848.12.29)
* Franz Xaver Zenner (1851.02.17 – death 1861.10.29) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wien|Archdiocese of Wien]] (Vienna, Austria) (1851.02.17 – 1861.10.29)
* Nicholas Power (1865.04.30 – death 1871.04.05) as [[Coadjutor Bishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe|Killaloe]] (Ireland) (1865.04.30 – 1871.04.05)
* Jean-François Jamot (1874.02.03 – 1882.07.11) as only [[Apostolic Vicar]] of [[Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Canada|Northern Canada]] (Canada) (1874.02.03 – 1882.07.11); next (see) promoted first Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Peterborough|Peterborough]] (Canada) (1882.07.11 – death 1886.05.04)
* Antonio Scotti (1882.09.25 – 1886.01.15) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Benevento|Archdiocese of Benevento]] (Italy) (1882.09.25 – 1886.01.15); next Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Alife|Alife]] (Italy) (1886.01.15 – retired 1898.03.24), emeritate as Titular Bishop of [[Tiberiopolis]] (1898.03.24 – death 1919.06.10)
* Paulus Palásthy (1886.05.04 – death 1899.09.24) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Esztergom|Archdiocese of Esztergom]] ([[Hungary]]) (1886.05.04 – 1899.09.24)
* Filippo Genovese (Italian) (1900.12.17 – death 1902.12.16), no actual prelature 
* Joseph Müller (1903.04.30 – death 1921.03.21) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Köln|Archdiocese of Köln]] (Cologne, Germany) (1903.04.30 – 1921.03.21)
* Edward Doorly (1923.04.05 – 1926.07.17) as Coadjutor Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Elphin|Elphin]] (Ireland) (1923.04.05 – succession 1926.07.17); next Bishop of Elphin (1926.07.17 – 1950.04.05)
* Petar Dujam Munzani (1926.08.13 – 1933.03.16) as [[Apostolic Administrator]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zadar|Archdiocese of Zadar]] ([[Croatia]]) (1926.08.13 – succession 1933.03.16); later Archbishop of Zadar ([[Croatia]]) (1933.03.16 – retired 1948.12.11), emeritate as Titular Archbishop of [[Tyana]] (1948.12.11 – death 1951.01.28)
* [[François-Louis Auvity]] (1933.06.02 – 1937.08.14) as Auxiliary Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges|Archdiocese of Bourges]] (France) (1933.06.02 – 1937.08.14); later Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Mende|Mende]] (France) (1937.08.14 – retired 1945.09.11), emeritate as Titular Bishop of [[Dionysiana]] (1945.09.11 – death 1964.02.15)
* Francesco Canessa (1937.09.04 – 1948.01.14)
* [[John Francis Dearden]] (later Cardinal) (1948.03.13 – 1950.12.22)
* Athanasios Cheriyan Polachirakal (1953.12.31 – 1955.01.27)
* Luis Andrade Valderrama, [[Friars Minor]] (O.F.M.) (1955.03.09 – 1977.06.29)

== Archaeology ==
A [[Heavy Neolithic]] archaeological site of the [[Qaraoun culture]] that pre-dated Sarepta by several thousand years was discovered at Sarafand by [[Hajji Khalaf]]. He made a collection of material and passed it to the [[National Museum of Beirut]]. It consisted of an [[assemblage (archaeology)|assemblage]] of large flakes and [[biface]]s in [[Eocene]] [[flint]]. Some [[piebald]] flint blades were also found along with [[hammerstone]]s in [[Nummulitic]] [[limestone]] that resemble finds from [[Aadloun II]] (Bezez Cave), which is located {{convert|1|km|mi}} to the South. Khalaf also found a well-made [[adze]] and a narrow, slightly polished [[chisel]]. A collection in the National Museum of Beirut marked "Jezzine ou Sarepta" consisted of around twelve neatly made [[Hand axe#Morphology|discoid]]- and [[Levallois technique|tortoise]]-cores in [[Chert|cherty flint]] of a cream colour with a tinge of red.<ref name=Copeland1965>{{cite book|author1=Lorraine Copeland|author2=P. Wescombe|title=Inventory of Stone-Age sites in Lebanon, pp. 95 & 135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6YsRRwAACAAJ|access-date=21 July 2011|year=1965|publisher=Imprimerie Catholique|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224033744/http://books.google.com/books?id=6YsRRwAACAAJ|archive-date=24 December 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The low [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] on the seashore was excavated by [[James B. Pritchard]] over five years from 1969 to 1974. 
<ref>James B. Pritchard, SAREPTA. A Preliminary Report on the Iron Age. Excavations of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, 1970-72. With contributions by William P. Anderson; Ellen Herscher; Javier Teixidor, University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1975, {{ISBN|0-934718-24-5}}</ref>
<ref>James B. Pritchard, Sarepta in History and Tradition, in J. Reumann (ed.). Understanding the Sacred Text: Essays in honor of Morton S. Enslin on the Hebrew Bible and Christian beginnings, pp. 101-114, Judson Press, 1972, {{ISBN|0-8170-0487-4}}</ref>
Civil war in Lebanon put an end to the excavations.

The site of the ancient town is marked by the [[ruins]] on the shore to the south of the modern village, about eight miles to the south of Sidon, which extend along the shore for a mile or more. They are in two distinct groups, one on a headland to the west of a fountain called ‛Ain el-Ḳantara, which is not far from the shore. Here was the ancient harbor which still affords shelter for small craft. The other group of ruins, to the south, consists of [[columns]], [[sarcophagi]] and marble slabs, indicating a city of considerable importance.

Pritchard's excavations revealed many artifacts of daily life in the ancient Phoenician city of Sarepta: pottery workshops and [[kiln]]s, artifacts of daily use and religious figurines, numerous inscriptions that included some in [[Ugaritic]]. [[Pillar worship]] is traceable from an 8th-century shrine of [[Astarte|Tanit-Ashtart]], and a seal with the city's name made the identification secure. The local Bronze Age-Iron Age stratigraphy was established in detail; absolute dating depends in part on correlations with Cypriote and Aegean stratigraphy.

The climax of the Sarepta discoveries at Sarafand is the cult shrine of "[[Tanit]]/[[Astarte|Astart]]", who is identified in the site by an inscribed votive ivory plaque, the first identification of Tanit in her homeland. The site revealed figurines, further carved ivories, [[amulet]]s and a cultic mask.<ref>Amadasi Guzzo, Maria Giulia. “Two Phoenician Inscriptions Carved in Ivory: Again the Ur Box and the Sarepta Plaque.” Orientalia 59, no. 1 (1990): 58–66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43075770.</ref>

During the [[2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon]], [[UNESCO]] gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon including the Sarepta archaeological site to safeguard it from [[Destruction of cultural heritage during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon|damage]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Cultural property under enhanced protection Lebanon |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/culture/cultural-property-under-enhanced-protection-lebanon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231104017/https://www.unesco.org/en/culture/cultural-property-under-enhanced-protection-lebanon |archive-date=2024-12-31 |access-date=2025-01-01 |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Lebanon: 34 cultural properties placed under enhanced protection |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/lebanon-34-cultural-properties-placed-under-enhanced-protection |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241227163437/https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/lebanon-34-cultural-properties-placed-under-enhanced-protection |archive-date=2024-12-27 |access-date=2025-01-01 |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Other uses of the name==
{{See also|Sarepta (disambiguation)}}
In [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] after the [[Diaspora]], the name <big>צרפת</big>, ts-r-f-t, [[Tsarfat]] (Zarephath) is used to mean [[France]], perhaps because the Hebrew letters '''ts-r-f''', if reversed, become '''f-r-ts'''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Banitt |first=Menahem |title=Rashi, interpreter of the biblical letter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MPYAAAAMAAJ&q=obadiah |access-date=1 January 2013 |year=1985 |publisher=Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies |location=Tel Aviv |oclc=15252529 |page=141}}</ref> That usage is retained in daily use in contemporary Hebrew.

==See also==
* [[Cities of the ancient Near East]]
* [[List of Catholic dioceses in Lebanon]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* Pritchard, James B. ''Recovering Sarepta, a Phoenician City: Excavations at Sarafund, 1969-1974, University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania '' (Princeton: Princeton University Press) 1978, {{ISBN|0-691-09378-4}}
*William P. Anderson, Sarepta I: The late bronze and Iron Age strata of area II.Y : the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania excavations at Sarafand, Lebanon (Publications de l'Universite libanaise), Département des publications de l'Universite Libanaise, 1988
*Issam A. Khalifeh, Sarepta II: The Late Bronze and Iron Age Periods of Area Ii.X, University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, 1988, {{ISBN|99943-751-5-6}}
*Robert Koehl, Sarepta III: the Imported Bronze & Iron Age, University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, 1985, {{ISBN|99943-751-7-2}}
*James B. Pritchard, Sarepta IV: The Objects from Area Ii.X, University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, 1988, {{ISBN|99943-751-9-9}}
*Lloyd W. Daly, A Greek-Syllabic Cypriot Inscription from Sarafand, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 40, pp.&nbsp;223–225, 1980
*[[Dimitri Baramki]], A Late Bronze Age tomb at Sarafend, ancient Sarepta, Berytus, vol. 12, pp.&nbsp;129–42, 1959
*Charles Cutler Torrey, The Exiled God of Sarepta, Berytus, vol. 9, pp.&nbsp;45–49, 1949

== External links ==
* [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t1511.htm GCatholic - Latin titular see]
* [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t2051.htm GCatholic - Maronite titular see]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/ ''Catholic Encyclopedia'']: Sarepta

{{Heavy Neolithic sites}}
{{Phoenician cities and colonies navbox}}
{{Archaeological sites in Lebanon}}
{{Sidon District}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Populated places established in the 2nd millennium BC]]
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