Catholicism in Dagestan: the Diocese of the Caspian Mountains

 

Map of the North Caucasus area with the Diocese of the Caspian Mountains at the bottom

Dagestan’s history has been shaped by its location at the intersection between Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. While a majority Muslim region today, the area of present-day Dagestan was home to a significant Catholic population in the late Middle Ages. In the 14^th century, the Franciscans of the “Societas Peregrinantium”, a missionary group composed of Franciscans and Dominicans, made many converts in the western parts of Cumania, the realm of the Qipchak Tatars. As a consequence, numerous dioceses were springing up between the Crimean Peninsula and the western shores of the Caspian Sea. Among them was the “diocese of the Caspian Mountains”, whose main towns were “Chomek, Thuma, Tarchu, Dergweli, Michaha”[1] according to Pope Boniface IX. The faithful appear to have been mainly from the ethnic group of the Kaitag, whose first apostle was the Franciscan friar John of Ziquia, a native Circassian from the Black Sea coast and Archbishop of Matrega.
In the 1390s, the armies of Timur invaded the area and killed or captured many Christians and destroyed churches and convents. During the following decades, mentions of the Church in the Caspian Mountains are sparse: In 1421, Pope Martin V appoints Friar Ambrosius Scipionis as its bishop and mentions that the faithful, who are “surrounded by unbelievers, heretics and schismatics”, are particularly dear to his heart. He grants a plenary indulgence at the hour of death to all who dwell there or go there. In 1433, Pope Eugene IV mentions the many Christians there living under the threat of losing their faith due to the lack of preachers and appoints the Franciscan Cornelius as bishop. The Venetian traveler Giosafat Barbaro reports that in the middle of the 15^th century, there were still faithful in Dagestan, looked after by the Franciscans, and that they belonged to the Latin, Greek, and Armenian rites. The Ottoman domination of the Black Sea finally cut off the contact to the Catholic community of the Caspian Mountains by the end of the century. The spread of Islam in the North Caucasus brought an end to the native Catholic presence in Dagestan.

 

Sources:

Lemmens, Die Heidenmission des Spätmittelalters

Richard, La papauté et les missions d'Orient au Moyen-Âge (XIII-XIVème siècle)

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[1] According to Jean Richard, these places correspond to the settlements of Kumukh, Tjumen, Tarki, Dorgeli and Mukhakh, respectively.