Diocese of Lydda (Lod) is one of the oldest bishoprics of the early Christian Church in the Holy Land. Suppressed under Persian and Arab-Islamic rule, it was revived by the Crusaders and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. History In early Christian times, Lydda was a prosperous Jewish town located on the intersection of the North – South and Egypt to Babylon roads. According to the Bible, Lod was founded by Semed of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin; Some of its inhabitants were led into Babylonian exile, part of them returned, but by mid second century, the king of Syria gave it to the Maccabees, who kept control until the arrival of Roman conqueror Pompei in Judea. Flavius Josephus confirms Julius Caesar gave it in 48 BC to the Hebrews, but Cassius sold the population in 44 BC, Mark Antony released them two years later. The city saw Roman civil wars and Hebrew revolts in the first century, was officially renamed Diospolis, but remained known as Lod or Lydda. Christians established themselves there after Saint Peter preached there and cured the paralytic Eneas. A church was built when Saint Peter visited the city between 31–36AD. By 120 AD most of the inhabitants were Christian. The episcopal see was established by the first Byzantine emperor Constantin the Great, as suffragan of the Archdiocese of Caesarea in Palestina, in the sway of the original Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In December 415, the Council of Diospolis was held in the bishopric to try British monk Pelagius; he was acquitted but his heresy Pelagianism condemned. The earliest historically recorded bishop is Aëtius, a friend of Arius. The city was renamed Georgiopolis after local martyr St George, patron saint of England, who was born Lod and buried on the site of the basilica of Georgius, first mentioned about 530 by pilgrim Theodosius. It suffered gravely under pagan Persian border incursions and faded at the advent of Arab Muslims. Byzantine Suffragan Bishops of Lydda/ Diopolis/ Georgiopolis (according to tradition) Zenas the Lawyer Aëtius, a friend of Arius (fl. 325 - death before 335) Dionysius (fl. 381 - death before 415) Photinus (fl. 449 - 451) Apollonius (fl. 518) Eustatius Latin Crusader bishopric In 1099, during the triumphant First Crusade (1096–1099), Lydda and Arab neighbour town Ramla were assigned to Robert, a Norman known after his natal diocese Rouen (in Normandy, France, where conquering Vikings were christianized only