The majority of Orthodox Christians under the patriarchate are Palestinians and Jordanians, with minorities of Russians, Romanians, and Georgians. However, the church's hierarchy has been dominated by Greek clergy since its creation, which has been a source of recurring tension and dispute. A movement to Arabize the church, known as the Arab Orthodox Movement, began in the 19th century. The church serves as custodian of several holy places in Christianity, including the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, where Jesus is said to have been born, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which includes the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and the empty tomb from which he is believed to have resurrected.
During the first Christian centuries the church at this place was the centre of Christianity in Jerusalem, "Holy and glorious Sion, mother of all churches." Certainly no spot in Christendom can be more venerable than the place of the Last Supper, which became the first Christian church.[6]
The Jews of Judea again revolted against Rome in the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136). By or during that time, the Christians had returned to Jerusalem. However, to punish the Jews for their revolt and to prevent further unrest, Jerusalem was made a Roman colony and renamed Aelia Capitolina by Hadrian. In 135, the Metropolitan of Caesarea appointed Marcus as the first bishop of the renamed Church of Aelia Capitolina. He was the first gentile bishop of the Church of Jerusalem (or Aelia Capitolina), all the previous ones having been Jewish.[8] The persecution of Jews by Roman authorities in Judea increased, with most of the Jewish and Christian population of Judea being enslaved and dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. The importance and place of Jerusalem in the life of the Christian Church diminished, though a Jewish and Christian remnant always remained in the city and the land.
Despite the strife, persecutions and meager population, bishops continued to be elected or named. Eusebius of Caesarea provides the names of an unbroken succession of thirty-six Bishops of Jerusalem up to the year 324. The first sixteen of these bishops were Jewish—from James the Just to Judas († 135)—and the remainder were Gentiles.[8] The Metropolitans of Caesarea continued to appoint the bishops of Aelia Capitolina until 325.
At the First Council of Nicaea in 325, though the bishop of Aelia Capitolina was still subordinate to the Metropolitan of Caesarea, the council accorded the bishop a certain undefined precedence in its seventh canon.
In a decree issued from the seventh session of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (the Council of Chalcedon) in 451 the bishop of Jerusalem was elevated to the rank of patriarch, ranked fifth after the sees of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch (see pentarchy). Since then, the Church of Jerusalem has remained an autocephalous church. Jerusalem was established as a patriarchate because of the holiness of the place; the special significance acquired between the first and fourth ecumenical councils; the erection of magnificent churches; the conversion of a large proportion of the population of Roman and Byzantine Syria-Palestina to Christianity; the coming together of pilgrims from around the world; the importance of outstanding bishops, monks, and teachers of the Church of Jerusalem; the struggles of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre on behalf of Orthodoxy; and the support of various emperors of Byzantium.
The Persians occupied Jerusalem in 614 and took Patriarch Zachariah prisoner, along with the palladium of Christianity, the Precious Cross. Chrysostomos Papadopoulos writes in his history of the patriarchate: "The Churches and the monasteries, inside and outside Jerusalem, were destroyed; the Christians were brutally slaughtered … thousands of prisoners purchased by Jews were slaughtered. Anything good that existed was destroyed or was plundered by the invaders. The monks were slaughtered mercilessly, especially those of St Savvas Monastery."
After 638, however, Christians suffered many persecutions. Christian shrines were repeatedly ransacked and defaced by the successors of Umur, and there was great persecution all around.[citation needed] The most deadly persecution occurred during the time of the Fatamid Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (1007–1009), a schizophrenic,[citation needed] named the "Nero of Egypt" for his merciless acts.[citation needed] He persecuted ferociously both Christians and Jews. He ordered that in public Jews were to wear masks representing the head of an ox and bells around their necks; Christians were to wear mourning apparel and crosses one yard in length. Also, Al-Hakim ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the eleventh century, the Caliph Ali az-Zahir, under a treaty with Byzantium, permitted the reconstruction of the shrines.
In 1099, the crusaders captured Jerusalem, setting up the Kingdom of Jerusalem and establishing a Latin hierarchy under a Latin patriarch, and expelling the Orthodox patriarch. The Latin patriarch resided in Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187, while Greek patriarchs continued to be appointed, but resided in Constantinople. In 1187, the Crusaders were forced to flee Jerusalem, and the Orthodox patriarch returned to Jerusalem. The Catholic Church continued to appoint Latin patriarchs, though the office holder resided in Rome until 1847, when they were permitted to return to the Middle East by the Ottoman authorities.
Priest of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.Flag of the Patriarchate with the letters "ΤΦ" (Tau + Phi) representing the word "taphos" (tomb or sepulchre)
Recent political controversies
Theophilos III became patriarch of the church at a very difficult time in its history. The politics of the Middle East and the delicacy of the relations with the Palestinian Authority, Israel and Jordan continues to make the role and place of the patriarch and the patriarchate very challenging.
In 2005, a crisis occurred in the church when Irenaios was deposed as patriarch by the Holy Synod of Jerusalem after having sold church property in East Jerusalem to Israeli investors.[9] On August 22, 2005, the Holy Synod of the Church of Jerusalem unanimously elected Archbishop Theophilos of Tabor as the 141st patriarch of Jerusalem.
For some time the Israeli Government withheld recognition of Theophilos as the new patriarch, and continued to only recognize Irenaios as patriarch. This position has been criticised as defying the unanimous decision by representatives of all Eastern Orthodox churches meeting at the Phanar at the call of the ecumenical patriarch withdrawing communion from Irineos and recognizing Theophilos's canonical election.[citation needed]
Israel's refusal to recognise the patriarch's temporal role inhibited the patriarch's ability to take the Israeli government to court, and froze patriarchal bank accounts. This in turn threatened the maintenance of the Holy Places and the patriarchate school system with 40,000 students. It has been alleged that the origins of the dispute are part of a forty-year attempt by Israeli settler organizations and politicians to open up the patriarchate's extensive land holdings worth estimated hundreds of millions of dollars.
In 2006, Israel refused to renew visas of many of the Greek clergy, which threatened to create to a serious crisis within the church, as most of the monks are Greek citizens. Patriarch Theophilos applied to the Israeli Supreme Court. A decision was due in mid-2006 and then in January 2007, but the Israeli government repeatedly requested further delays in the case. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on 11 February 2007 that the Israeli government offered to recognize Theophilos if he would give up control of several valuable properties and sell church property only to Israelis.[10]
In May 2007, the government of Jordan revoked its previous recognition of Theophilos III, but on 12 June 2007 the Jordanian cabinet reversed its decision and announced that it had once again officially recognised Theophilos as patriarch.[11]ArchbishopTheodosios (Hanna) of Sebastia has also called for a boycott of Theophilos.[12]
In December 2007, the Israeli government finally granted Theophilos full recognition.
The dominance of ethnic Greeks in the Church's hierarchy excludes the Arab majority from its upper ranks. This has been a point of endless contention within the church and among its outside supporters, with the Greeks backed by the Greek government, Israel, and the Turkey-based Ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, in opposition to the native Palestinian clergy, some of whom seek to nationalize the church's leadership.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the second biggest owner of land in Israel, after only the Israeli government. The Greek Church purchased most of its lands from the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century. In the 1950s, shortly after Israel’s independence, the Greek Patriarchate agreed to lease most of its lands in Israel to the Israeli government for 99 years, with an option to extend. Even Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, was built on lands owned by the Greek Orthodox Church.[13][14]
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's properties also include historic buildings in Jerusalem's Old City, including the Imperial and Petra hotels, inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, as well as extensive areas in the Palestinian territories.[15]
In 2005, it was revealed that then patriarch Irenaios had sold lands owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in East Jerusalem to Jews who seek to increase their presence in what is a predominantly Arab area.[16] The majority of Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem identify as Palestinians, and the sale of lands to Israelis caused a major uproar, which resulted in Irenaios being ousted as patriarch.[16]
The movement began within the context of rising Arab nationalism, inspired by 19th-century nationalist movements in the Balkans, which merged demands for religious reforms and national emancipation under the Ottoman Empire, and the successful Arabization of Syria and Lebanon's Antioch Patriarchate in 1899. It demands the appointment of an Arab patriarch, Arab laity control over Jerusalem patriarchate's properties for social and educational purposes, and the use of the Arabic as a liturgical language.[18] Initially a church movement among Palestine and Transjordan's Orthodox Arab Christians, it was later supported as a Palestinian and Arab nationalist cause and championed by Arab Muslims, owing to the Greek-dominated patriarchate's early support to Zionism.
The Arab Orthodox laity maintains that the patriarchate was forcibly Hellenized in 1543, while the Greek clergy counters by saying that the patriarchate was historically Greek.[18] Opposition to the Greek clergy started violent in the 19th century, when they came under physical attack by the Arab laity in the streets. There were historically also several interventions to solve the conflict by the Ottoman, British (1921-1948), and Jordanian (1948-1967) authorities, owing to the patriarchate's headquarters being located in East Jerusalem. Despite the city coming under Israeli occupation since 1967, the patriarchate has continued to function according to a 1958 Jordanian law, which mandates the clergy hold Jordanian citizenship and speak Arabic.[19]
To this day, the patriarchate continues to be dominated by Greek clergy, and continues to own vast properties that make it the second largest landowner in Israel.[17] In recent decades, lawsuits have ensued in Israeli courts between the Arab laity and the patriarchate over ownership of properties, and land sales by the patriarchate to Israeli investors has led to several controversies, the most recent of which led to the dismissal of patriarch Irenaios in 2005.[20] The patriarch's total control over the patriarchate and its vast properties has led to it being described as resembling "small absolute kingdom".[17]
↑ Greek: Πατριαρχεῖον Ἱεροσολύμων, Patriarcheîon Hierosolýmōn;Arabic: بطريركية الروم الأرثوذكس في القدس, romanized:Baṭriyarkiyyat ar-Rūm al-ʾUrṯūḏuks fī 'l-Quds, lit.'Patriarchate of the Rūm Orthodox in Jerusalem', Hebrew: הפטריארכיה היוונית-אורתודוקסית של ירושלים
Palestinian Christians are a religious community of the Palestinian people consisting of those who identify as Christians, including those who are cultural Christians in addition to those who actively adhere to Christianity. They are a religious minority within the State of Palestine and within Israel, as well as within the Palestinian diaspora. Applying the broader definition, which groups together individuals with full or partial Palestinian Christian ancestry, the term was applied to an estimated 500,000 people globally in the year 2000. As most Palestinians are Arabs, the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Christians also identify as Arab Christians.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was originally established in 1099, with the Kingdom of Jerusalem encompassing the territories in the Holy Land newly conquered by the First Crusade. From 1374 to 1847 it was a titular see, with the patriarchs of Jerusalem being based at the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome. Pope Pius IX re-established a resident Latin patriarch in 1847.
The Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem or Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, officially patriarch of Jerusalem, is the head bishop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 2005, the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem has been Theophilos III. The patriarch is styled "Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Holy Land, Syria, beyond the Jordan River, Cana of Galilee, and Holy Zion." The patriarch is the head of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, and the religious leader of about 130,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, most of them Palestinian Christians in Israel and Palestine.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the RūmOrthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity that originates from the historical Church of Antioch. Headed by the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, it considers itself the successor to the Christian community founded in Antioch by the Apostles Peter and Paul. It is one of the largest Christian denominations of the Middle East, alongside the Copts of Egypt and the Maronites of Lebanon.
Emmanouil Skopelitis was, under the name Irenaios, the 140th patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, from his election in 2001, when he succeeded Patriarch Diodoros, until his dismissal in 2005, when he was succeeded by Patriarch Theophilos III.
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church, or Melkite Byzantine Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Its chief pastor is Patriarch Youssef Absi, headquartered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition in Damascus, Syria. The Melkites, who are Byzantine Rite Catholics, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, formerly part of Syria and now in Turkey, of the 1st century AD, where Christianity was introduced by Saint Peter.
Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem is the current Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem since 2005. He is styled "Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine and Israel."
The Catholic Church in Israel is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in full communion with the Holy See in Rome.
The Greek OrthodoxPatriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa, also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, is an autocephalous patriarchate that is part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Its seat is in Alexandria and it has canonical responsibility for the entire African continent.
Jerusalem's role in first-century Christianity, during the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age, as recorded in the New Testament, gives it great importance, both culturally and religiously, in Christianity. Jerusalem is generally considered the cradle of Christianity.
Theodosios (Hanna) of Sebastia is the Archbishop of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Colloquially known as Atallah Hanna, Atallah and Theodosios both meaning "gift of God" in Arabic and Greek, respectively. Theodosios, who was ordained on the 24 December 2005 at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is the second Palestinian to hold the position of archbishop in the history of the diocese.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam. At the end of 2022, Christians made up 1.9% of the Israeli population, numbering approximately 185,000. 75.8% of the Christians in Israel are Arab Christians. Christians make up 6.9% of the Arab-Israelis.
Eastern Orthodoxy in Jordan refers to adherents, communities and institutions of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Jordan.
Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians refers to Lebanese people who are adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Lebanon, which is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and is the second-largest Christian denomination in Lebanon after the Maronite Christians.
Eastern Orthodoxy in Syria represents Christians in Syria who are adherents of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox tradition is represented in Syria by the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, the largest and oldest Christian community in the country.
For millennia, the Greeks in Israel have been prominently present in the land. Greek expatriates comprise most of the leadership of the Eastern Greek Orthodox Church in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, in an arrangement that long predates the modern State of Israel.
Catholic dioceses in the Holy Land and Cyprus is a multi-rite, international episcopate in Israel and Cyprus.
Hashemite custodianship refers to the Jordanian royal family's role in tending Muslim and Christian holy sites in the city of Jerusalem. The legacy traces back to 1924 when the Supreme Muslim Council, the highest Muslim body in charge of Muslim community affairs in Mandatory Palestine, chose Hussein bin Ali as custodian of Al-Aqsa. The custodianship became a Hashemite legacy administered by consecutive Jordanian kings.
The Holy and Ancient Archdiocese of Jerusalem, All Palestine, and All the Near East or the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, is a Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Coptic Orthodox Church, which is part of the wider communion of the Oriental Orthodox Church. It is headed by the Coptic Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Jerusalem, the incumbent being Metropolitan Archbishop Antonious of Jerusalem since 2016. Its jurisdiction covers those Coptic Orthodox Christians living in the Near East; with churches and monasteries in the State of Israel, State of Palestine, the State of Kuwait, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Lebanese Republic, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Republic of Iraq. The adherents are largely of Coptic Egyptian descent, mainland Coptic migrants and their descendants. The archdiocese is based at St Anthony's Monastery, in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, beside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Arab Orthodox Movement is a political and social movement aiming for the Arabization of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which has jurisdiction over the Orthodox communities of Palestine, Israel and Jordan, to which most Christians in the region belong.
References
↑ "The first Church". Jerusalem Patriarchate News Gate. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
↑ Baumann, Martin (2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, second Edition [6 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p.1255. ISBN9781598842043. Total membership is estimated at 200,000, with no more than 3,500 remaining in Jerusalem itself.
↑ Conway, Martin (2008). World Christianity in the 20th Century. Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. p.98. ISBN9780334040439. Greek Orthodox Church, with a membership of around 500,000, is the largest church in Israel / Palestine.
↑ The ROC severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018, and later severed full communion with the primates of the Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Cyprus in 2020.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Autocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
↑ UOC-MP was moved to formally cut ties with the ROC as of May 27th 2022.
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