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The
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
His
Beatitude Theophilus III
The
history of the Patriarchate begins from the first Christian
community in the years of the Apostles. The Church and the
Episcopacy of Jerusalem was and is the "Mother of all
Churches".
The patriarchate had an adventurous history and has known
many conquerors and persecutions. But there were always
clergymen and faithful people who with big sacrifices and
sufferings established the vested rights of the Greek
Orthodox Patriarchate.
History of the Patriarchate
In 52 AD takes place the first Apostolic Council in
Jerusalem.
In 70 AD the Roman emperor Titus captures and destroys
Jerusalem. The Romans demolish the Jewish temple and under
difficult conditions the Christians emigrate in Pella in the
east bank of Jordan river.
In 135 AD the Roman emperor Hadrian builds on the ruins of
Jerusalem a new roman city and names it Aelia Capitolina and
permits the Christians to come back. However the Jewish are
not permitted to come in town. In the meantime christianism
spreads all over Palestine and a lot of communities and
episcopacies were created but the primacy had the Metropolis
of Caesaria.
Thanks to roman emperor Constantine the Great and his mother
St. Helena who builds churches all over Palestine, the
Jerusalem Patriarchate gained its previous glory. It is the
time of the conflict between the Patriarchate of Caesaria
and Jerusalem for the primacies. Finally the fourth
Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD recognises the
sublimity of Jerusalem and is granted status of Patriarchate
with jurisdiction over Palestine and the east banks of
Jordan River. During the Byzantine period (5th to 7th
century) the Patriarchate had five metropolis, 60
episcopacies and hundreds of monasteries.
In 637 AD, the Arabs who had conquered Jerusalem, restrict
the Patriarchate activities who although had authority over
Christian affairs social or religious, and the Patriarch is
recognised as the highest authority of all the Christians on
earth.
When the crusaders conquered the Holy Lands in 1099 AD, they
appointed their own patriarch (the schism between the East
Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches preceded in 1054 AD)
but they weren’t able to abolish the Greek orthodox
patriarch who stayed for safety reasons in Constantinople.
After the eviction of the crusaders in 1187 the orthodox
Patriarch returns to his throne while the crusaders
Patriarchate moves to Akko and remains there until 1230 AD
when after the final eviction of the crusaders from
Palestine, is abolished.
The years that followed under the occupation of the Mamluks
(13th-15th centuries) were the cruelest and tragic the
Patriarchate ever encountered. The Mamluks who hated the
Christians tried to destroy everything Christian.
In the 13th century the Armenian Patriarchate is
established.
In the 14th century Franciscan monks arrive in the Holy Land
and together with monophysites of different nationalities
like Copts, Ethiopians and Syrians organise in
ecclesiastical communities and claim rights over the
pilgrimages.
In 1517 AD the Ottomans conquer Jerusalem and the
Patriarchate’s struggle to salvage the pilgrimages, not only
against the Turks but also against the demands of the other
Christians, continues.
In 1856 AD the scene clears with the confirmation of the
Status Quo of the Pilgrimages in the Paris council.
Since then begins a new era of reformation of the
Patriarchate. The entire Christian world and in particular
the - at last- unoccupied Greek state contributes with
donations. Monks and contributors buy land, build churches
and monasteries, and reform the ruined pilgrimages
establishing the necessary basis for the Patriarchate’s
sustenance.
First Secretary: Archbishop of Constantinis Aristarhos
The Current Address: Greek
Orthodox Patriarchate of JERUSALEM, P.O. Box 19 632, Tel. &
Fax: 282.048
The Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher
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