Editor and text by Michele Piccirillo ofm (SBF)
| Latins (Roman Catholics)
In the V century, two Roman matronae Melany the Elder and Melany the Younger, aunt and niece, founded two monasteries in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives in the vicinity of the Sanctuary of the Ascension. These monasteries were inhabited, for the large part, by male and female communities coming from the West. Similar monasteries were set up in Bethlehem close to the Basilica of the Nativity. These were founded by Paula a Roman noble woman. Two prolific writers described these monasteries; Rufino from Aquileia those on the Mount of Olives, Jerome of Stridone those in Bethlehem. A Latin hierarchy headed by a Patriarch was created in the Holyland at the time of the Crusades in the IX-XIII century. With the end of the Latin Kingdom in 1291, Saint Francis' Friars Minor of the Custody of the Holy Land were assigned the care of the western faithful by the Pope. This until 1847 when Pope Pius IX decided to restore the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Several Protestant churches are also present in Jerusalem, such as the Lutherans in the Church of the Holy Saviour, close to the Holy Sepulchre and the Anglicans in the church of Saint George. |
Latin Patriarch and Franciscan Custos |
Latin Patriarch and Franciscan Custos |
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Faithful in devotional procession |
Friars at the Way of the Cross |
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"Hosanna" on Palm Sunday |
In pilgrimage to Baptism Site |
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beginning of Way of the Cross |
end of Way of the Cross |
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Greeks Already in the Council of Nicea in 325, the bishops decided to bestow the due honour to the bishop of the Jerusalem community, Mother of all churches. In 451 the Council of Calcedon, bestowing the title of Patriarch to the bishop of the Holy City, decreed the autonomy of the Palestinian community from the Antioch Patriarchate. The Patriarchs, chosen from the cosmopolitan clergy present in the city, were the defenders of the Christian community as well as their representatives during the Islamic occupation after 638. The church in Jerusalem survived with its clergy and its own liturgy of apostolic origin. In 1516, when Palestine became part of the Ottoman Empire, the recognition of the Orthodox Church by the Turkish authorities meant also the imposition of the Byzantine rite, from the capital Constantinople, upon the church of Jerusalem. It also meant pre-eminence given to the Greek hierarchy. The Patriarchate was renamed the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, within which the Holy Sepulchre Confraternity was entrusted with the care of the Holy Places starting from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. |
Dormitio Virginis |
Rumanian clergy |
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at Jordan River |
Greek Orthodox procession |
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Greek Orthodox Monks |
Holy Fire ceremony at Holy Sepulchre |
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Armenians The Armenian Christian community boasts of having received the Gospel from the Apostles Bartholomew and Judas Thaddeus. It is proud to have been the first nation to declare Christianity as the state religion. In fact, thanks to the missionary zeal of Saint Gregory the Enlightened, towards 299, the Armenian King Tiridate II (287-330) became a convert to Christianity together with all his people. The invention of the alphabet, which made it possible to translate into Armenian the Bible as well as the Greek and Syriac liturgical texts, is attributed to the monk Mesrop (360-440). Archaeological research in Jerusalem has brought to light important witness to the Armenian presence in the Holy City as from the V century. Contacts between the Motherland and the Holyland were intensified during the Crusades. The church and monastery of Saint James the Major were built during this epoch. To the present day, the monastery still is the religious and social centre of the Armenian community in Jerusalem. In 1311, the Armenian bishop, elected by the sixty community members of the Saint James Confraternity, took upon himself the title of Patriarch. |
Armenian monks |
Armenian chapel of St. Helen |
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Armenian convent |
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