community. When, after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Caesarea became the civil capital of Palestine, the Church followed the Government, and the Bishop of Ælia Capitolina became only a local bishop under the Metropolitan of Caesarea. Nevertheless, his peculiar position as bishop of the most sacred city of Christendom was recognized by the Council of Nicaea with the grant of 'the succession of honour'; and at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 the see was raised to the dignity of a Patriarchate, the other Patriarchates being Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch. At the conquest of Jerusalem in 637 by the Khalif ʾOmar, Sophronius was Patriarch. Sophronius begged to be allowed to surrender the city to the Khalif in person. 'ʾOmar agreed, travelled with one single attendant to Jerusalem, promised the Christians the possession of their churches and freedom of worship on the usual condition—a poll-tax—and then entered the city side by side with the Patriarch, discussing its antiquities.'[1]
On the division between East and West the Patriarch of Jerusalem, as one of the four remaining Patriarchs, became one of the four Heads of the Holy Orthodox Eastern Church. The Crusades caused the Orthodox Church to give way before the Latin, and for many centuries thereafter the Patriarchs were content to reside in Constantinople, whence they only returned to Jerusalem in 1867 under Cyril II. In 1672, however, was held the important Synod of Jerusalem, which made the last notable official pronouncement of the Orthodox Church in matters of faith.
Present condition.—The British civil administration of Palestine found, on its assumption of office, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in a state of tribulation, partly owing to financial difficulties caused by the cessation of financial supplies from Russia, partly owing to a deadlock which had arisen between the Patriarch Damianos and his Synod. The Government accordingly appointed a Commission, consisting of Sir Anton Bertram, Chief Justice of Ceylon, and Mr. H. C. Luke, Assistant Governor of Jerusalem, to
- ↑ Fortescue, The Orthodox Eastern Church.
