The Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, properly called the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, is regarded by Orthodox Christians as the mother church of all of Christendom, because it was in Jerusalem that the Church was established on the day of Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus Christ. From Jerusalem the gospel of Christ was spread to the world. This church is part of Eastern Orthodoxy. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... Jerusalem (31°46′ N 35°14′ E; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic: القدس al-Quds; see also names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ... The name of the Jewish holiday Shavuot is commonly translated as Pentecost. Pentecost is the Christian festival that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus at Easter, and ten days after the Ascension. ... This 11th-century portrait is one of many images of Jesus in which a halo with a cross is used. ... ...

As Christianity spread, and the persecutions of the Jews by Roman authorities in their homeland increased, causing the dispersion of many of the Christians from Jerusalem, the import of this church and its impact on the ongoing life of the whole Church diminished. By the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the bishop of Aelia Capitolina, the Roman colony founded on the site of Jerusalem after Bar Kokhba's revolt, was not even the highest ranking in the province, being subject to the Metropolitan of Caesarea. However, the Council accorded the bishop a certain undefined precedence in its seventh canon. It gradually grew in prestige, and in a decree issued from the seventh session of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 it was recognized as possessing full Patriarchal status, ranked fifth after the Churches of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch. The First Council of Nicaea, which took place during the reign of the emperor Constantine in 325 AD, was the first ecumenical (from Greek oikumene, worldwide) conference of bishops of the Christian Church. ... Events May 20 - First Council of Nicaea - first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church: The Nicene Creed is formulated, the date of Easter is discussed. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city, not from a territory-at-large. ... Bar Kokhba’s revolt (132-135 CE) against the Roman Empire, also known as The Second Jewish-Roman War or The Second Jewish Revolt, was a second major rebellion by the Jews of Iudaea. ... In hierarchical Christian churches, the rank of metropolitan bishop, whose incumbent is usually called simply a metropolitan, apertains to the bishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of an old Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. ... Caesarea Palaestina, also called Caesarea Maritima, a town built by Herod the Great about 25 - 13 BC, lies on the sea-coast of Israel about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa, on the site of a place previously called Pyrgos Stratonos (Strato or Stratons Tower, in Latin Turris Stratonis). ... In Western culture, canon law is the law of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. ... The Council of Chalcedon was an ecumenical council that took place from October 8—November 1, 451 at Chalcedon, a city of Bithynia in Asia Minor. ... Events April 7 - The Huns sack Metz June 20 - Attila, king of the Huns is defeated at Troyes by Aetius in the Battle of Chalons. ... Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The Orthodox Church of Constantinople is one of the fifteen autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches. ... The Orthodox Church of Alexandria is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches. ... The Antiochian Orthodox Church is one of the five churches that comprised the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church before the Great Schism, and today is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches. ...

The Church of Jerusalem remains the custodian of many of the holy sites in Jerusalem and environs, sometimes jointly with Roman Catholic or Coptic or Armenian Orthodox Christians. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Jesus Christ in a Coptic icon. ... The Armenian Apostolic Church, sometimes called the Armenian Orthodox Church is one of the original churches, having separated from the then-still-united Roman Catholic/Byzantine Orthodox church in 506, after the Council of Chalcedon (see Oriental Orthodoxy). ...

Lately there has been criticism of the church leadership by some of the Palestinian faithful, who accuse the Greek-speaking and largely Greek-born leadership of squandering their money and treating their Arabic-speaking members as second-class faithful. In 2005, a crisis of the patriarchy occured when Patriarch Irenaios was stripped of his authority as patriarch by the Holy Synod of Jerusalem. The locum tenens is Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra. The Palestinians are a mainly Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine. ... Irenaios Skopeliti (formerly, Patriarch Irenaios, Erinaios the 1st, or Eirinaios the 1st) is the former Patriarch of Jerusalem, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem (2001-2005). ... To defrock a priest is to deprive him of the right to exercise the functions of the priestly office. ... The Holy Synod of Jerusalem is the senior ruling body of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher. ... Locum tenens is a Latin phrase literally meaning holding place. ... Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra is a senior bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and is the current locum tenens of that church, pending the election of a new Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. ... The Treasury at Petra Petra (from petrus, rock in Greek; Arabic: البتراء, al-Bitrā) is an archaeological site in Jordan, lying in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Wadi Araba, the great valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. ...

On August 22, 2005, the Holy Synod of the Church of Jerusalem unanimously elected Theofilos III, the former Archbishop of Tabor, as the 141st Patriarch of Jerusalem. August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ... Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem (b. ... This is an article on the city of Tabor in the Czech Republic. ...

See also

• Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
• Jerusalem Patriarchate in America

The Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is the head bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... The Jerusalem Patriarchate in America The churches belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in North and South America are technically referred to as belonging to the Epitropia of the Holy Sepulcher in America since the Church of Jerusalem does not have any local resident diocese but is essentially...

External links

• Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
• Greek version of Patriachate page

This article is part of the Eastern Christianity Portal - Learn more about Eastern Christianity