Christians and Churches of the Holy Land
Palestinian Christians, the forgotten faithful, belong to the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant communities. Their language is Arabic; they are considered forgotten because most Christians in the West are unaware of their existence.
In the universal church, Palestinian Christians are unique due to their centuries of history and attachment to the land of Jesus Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. Some of these Christians can trace their family lineage to the early days of the church; they are the direct descendants of those who first followed Jesus.
Living under Israeli occupation, seeing their homes and lands confiscated, having schools repeatedly closed, blocked from traveling even for health or religious purposes, and with increasingly limited employment opportunities, thousands of Christians have emigrated to other countries.
In 1948, Christians comprised about 18 percent of the population of the Holy Land; today they are less than 2 percent. The population decline in Jerusalem has been even more dramatic. In 1922, Christians numbered 51 percent of the population in Jerusalem; in 1978, 10 percent; and in 1990, only 4 percent of the population was Christian. The Christians who remain deserve recognition of their struggle to gain freedom and peace in the land called holy. Pilgrims from the West who meet and pray with Holy Land Christians realize that they have individually and collectively shared deeply in the way of the cross.
The Christian Churches of Jerusalem
ORIENTAL ORTHODOX
Armenian Orthodox Church
Armenian Christian pilgrims began to travel to the Holy Land in AD 301. Armenians claim to have the longest uninterrupted presence in Jerusalem, and the Armenian Church is one of the three guardians of the Holy Places, along with the Greek Orthodox and the Franciscan Holy Custody (Catholics). After the Armenian genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey, in which it is claimed that more than one and a half million Armenians were killed, 20,000 Armenians fled to the Holy Land. Ten thousand of them sought refuge in the Convent of the Olive Tree itself. Today, there are about 2,000 Armenians in Jerusalem, around half of whom live in the Armenian quarter.
Syrian Orthodox Church
The word "syrian" does not refer to the location of the church but rather to its use of the Syriac Aramaic language, a dialect of the language Jesus spoke in first-century Palestine. Syrian Christians see themselves as the first people to adopt Christianity as natives of the Holy Land. The Apostle Peter is considered to have been appointed the Syrian Orthodox Church's first Patriarch in AD 37. There are only 500-700 Syrian Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem today. Before 1948 and the creation of the State of Israel, there were around 6,000 families. There are currently around 6,000 Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, most of them living in the Bethlehem area.
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Ethiopians trace their link with Jerusalem back 3,000 years to when the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba is said to have visited King Solomon in Jerusalem. Legend has embellished the biblical references to her visit by including a tradition that the Queen not only adopted King Solomon's faith during her six-month stay but returned to Ethiopia pregnant with his child. There she gave birth to a son, Menelik, meaning 'son of the King,' who later visited his father in Jerusalem and returned with priests from the Temple of Jerusalem and instruments of worship from the Temple in Jerusalem such as temple drums. These drums are one of the most distinctive features of Ethiopian Christian worship today. Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia in AD 34 when the finance minister of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, who was visiting Jerusalem, was baptized by the Apostle Philip and, in turn, introduced baptism in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians are proud of their Jewish roots and links with Jerusalem. Certain Ethiopian customs still follow Jewish practice today. There are around 2,000 Ethiopian Christians in the Holy Land today. The worship is in Ge'ez - the liturgical language of Ethiopian Christians and a product of Hebrew and Arabic languages.
Coptic Orthodox Church
The Coptic Orthodox Church traces its founding back to St. Mark and is the largest Christian church in the Middle East today. The liturgy is in the Coptic language and also in Arabic. There are now around 2,000 Copts in the Holy Land. Many are originally from Egypt. The word Copt, in fact, derives from the Greek word Aigyptos, meaning Egyptian, and is used for all Egyptian Christians. The Coptic Orthodox Church takes pride in its country's place in the Bible. Egypt is mentioned in the lives of Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, Moses and Jeremiah, and there were residents of Egypt present in Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost. The Coptic Church is especially proud that Egyptian hospitality housed the Holy Family in its flight from Herod.
EASTERN ORTHODOX
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox is the largest faith community in the Holy Land with about 60,000 members. The Church dates itself back to the Apostle James who was the first Bishop of Jerusalem. Ever since AD 451, except during the Crusades, Jerusalem has been a Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek Patriarch has the status of 'first' when the church leaders in Jerusalem meet. The Jerusalem Patriarchate is one of the three guardians of the Holy places, through its Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. The Patriarch, the upper hierarchy, and the Brotherhood are almost all Greeks, while the parish priests and lay people are Arabs. The Byzantine liturgy is celebrated in Greek in the monasteries and Arabic in the parish churches.
Russian Orthodox Church
Byzantine Orthodox Christianity became the state religion in Russia in AD 988. During the eleventh century, Russian pilgrims began to make their way to the Holy Land, but they did not establish their own institutions in Palestine until the 19th century, when pilgrims started to come in their thousands to Jerusalem. After the Crimean War, when the number of pilgrims made a dramatic increase and the Tsar was eager to increase his influence in the region, 32 acres of choice real estate were acquired by the Russians, and the area now known as the Russian Compound was built. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and its disdain of the Church put an end to pilgrimage and also gave rise to a 'Church in Exile' or 'The Church Abroad.' The continuing Patriarchate in Moscow is called 'The Moscow Patriarchate.' Both groups hold property and churches in Jerusalem and, since the collapse of Communism and the greater openness to the Christian faith in Russia, there has been increased dispute over ownership and who is the authentic voice of Russian Orthodoxy in the Holy Land.
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian church was established in Jerusalem in 1935. Ten years earlier, the Church of Romania, with its headquarters in Bucharest, received the status of Patriarchate in the family of Orthodox churches, recognized as a leading Orthodox Church and Orthodox nation in the world because of its numbers and uninterrupted Christian witness. Romanian Orthodox tradition relates that the Virgin Mary asked her son to give her as an earthly dowry the gift of praying and defending the people of a certain land. Christ is said to have given her Mount Athos and the 'ring' of Romania, which is the shape of Romania's map. Thus, Romania is believed to be under her care.
CATHOLIC
Overview
The Catholic Church in the Holy Land belongs to seven Catholic Patriarchates: Roman Catholics; Greek Catholics or Melkites (see separate entry); Syrian Catholics; Maronites; Armenian Catholics; Chaldean Catholics; and Coptic Catholics. The two main groups are the Roman Catholics, known in the Holy Land as Latins, and the Greek Catholics (Melkites).
Roman Catholic or Latin Church
The Latins are the largest group in the city of Jerusalem with around 5,000 members. The Latin Patriarchate was established in Jerusalem in 1099 during the Crusades. A century later, when the Crusaders were conquered and forced to leave the city, the Latin hierarchy fled with them. In the absence of a residential Patriarch, Pope Clement VI, in 1342, made the Franciscan friars the official custodians of the Holy Land. Over the next 500 years, the Franciscans were the Latin Church presence in the Holy Land, guarding the Holy Places and encouraging the growth of the local churches. In the mid-19th century, the Latin Patriarchate was reestablished in Jerusalem. Latin-rite Catholics are largely Palestinian Arabs with the parish clergy and the Patriarch of Palestinian origin.
The Maronite Church of Antioch (founded by St. Maron) is the largest church in Lebanon. The Chaldean Catholic Church, separated from the Assyrian Church of the East in the mid-1500s, is now the largest Christian Church in Iraq. Both the Syrian Catholic Church and the Armenian Catholic Church retain much of the language and liturgy of their Orthodox counterparts but both are in communion with Rome.
Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church
The Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church was officially founded in 1724 after a split in the Patriarch of Antioch. One group continued as the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch with its own Patriarch, while another bishop was recognized by the Roman Pope as the Patriarch of the Greek Catholic Church. Although they have adopted some Roman Catholic practices, the Melkites have maintained the Byzantine liturgy (somewhat abbreviated) and many other Orthodox traditions. Worship is mostly in Arabic. Today there are 53,000 Greek Catholics in the Holy Land, making them overall the second largest Church after the Greek Orthodox. Around 50,000 live in the Galilee region. There is still a small community in Jerusalem.
THE EVANGELICALS
Anglican Church
The Jerusalem Diocese of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East was born in the 19th century with the missionary movement. It shared a bishopric with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan until the late 19th century, after which England continued its support of the Anglicans separately. Today, the Anglican Church has an Arab bishop and a large number of local schools and social service agencies. The Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem has both an Arab and an expatriate congregation who work closely together. Worship is in both English and Arabic.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan (ELCJ)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan came together with the Anglican Church in the 19th century with the missionary movement. It shared a bishopric with the Anglican Church until the late 19th century, after which Germany continued its support of the ELCJ separately. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan includes six Arab-speaking congregations in Jerusalem and the West Bank and one in Amman, Jordan. Worship also occurs in German and English. Danish Lutherans also worship with the ELCJ.
The ELCJ has a strong educational ministry, with 3,000 pupils in six schools, and is involved in ecumenical work and inter-faith dialogue. It also sponsors hospices and hospitals in Palestine.
This information was excerpted from Living Stones Pilgrimage by Alison Hilliard and Betty Jane Bailey (University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN 1999)
|
