Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/432

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

JERUSALEM


370


JERUSALEM


dictine monastery at the "Dormitio B. M. V." on Mount Sion, given by the German Emperor in 1906, the German and Austrian hospices, the French Pas- sionists and Lazarists, the Itahan Salesians, and French Peres de Sion and Christian Brothers. There are convents of the French Carmehte nuns (on the Mount of Olives, since 1873), Poor Clares, Franciscan nuns, "Dames de Sion", Sisters of St.Vincent de Paul, Benedictine nuns. Sisters of the Rosary, of St. Joseph and of "Marie-Rcparatrice". Of all these Latin in- stitutions the older colonies (e. g. the Franciscans) have on the whole an Italian character, by far the greatest number are French, but the Germans (espe- cially since the troubles about the protectorate) are now getting considerable influence. As throughout the Turkish Empire, French is the European language most spoken at Jerusalem.

Most of the Uniate Churches have establishments in the Holy City. The Melkite Patriarch of Antioch also bears the titles of Alexandria and Jerusalem. He has a church (St. Veronica) in the Khan-ez- zeit just behind St. Saviour where the Melkite patri- archal vicar (wl;o generally resides at Jaffa) and the patriarch himself (when present) officiate ; near it is a hospice for Melkites. There is also a Melkite monas- tery near the New Bazaar {Es-silk el-jedid). The Maronites have a parish church served by their patri- archal vicar; that of the Uniate Armenians {Notre Dame du Spasme) is in the Via Dolorosa opposite the Austrian hospice. The Armenians had an Arch- bishop of Jerusalem (Michael Alessandrius) from 1855 to 1867. No successor has been appointed to him. The Syrian Uniates have also a small church where their patriarchal vicar officiates. The Syrian Uniate Patriarch of Antioch is considered as adminis- trator of an Archdiocese of .Ier\isalem; but he doe.s not use the title. A hardship felt liy all these Uniates is that they cannot celebrate their Offices at the Holy Sepulchre. .VnionK Catholics the Turk recognizes only the rights of batins there.

The Orthodox Church naturally also fills a large place among the Christian communities of Jerusalem. The patriarch bears the title "the most blessed and holy Patriarch of the holy city Jerusalem and all Palestine, of Syria, Arabia beyond the Jordan, Cana of Galilee and Holy Sion". It should be noticed that of all the persons who bear the title " Patriarch of Jerusalem", this one alone represents liistoric con- tinuity from the original fine. His patriarchate ex- tends to the Lebanon on the north and the Red Sea on the south (except the autocephalous convent on Sinai). East and west it is bounded by_ the Syrian desert and the sea. The patriarch resides by the "Great Laura" in the Haret deir-er-rum not far from the Anastasis; he has also properties in the country at Katamon near Jerusalem (where they say St. Simeon lived) and near Deir Aban (between Jeru- salem and Jaffa) . The sees of the Patriarchate are Csesarea, Scythopolis (Beisan), Petra, Ptolemais ('Akka), Nazareth, Bethlehem, Lydda, Gaza, Nablus, Sebaste, Tabor, the Jordan, Tiberias, Philadelphia, Pella, Kerak, Dioca-sarea (Srpphoris), Madaba. The only resident bishop is the Mitnipolitan of 'Akka; those of Lydda, Gaza, Nablus, Sebaste, the Jordan, Philadelphia, Kerak and Madal)a live at Jerusalem and form the Patriarch's Court. The other sees are left vacant. In the administration of his Church the patriarch is assisted by a synod consisting of ten bishops and ten areliimaiidrites. Near the patriar- chate is the large Orthodox monastery (St. Constan- tine) with a printing-press and hospice for pilgrims. In the Holy Sepulchre the Orthodox possess the cen- tral part (the " Kiitholikoii") antl various eluipels. ■They have a monastery built against it (to the west). The actual Anastasis under its cupola is too precious to be given to any one religion; so it is common property, used in turn by all. There are sixteen


other Orthodox monasteries in and aroiuid the city and various hospices, hospitals and schools. For the education of their clergy they have the " Monastery of the Holy Cross" {Deir el-musallebe) about one and a half miles west of the city. Tliis monastery (said to be at the place where the tree grew from which the cross was made) was originally Georgian. Inscrip- tions in that language may be seen in the church. It was sold to the Greeks, opened as a theological college in 1855, since then several times closed and re-opene<l. Many students do not belong to the patriarchate, liut come from Asia Minor, Cj'prus, Greece, etc., to study here. There are hardly any Arabs. The only lan- guage used in the college is Greek. The Greek ele- ment has hitherto hail exclusive possession of the older Orthodox establishments in Jerusalem.

We have alluded to the trouljlcs now raging through the attempt of the Arabs to break this monopoly. It is considerably broken, though not in favoiu- of the Arabs, Ijy the Russian establishments. The auto- cephalous Russian Church is represented in Palestine by a great number of large colonies and institutions altogether separate from those of the iiatriarehate. The fir.st Russian archimandrite arrived in IS 14; the consulate dates from 1858. The Ru.ssian Palestine Society builds churches, in which the liturgy is cele- brated in Slavonic, and hospices for Russian pilgrims all over the country to the great annoyance of the Greek patriarchal element. It is because Russia has taken up the cause of the native Arabs that they can no longer be ignored as obscure revolutionaries of the lower classes. On the contrary, the Greek influence is already doomed; when Lord Damianus dies or is successfully deposed, we may expect to hear of an Arab patriarch as his successor. It remains to be seen whether the Phanar will then repeat the blunder it made at Antioch by excommunicating him. The chief Russian establishments at Jerusalem are the enormous group of buildings outside the city on the Jaffa road. These contain a large and very handsome church where the Russian archimandrite officiates, huge hospices for pilgrims, a hospital and other build- ings, all close to the Russian consulate. Then they have a gorgeous church in Gethsemane, and another one with a high tower, a convent of nims, and other buildings on the top of the Mount of Olives (the place of the Ascension in their tradition). There are also another Russian hospice in the Muristan, a lunatic asylum, and schools. But the Russians have no rights at the Holy Sepulchre. Each time they want to have a service there they must ask leave of the patriarch. About 8000 Russian pilgrims visit the Holy Places every year.

The Gregorian Armenians have a Patriarchate of Jerusalem as one of their two minor patriarchates. In the seventeenth century the Katholikos of Echmi- adzin gave the Armenian Bishop of Jerusalem the right to consecrate chrism; whereupon the bishop assumed the title patriarch and began ordaining bishops. The title is now acknowledged by the Ar- menian Church. The jurisdiction of the .\rmenian Patriarch of Jerusalem extends throughout the Pas- haliks of Damascus, 'Akka, Tarabulus (Tripoli), and Cyprus. Under him are seven archbishops and bishops who live with him and form his synod, an<l foiu-teen suffragans. The patriarchate is at the gre.'it .\rm(<!iian monastery of St. .lames to the south-west of the city, near the Bab Xcbi Ddiid. This was for- merly a Georgian monastery; the Armenians possess it since the thirteenth century. Besides the patri- arch and bishops about a himdred vartabeds live here. There are also a seminary and schools and a hospice for pilgrims adjoining the great church. They also have .'i monastery just outside the same gate (the reputed Ixiuse of Caiphas), a convent of nuns {Deir-ez-zcitfini) near the patriarchate, and land out- side the city opposite the great Rtissian colony. The