Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilos III (Elijah Yiannopoulos): biography

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Unlike the Catholic Church, where all bishoprics are subordinate to the Pope, Orthodox patriarchates are local, that is, independent of each other. But one cannot deny the role of Jerusalem - the holy city for all Christians. After all, the first historical church was founded there. Therefore, the authority of the primate of this patriarchate is undeniable. Who is at the head of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church? Today we will talk about it. Since his throne is in Jerusalem, and jurisdiction extends to Syria, Palestine, Israel and Arabia (the church itself is often called Zion), he cannot be out of politics. The election of a new head is closely monitored by clerics and ministers of other orthodox local patriarchates. The statements of the Jerusalem primate often resonate in political circles.

The meaning of patriarchy in Christianity

Jerusalem is not in vain considered holy for the three worldreligions in the city. It is especially zealously revered by Christians of all denominations, because the Son of God lived and preached here. In Jerusalem, Jesus was crucified. Here He was resurrected. In this city on the day of Pentecost, through the descent of the Holy Spirit, the first Church of God was formed. Subsequently, from here the apostles dispersed to different corners of the earth, preaching the Gospel to all nations. Therefore, the Jerusalem Orthodox Church is considered the mother of the rest of the orthodox patriarchates. The first bishop in it was Jacob the Righteous, who received the crown of martyrdom at the hands of King Herod. Since Jerusalem was constantly attacked and captured, the primacy of its patriarchy was lost and passed to the primate of Constantinople. At the moment, in the diptych of churches, it is listed as the fourth most important (after Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch). The full title of the primate is the Most Holy and Beatitude Patriarch of the holy city of Jerusalem, all Palestine, Arabia, Syria, obonpol (two banks) of the Jordan, Holy Zion and Cana of Galilee.

Modern organization of the local church

Jerusalem has often been the victim of invasions. To protect holy places from destruction and defilement - all the heads of the local church saw their calling in this. To do this, they were forced to use all their diplomatic abilities. The turning point happened in the 16th century, when the Patriarch of Jerusalem Herman II obtained from the Ottoman authorities a decree that all the Christian shrines of Palestine would from that moment be in the hands of the Orthodox. In the same century, a monasticBrotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher. The monastery was inhabited only by monks who arrived from Greece. According to the position adopted in the middle of the 19th century, the Holy Sepulcher remained under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox, while the Bethlehem Basilica of the Nativity of Christ passed to the Catholics. Until the forties of the 19th century, the patriarchs of Jerusalem were appointed by the primate of the Church of Constantinople. Now he is elected by the Synod Cathedral. But three secular authorities affirm in the rank of patriarch of Jerusalem: Palestine, Jordan and Israel. Over the long history of the local church, one hundred and forty primates have changed in it. At the moment, it is headed by the 141st Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilus the Third.

Biography

The current primate of the church in the world was named Elijah Yiannopoulos. He was born on April 4, 1952. Greek by nationality. This alone has already served as a good launching pad for a career in the patriarchate of Jerusalem. The majority of parish priests and believers in these lands are Arabs. But historically, the entire episcopate is elected exclusively from members of the monastic brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher. And this monastery is inhabited by immigrants from Hellas. I. Yiannopoulos was born in the village of Gargaliani, which is located in the nome of Messinia (Greece). While still a teenager, at the age of twelve, he arrived in Jerusalem and settled as a novice in the brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher. From 1964 to 1970, Elijah studied at the patriarchal school. The young man received monastic tonsure in June 1970 from the Patriarch of Jerusalem Benedict I. As befits a monk, he took a new name - Theophilus, meaning“Loving God.”

Church career

Even in the patriarchal school, the young novice showed great abilities and an unprecedented craving for knowledge. Therefore, after taking the vows, the church authorities decided that the young monk should continue his theological education. In 1975 he was sent to his homeland, Greece, to enter the theological faculty of the University of Athens. After graduating in 1978, the future Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilus was elevated to the monastic rank of archimandrite. But here, too, the young cleric decided that his theological education had not been completed. In 1981, he entered the University of Durham (UK), where he completed his studies in 1986. After returning to Jerusalem, Theophilus served for two years as acting chairman for external relations under the patriarchy. Later, he served as a representative of his church in a number of organizations. In 2001-2003 he was even an ambassador to the Moscow Patriarchate, although he rarely visited Russia. In the early 2000s, he was appointed to the honorary position of senior keeper of the Holy Sepulcher.

Previous Patriarch Irenaeus of Jerusalem

In the summer of 2001, at the Council of the local church, the exarch in Athens (responsible for the spread of the Holy Fire), the archbishop of Hierapolis and a member of the Holy Synod, who bore the name of Emmanuel Skopelitis in the world, was elected its primate. As patriarch, Irenaeus the First greatly contributed to the career advancement of his successor Theophilus. But in 2005, a church fire flared up.scandal. The Holy Synod accused the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Irenaeus, of giving an Israeli company a long-term lease of real estate in the Old City. The primate himself refused to participate in the trial. According to the decision of the Synod, and then the Pan-Orthodox Council, which met in Phanar, the patriarch was deposed, deprived of his priesthood, demoted to a monk and sentenced to imprisonment in his own cell. He stayed there for seven years until he was forced to leave for he alth reasons to undergo a surgical operation.

Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilus and his predecessor

The deposition of Irenaeus unexpectedly elevated the current primate of the church to a high rank. This allowed idle tongues to chat about the involvement of the latter in the accusations, which turned out to be insufficient. But Theophilus III remained on friendly terms with his deposed predecessor. So, in 2015, Irenaeus unexpectedly appeared at the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire, where he was greeted and blessed by the current patriarch. By the way, the primate of the Church of Constantinople Bartholomew also visited him.

Political statements of the Patriarch of Jerusalem

On Easter 2008, the clergy and believers of the Russian Federation were shocked by Theophilus III's sharp criticism of Porfiry Uspensky, the founder of the Russian spiritual mission in the Holy City. He declared that the latter poisoned the lives of believers with "the poison of nationalism." Deacon Andrey Kuraev and the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Church Herald" saw signs of Russophobia in this statement. In the past two years, Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem has repeatedlymet with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, prayed for peace in this country and discussed the problem of uniting believers into a single local church.