| Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | Anglican |
| Scripture | Holy Bible |
| Theology | Anglican |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| President Bishop | Hosam Naoum |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem |
| Territory | Israel,Palestinian territories,Jordan,Syria,Lebanon,Cyprus, thePersian Gulf states,Oman,Yemen,Iraq,Egypt,Ethiopia,Iran |
| Members | 35,000 |
TheEpiscopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East is aprovince of theAnglican Communion. Theprimate of the church is called President Bishop and represents the Church at the internationalAnglican Communion Primates' Meetings. The Central Synod of the church is its deliberative and legislative organ.
The province consists of three dioceses:
A fourth diocese (Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa) was part of the province until June 2020. In 2019 the synod of the province had agreed to allow theDiocese of Egypt to withdraw, in order to become an autonomous province,[1] with the other three existing dioceses remaining as the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East.[1] This was put into effect on 29 June 2020, with the creation of theProvince of Alexandria.[2]
Each diocese is headed by abishop. The President Bishop (Primate, but not an Archbishop) is chosen from among the diocesan bishops, and retains diocesan responsibility. The President Bishop,Hosam Naoum since 2023, also serves as Archbishop in Jerusalem. The province estimates that it has around 35,000 baptized members in 55 congregations. The province has around 40 educational or medical establishments and 90 clergy.
The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East began as a number of missionary posts of theChurch Mission Society (CMS) in Cyprus, theMiddle East and thePersia. The Church Mission Society continues to provide the province with lay mission partners and ordained chaplains, but now the majority of its ministry is drawn from local congregations.
During the 1820s, CMS began to prepare for permanent missionary stations in the region.
In 1833, a missionary station was established inJerusalem with the support of theLondon Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (a Jewish Christian missionary society now known as theChurch's Ministry Among Jewish People or CMJ). In 1839, the building of theChurch of Saint Mark, Alexandria was begun.
In 1841,Michael Solomon Alexander, a convertedrabbi, arrived in Jerusalem asbishop. Hisdiocese originally covered the mission stations in the Middle East and Egypt, and was a joint venture with theEvangelical Church in Prussia (the so-calledAnglo-Prussian Union), serving Lutherans and Anglicans.
In 1849,Christ Church, Jerusalem, became the first Anglican church in Jerusalem.
In the 1860'sThe Church of the Good Shepherd, Salt in modern Jordan had its origins in the work of a local Arabgrain merchant andcolporteur fromNablus who started bible studies under a tree. At the timeSalt, Jordan was a majorOttoman regional city east of the river Jordan in the Levant.
In 1871,Christ Church, Nazareth was consecrated by BishopSamuel Gobat, and the first Arab Anglicans were ordained.[3][4]
In 1881, the Anglo-Prussian Union ceased to function, and it was formally dissolved in 1887. From that time, the diocese became solely Anglican.
In 1888, BishopGeorge Blyth founded theJerusalem and the East Mission, which would help raise funds for missions throughout the Middle East.
Saint George's Cathedral was built in 1898 in Jerusalem as a central focus for the diocese.
Although the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East began as a foreign missionary organisation, it quickly established itself as part of the local, especially Palestinian community. In 1905, thePalestinian Native Church Council was established to give Palestinians more say in the running of the church. This led to an increase in the number of Palestinian and Arab clergy serving the diocese.
In 1920, theDiocese of Egypt and the Sudan was formed, separate from the Diocese of Jerusalem, withLlewelyn Gwynne as its first bishop. In the 1920s the Bishop foundedSt. George's College as a seminary for local clergy-in-training. Bishop Gwynne established the second cathedral ofAll Saints', Cairo (the present cathedral is the third building) in 1938.
In 1945,Sudan became a separate diocese from Egypt (seeEpiscopal Church of the Sudan for its history).
In 1957, the See of Jerusalem was elevated to the rank of anarchbishopric (its bishop being anarchbishop) under the authority of theArchbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop in Jerusalem had metropolitan oversight of the entire area of the current province with the addition of the Sudan (five dioceses in all). In that same year,Najib Cubain was consecrated Bishop of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, the first Arab bishop, assistant to the Archbishop in Jerusalem. During the 1950s, political unrest in Egypt left the diocese in the care of four Egyptian clergy under the oversight of the Archbishop in Jerusalem. On 29 August 1974,Faik Haddad (to becomecoadjutor bishop in Jerusalem) andAql Aql (to become Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) were consecrated bishops by Stopford atSt George's Cathedral, Jerusalem.[5]
An Anglican Bishop of Egypt was appointed in 1968, and, in 1974, the first Egyptian bishop,Ishaq Musaad, was consecrated. In 1976,Faik Haddad became the first Palestinian Anglican bishop in Jerusalem.
In 1976, the structure of the Anglican church in the region was overhauled.[6] Jerusalem became an ordinary bishopric and the four dioceses had equal status in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The Archbishop of Canterbury relinquished his metropolitan authority to a Presiding Bishop and the Central Synod, with the four dioceses rotating the responsibility of the Bishop President and synodical leadership. The central synod includes the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. In Jerusalem when a bishop reaches the age of 68 a coadjutor bishop should be elected to work alongside the bishop for two years.[7] while the Bishops in Egypt and Iran are elected without working alongside the former bishop; and the Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf was appointed by theArchbishop of Canterbury. Due to the difficult situation in Iran since the 1970's various Bishops or Vicars General have been appointed to serve in the position, often residing outside the country.
The Diocese of Egypt was expanded to take in the chaplaincies of Ethiopia, Somalia, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. Sudan became a fully separate and independent province.
In 1970, the Cathedral of All Saints in Cairo was demolished to make way for a new Nile bridge. In 1977, work on a new building onZamalek was begun, and completed in 1988.
In June 2020 the Diocese of Egypt left the province, split into four dioceses, and was formed into an autonomous province named theEpiscopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria.[2]
The President Bishops of the Central Synod have been:[8]
Diocesan seats are St Paul's Cathedral,Nicosia,Cyprus and St Christopher's Cathedral,Manama,Bahrain. The current bishop isSean Semple.
The diocese is divided into twoarchdeaconries: one for Cyprus and one for thePersian Gulf area.
Countries served:
The Diocese of Iran was first established in 1912 as theDiocese of Persia and was incorporated into theJerusalem Archbishopric in 1957.[9] Currently, there is an episcopal vacancy and the Vicar General is the Revd Albert Walters. The diocesan seat isSt Luke's Church,Isfahan,Iran.
The current Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem isHosam Naoum who was installed on May 13, 2021.[10]
Effective from 2014, the Jerusalem diocese has again become an archbishopric, with its bishop styled "Archbishop in Jerusalem".[11][12] This title applies regardless of whether the current bishop is the primate of the province or not, and is a mark of the ambassadorial role of the archbishop in theHoly Land on behalf of the Anglican Communion.
The Diocese of Jerusalem coversIsrael, thePalestinian territories,Jordan,Syria andLebanon.
The diocesan seat isCathedral Church of St George the Martyr,Jerusalem.
The parish with the largest congregation is theChurch of the Redeemer, Amman, Jordan. The cornerstone of the church was laid in 1949, and the church houses both Arabic and English-speaking congregations today.[13]
Then-President BishopMouneer Anis was the Chairman of the Global South and one of the seven Anglican archbishops present at the investiture ofFoley Beach as the second Archbishop of theAnglican Church in North America at 9 October 2014. The seven Primates signed a statement recognizing Beach as a "fellow Primate of the Anglican Communion".[14] The province was represented atGAFCON III, inJerusalem, on 17–22 June 2018, by a 13 members delegation, fromEgypt,Ethiopia,Israel,Jordan and theUnited Arab Emirates.[15] However, the province itself is not a member of GAFCON.[16]
In 2022,Michael Lewis, then Archbishop ofthe Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf and President Bishop, signed a letter during the Lambeth Conference supporting the full inclusion ofLGBTQ people in the Anglican Communion.[17]
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| African provinces | ||
| Pan-American provinces | ||
| Asian provinces |
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| European provinces |
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| Oceanian provinces | ||
| Extra-provincial churches | ||
| Churches infull communion | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
