Preparing for Orthodox Easter/Pascha by visiting Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's key sites
Information about the Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Patriarchate itself will be provided after this announcement.Unfortunately, I have not been able to work as a tour guide because of the war.
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Your tour guide
Zahi Shaked
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, is an autocephalous church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Established in the mid-fifth century as one of the oldest patriarchates in Christendom, it is headquartered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and led by the patriarch of Jerusalem, currently Theophilos III. The patriarchate's ecclesiastical jurisdiction includes roughly 200,000 to 500,000 Orthodox Christians across the Holy Land in Palestine, Jordan and Israel.
The church traces its foundation in Jerusalem to the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit, according to Christian beliefs, descended on the disciples of Jesus Christ and ushered the spread of the Gospel. The church celebrates its liturgy in the ancient Byzantine Rite – whose sacred language, Koine Greek, is the original language of the New Testament – and follows its own liturgical year under the Julian calendar.
The majority of Orthodox Christians under the patriarchate are Palestinians and Jordanians, with minorities of Russians, Romanians, and Georgians. However, the church's hierarchy has been dominated by Greek clergy since its creation, which has been a source of recurring tension and dispute. A movement to Arabize the church, known as the Arab Orthodox Movement, began in the 19th century. The church serves as custodian of several holy places in Christianity, including the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, where Jesus is said to have been born, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which includes the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and the empty tomb from which he is believed to have resurrected.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the second biggest owner of land in Israel, after only the Israeli government. The Greek Church purchased most of its lands from the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century. In the 1950s, shortly after Israel’s independence, the Greek Patriarchate agreed to lease most of its lands in Israel to the Israeli government for 99 years, with an option to extend. Even Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, was built on lands owned by the Greek Orthodox Church.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's properties also include historic buildings in Jerusalem's Old City, including the Imperial and Petra hotels, inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, as well as extensive areas in the Palestinian territories.