Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem - Current Position

Current Position

Today, the headquarters of the patriarchate is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The number of Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land is estimated to be about 200,000. A majority of Church members are Palestinian Arabs, and there are also small numbers Russians, Romanians, and Georgians.

The patriarchate was recently involved in a significant controversy. Patriarch Irenaios, elected in 2001, was deposed, on decisions of the Holy Synod of Jerusalem, in the aftermath of a scandal involving the sale of church land in East Jerusalem to Israeli investors. The move enraged many Orthodox Palestinian members, since the land was in an area that most Palestinians hoped would someday become part of a Palestinian state. On May 24, 2005 a special Pan-Orthodox Synod was convened in Constantinople (İstanbul) to review the decisions of the Holy Synod of Jerusalem. The Pan-Orthodox Synod under the presidency of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, voted overwhelmingly to confirm the decision of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and to strike Irenaios' name from the diptychs, and on May 30, Jerusalem's Holy Synod chose Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra to serve as locum tenens pending the election of a replacement for Irenaios. On August 22, 2005, the Holy Synod of the Church of Jerusalem unanimously elected Theophilos, the former Archbishop of Tabor, as the 141st Patriarch of Jerusalem.