Country Palestine Parishes 8 Area 6,300 km² | Population
- Catholics (as of 2012)
3,300 Rite Byzantine Rite | |
Ecclesiastical province Patriarchate of Antioch Denomination Melkite Greek Catholic Church | ||
The Archeparchy of Jerusalem of the Melkites (in Latin: Archieparchia Hierosolymitana Melchitarum) is a branch of the Catholic Church immediately subject to the Patriarch of Antioch of the Melkites. In 2005 there were 3,300 baptized. The current Vicar of the Patriarch Gregory III Laham is Joseph Jules Zerey.
Contents
Territory and statistics
The archeparchy includes the city of Jerusalem, where is the Cathedral of the Annunciation. The territory is divided into eight parishes. In the archeparchy at the end of 2005 there were 3,300 baptized, 12 priests and 8 parishes.
History
Starting in 1772, as noted by the Orientalium dignitas of Pope Leo XIII, the Patriarch of Antioch became "administrator of Jerusalem" for the Melkites of Palestine. Since 1838, the Melkite Patriarch took the title of Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem. As the seat of their patriarch of Jerusalem, the archeparchy is governed by a patriarchal vicar, who governs in the name of the patriarch. Often the vicars were simple priests. Patriarch Maximos III Mazloum consecrated the Cathedral of the Annunciation on 24 May 1848. Among the patriarchal vicars especially remembered is Hilarion Capucci, who was arrested by the authorities in Israel in 1974 for smuggling weapons for the Palestine Liberation Army and sentenced to jail, but who was later released in 1978 after insistent pressure from the Holy See.