Diocese of Jerusalem

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The diocese of Jerusalem was established jointly by Great Britain and Prussia in 1841 .

Prussian-British diocese

The idea came from the revival movements in the first half of the 19th century, to which the romanticizing King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia adhered. The negotiations were conducted by the Prussian ambassador in London , Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen . The result was that the bishop was alternately appointed by Berlin and the Archbishop of Canterbury and - because of the apostolic succession - he and the clerical staff of the diocese always had to be Anglican. The first name was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who appointed the native of Poznan , converted in England Professor Michael Solomon Alexander (1799-1845). His successor - appointed by Berlin - was the Swiss Samuel Gobat (1799–1879). The third bishop was Joseph Barclay , who died after two years. The appointment of a successor - now again by Prussia - never happened. This was prevented by arguments about how far the Prussian side should get involved in Anglican dogmas . The diocese existed formally until November 3, 1886, when it was terminated by the Prussian King, Kaiser Wilhelm I.

Anglican Diocese

From 1886 to 1976 the diocese was a diocese of the Church of England . The German part was formed by the Evangelical German Language Congregation in Jerusalem . The Anglican diocese spanned the entire Middle East. In 1920 Egypt and Sudan were spun off as a separate diocese. In 1957 the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese and received Egypt and the Diocese of Persia as a suffragan; but it remained in the Province of Canterbury . In 1976 the three dioceses were raised as the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East to an independent church province .

The Episcopal Church is St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem. The administrative district extends over Israel , the West Bank , Jordan , Syria and Lebanon .

The Anglican diocese has been led by Suheil Dawani , Bishop of Jerusalem , since 2007 . His coadjutor is Bishop Husam Elias Naoum.

Newman and the Diocese of Jerusalem

For John Henry Newman and the Anglo-Catholics influenced by him , the establishment of the Anglican Protestant diocese of Jerusalem was an alliance with the Lutheran and Calvinist "heresies" and thus one of the strongest impulses to strengthen the legitimacy of the Church of England as a branch of the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church ”and eventually convert to the Roman Catholic Church. In his Apologia pro vita sua , Newman wrote in 1864:

“I have never heard of the Diocese of Jerusalem Project that it did anything good or bad except what it did for me; what many consider a great misfortune, but I consider it one of the greatest graces. It led me to the beginning of the end. "

literature

  • Heinrich Abeken : The Evangelical Bishopric in Jerusalem, historical presentation with documents. Besser, Berlin 1842 digitized
  • Friedrich Heyer : 2000 years of church history in the Holy Land: martyrs, monks, church fathers, crusaders, patriarchs, excavators and pilgrims. Studies on Oriental Church History 11. Münster a. a. 2000. ISBN 3-8258-4955-4
  • Martin Lückhoff: Anglicans and Protestants in the Holy Land: The common diocese of Jerusalem (1841–1886). Treatises of the German Palestine Association 24. Wiesbaden 1998. ISBN 3-447-04011-4
  • Kurt Schmidt-Clausen : Anticipated unity: The establishment of the Diocese of Jerusalem in 1841. Work on the history and theology of Lutheranism 15. Berlin / Hamburg: Lutherisches Verlagshaus 1965

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Great Creed
  2. ↑ Apologia pro vita sua , Chapter III, reprinted by Yale University 2008, pp. 250f.