SAINT JUVENAL OF JERUSALEM - Dr Augustine Sokolovski

The title of "Patriarch" as head of the local Church of Jerusalem was chosen by Saint Cyril (315-386) to clearly emphasize that Christians constituted the new biblical Israel and that the Jewish patriarch, the "Nasi," whose existence dated back to the time of the Babylonian captivity, could no longer be considered the head of the Palestinian people. In this logic, the patriarch bore the burden of spiritual care for the internal well-being of the Church, and in external affairs he was the one who could and should be held accountable before the political community in crisis situations.

This name changes for the bishop of the Holy City, however, had no immediate consequences. Cyril was a great missionary, exegete, and theologian; his catechetical sermons are unsurpassed classics of all time. He considered himself the Patriarch of Jerusalem but did not reason in legal and canonical terms. His diocese was still very small at the time and, moreover, subordinate to the bishop of a neighboring city, Caesarea Maritima.

It was another half century before a certain Juvenal became bishop of the Holy City. He succeeded in extending the jurisdiction of the Church of Jerusalem to all of Palestine, demarcating this local Church from the great and ancient Church of Antioch and securing for himself the title of patriarch, not only in the theological sense, as was the case with Cyril, but also in the legal and canonical sense. He made Jerusalem the fifth Church in all Christendom and a member of what was called the Pentarchy, that is, the "Power of Five." All this happened at the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, which took place in 451. Juvenal was one of the few Church Fathers to participate in three ecumenical councils: the Third Council of Ephesus (431), the Fourth Council of Chalcedon (451), and another Council of Ephesus (449), which was later rejected by the Church and labeled an "assembly of robbers." In theology, a specific term was even coined to designate such a council, the Latin "Latrocinium."

Juvenal's year of birth is unknown. Based on his name and his knowledge of Latin, it is assumed that he was Roman. In 422, Juvenal became Bishop of Jerusalem. As previously stated, Jerusalem was then a small diocese. The Bishop of the Holy City was canonically subordinate to the Metropolitan of Caesarea in Palestine. Palestine, for its part, was under the jurisdiction of the Church of Antioch. In 451, the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon separated the Church of Jerusalem from Antioch and proclaimed it a patriarchate. This transformation was the great achievement of Saint Juvenal. He is therefore considered, canonically and historically, the first Patriarch of Jerusalem in history.

Soon after the Council of Chalcedon, it became clear that the Church of Egypt—apart from the local Greek community of Alexandria—and the Syrian Church of Antioch would not accept the council's theology. The same threat loomed over Palestine. Through considerable effort, Juvenal managed to save the Church of Jerusalem from a similar catastrophe. These efforts included personal wisdom, political insight, diplomatic talent and, most importantly, a willingness to completely reconsider one's position and choose new allies. Thus, at the Councils of Ephesus, Juvenal relied on Alexandria, and at Chalcedon, and most importantly, after, he "went over" to the side of Rome and Constantinople.

The saint led the Church of Jerusalem for nearly 40 years. His pontificate was one of the longest in history. During the last seven years of his life, he held the title of "Patriarch." The Orthodox Church venerates Juvenal not only for his personal piety, but above all for his great services to the Church of Jerusalem and to Orthodox Christianity as a whole. The Church celebrates his memory on July 15, which, according to the Julian calendar, corresponds to the day of his death, July 2, 458.

The liturgical celebration in honor of Saint Juvenal also has a sad aspect. While the Church of the time absolutely needed the Pentarchy system to strengthen its unity and protect itself from the unbridled ambitions of the Archbishop of Alexandria, the imperial power supported the system of power of the five hierarchs because it was based on the old Roman principle of "divide and rule" and therefore, from the politicians' point of view, it infinitely weakened the Church!

With the rise of Islam, the role of the patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and then Jerusalem diminished. The structure of the universal Church became binary: the Pentarchy became the Diarchy of Rome and Constantinople. At the turn of the millennium (1054), with the seizure of power in the Latin Church by the monks of Cluny, and then with the fall of Constantinople (1453) and the transfer of power in Greek Christianity to the Ottoman rulers, the Diarchy essentially gave rise to Orthodoxy and Catholicism, which slowly evolved into two distinct and still unreconciled forms of Christianity.