The Anglo-Prussian bishopric in Jerusalem was an
episcopal see founded in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in the
nineteenth century
The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium.
The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...
by joint agreement of the
Anglican Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
and the
united
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
Evangelical Church in Prussia
The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Pru ...
.
Background
As a result of more than one missionary effort in the
Holy Land in the earlier years of the century, and of the expedition sent thither in 1840 by the so-called
Quadruple Alliance,
Frederick William IV of Prussia thought the occasion favorable for establishing a firm position for
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
Christians in that country. The Armenian, Greek, and Latin churches had long possessed the advantage of permanent corporations under treaty sanction, the two latter having also powerful protectors (Russia and France respectively), while
Protestants had no regular standing. The king therefore sent
Bunsen on a special mission to
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
to lay before the
archbishop of Canterbury and the
bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, who welcomed the proposal, a plan for the joint erection of a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
bishopric
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
under the protection of England and Prussia.
[Meyer (1914)]
The proposal
The endowment of the see was fixed at £30,000 in order to secure an annual income of £1,200 for the bishop, who was to be appointed by Prussia and England alternately; the archbishop of Canterbury, however, had a veto on the Prussian nomination; in other particulars the organization of the see was practically that of an Anglican bishopric, and its holder was at first subject to the
metropolitan authority of Canterbury. His jurisdiction, which extended provisionally beyond Palestine over the Protestants of all Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, was to be exercised according to the
canons and usages of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
.
[
]
The English act of parliament
The Bishops in Foreign Countries Act 1841
The Bishops in Foreign Countries Act 1841 (5 Vict., c. 6) is an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to enable the United Church of England and Ireland to create bishops overseas.
The Act authorised the consecration o ...
(also called the Jerusalem Bishopric Act), which came into force 5 October, authorized the consecration of a bishop for a foreign country who need not be a subject of the British crown nor take the oath of allegiance, while, on the other hand, the clergy ordained by him would have no right to officiate in England or Ireland. It was agreed by both parties that the bishop should protect and aid German communities, among whom the cure of souls should be provided for by German clergy, ordained according to the English rite after examination and subscription of the three ecumenical creeds; that the liturgy was to be compiled from those received in the Evangelical Christian Church of Prussia and authorized by the archbishop of Canterbury; that confirmation was to be administered to the Germans by the bishop after the English form. These far-reaching concessions aroused great dissatisfaction among the German Lutherans (Old Lutherans
Old Lutherans were originally German Lutherans in the Kingdom of Prussia, notably in the Province of Silesia, who refused to join the Prussian Union of churches in the 1830s and 1840s. Prussia's king Frederick William III was determined to uni ...
and Neo-Lutherans), and the project was unfavorably received by the High Church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
party in England on opposite grounds. For John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
, the fact that the Anglican Church was willing to set up a merged Church overseas with German Protestants who did not believe in the apostolic succession was further conclusive proof that the Anglican Church was Protestant in essence, and the affair was one of the catalysts for his conversion to Roman Catholicism.[
]
The bishopric in practice
The first bishop appointed under the agreement was a Jewish convert, Michael Alexander, who had been converted while serving as a rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
at Plymouth in 1825. He entered the ministry of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
, became a missionary of the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews, and professor of Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and rabbinical literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...
at King's College London. He was consecrated a bishop on 7 November 1841 to serve as the first "Bishop in Jerusalem".[ He took up his residence in Jerusalem at the beginning of 1842, and died in the desert near Cairo 23 November 1845. Alexander was succeeded by ]Samuel Gobat
Samuel Gobat (26 January 1799 – 11 May 1879) was a Swiss Calvinist who became an Anglican missionary in Africa and was the Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem from 1846 until his death.
Biography
Samuel Gobat was born at Crémines, Canton of Bern, ...
, a native of Crémines in the Bernese Alps
, topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo
, photo=BerneseAlps.jpg
, photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau
, country= Switzerland
, subdivision1_type= Cantons
, subdivision1=
, parent= Western Alps
, borders_on=
, ...
, and a former missionary in Ethiopia. In his time it became evident that the joint bishopric could not endure.[
The German community showed a notable increase, numbering 200 members in 1875, and important charitable works were connected with it; a provisional chapel for their worship was erected in 1871, to be replaced by the larger church dedicated in the presence of the ]German emperor
The German Emperor (german: Deutscher Kaiser, ) was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the offi ...
on 31 October 1898. Meantime the relations between the German and English congregations had become more and more merely nominal. Bishop Gobat was succeeded in 1879 by an Englishman, Joseph Barclay
Joseph Barclay (1831–1881) was Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem.
Early life
Barclay was born near Strabane in county Tyrone, Ireland, his family being of Scottish extraction. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and proceeded B.A. in 1854 ...
, who died two years later, and the next nomination came to Germany.
The final separation was brought about by the insistence of the Church of England that the bishop should subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles
The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...
and be consecrated according to the English rite. Germany objected to this, and the agreement was finally abolished by the king of Prussia on 3 November 1886, since which time the bishopric has been maintained by the Church of England alone under an Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem
The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem ( ar, أبرشية القدس الأنغليكانية) is the Anglican jurisdiction for Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is a part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the ...
.[ The Lutheran mission evolved into what is now the ]Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) is a Lutheran denomination that has congregations in Jordan and State of Palestine. First recognized as an autonomous religious community by King Hussein in 1959,Evangelical Lut ...
.
References
Bibliography
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*
*
*
*
*Meyer, P. (1914)
Jerusalem, Anglican-German Bishopric in
, '' Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge''
*
*
{{Authority control
Dioceses of the Church of England
Christianity in Jerusalem
Organizations based in Jerusalem
1841 establishments in the Ottoman Empire