Christodulus I Of Jerusalem
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Christodulus I of Jerusalem, also Christopher, was Melkite Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Church of Jerusalem from 937 to 951. Early in his patriarchate he was confronted with Muslim rioting and church destruction. Originally named Habib; he was from
Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...
. He took the name Christodulus when he became the patriarch of Jerusalem. He succeeded Nicholas who was
patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
for a very short time in 937, and had been killed before the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
. During the first years of his episcopate a major riot occurred during the
liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
on
Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...
, resulting in major damage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. While he was serving inside the Church the rioters set fire to it. The catastrophe on 24 March was recorded in the Jerusalem Calendar: “We must record with great and full bitterness the martyrdom of men, women, youths, and infants which took place on Palm Sunday.” Further destruction occurred in
Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...
where
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
and
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
attacked and burned a church known as '“Mary the Green”. When the Bishop of Ashkelon attempted to obtain the permission of the
caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
in
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
to rebuild the church, the Muslim partisans objected seriously, and he never received permission from the caliph. Yet amid the rioting and persecutions, Patriarch Christodulus, in 941, was able to consecrate
Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
as the
Patriarch of Alexandria The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope" (etymologically "Father", like "Abbot"). The Alexandrian episcopate was revered as one of the three major episco ...
in the Church of the Anastasis, or Resurrection, as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is also known. Patriarch Christodulus died in 951 and was succeeded by Agathon as patriarch.


Sources


The History of the Church of Jerusalem
* 10th-century patriarchs of Jerusalem People of the Ikhshidid dynasty Melkites in the Abbasid Caliphate {{EarlyChurch-bishop-stub