The Council of Jerusalem of 536 was a meeting of

Chalcedonian Chalcedonian Christianity is the branch of Christianity that accepts and upholds theological and ecclesiological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christolo ...

representatives of the church of the Three Palestines ( Prima, Secunda, Tertia) to condemn certain persons accused of the

Monophysite Monophysitism ( or ) or monophysism () is a Christological term derived from the Greek (, "alone, solitary") and (, a word that has many meanings but in this context means "nature"). It is defined as "a doctrine that in the person of the incarn ...

heresy. It was convoked at the initiative the Roman emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

following the forced resignation of the Patriarch Anthimus I of Constantinople in February or March, an event in which Pope

Agapetus I Pope Agapetus I (489/490 – 22 April 536) was the bishop of Rome from 13 May 535 to his death. His father, Gordianus, was a priest in Rome and he may have been related to two previous popes, Felix III and Gregory I. In 536, Agapetus traveled ...

had played the main role. Following the Council of Constantinople in May–June 536, Patriarch

Menas of Constantinople Menas (Minas) ( grc, Μηνάς) (died 25 August 552) considered a saint in the Calcedonian affirming church and by extension both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church of our times, was born in Alexandria, and enters the recor ...

wrote to Patriarch

Peter of Jerusalem Peter of Jerusalem was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 524 to 544. He held to the Chalcedonian belief.Jerusalem (A.D. ...

urging him to hold a council of the Three Palestines to condemn the same heretics as had Constantinople: Anthimus,

Severus of Antioch Severus the Great of Antioch (Greek: Σεβῆρος; syr, ܣܘܝܪܝܘܣ ܕܐܢܛܝܘܟܝܐ), also known as Severus of Gaza or Crown of Syrians (Syriac: ܬܓܐ ܕܣܘܪܝܥܝܐ; Tagha d'Suryoye; Arabic: تاج السوريين; Taj al-Suriyyun ...

, Zaʿūra the Stylite and

Peter of Apamea Peter (Syriac: ''Peṭrūs'' or ''Peṭrā'') was the bishop of Apamea from at least 514/515 until his removal in 519. A protégé of Severus of Antioch, Peter was the only non-Chalcedonian bishop in the province of Syria Secunda and appears to h ...

. The emperor also sent a letter. These letters were delivered by the monks of the Judaean Desert who had traveled to Constantinople to take part in the council there. Since Jerusalem had only been raised to a patriarchate by the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bith ...

in 451, the authority of the bishop of the city over the church in the Three Palestines was not accepted by

anti-Chalcedonian Non-Chalcedonian Christianity comprises the branches of Christianity that do not accept theological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Non-Chalcedonian denominations reject the Christological D ...

s. The council met on 19 September 536 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

(formally Aelia Capitolina). It conducted its business in Greek. Its acts are preserved in the collection known as the Collectio Sabbaitica. The verdicts of the Council of Constantinople were read into the record and the assembled clergy at Jerusalem discussed all four condemned clerics. Their own verdict, however, only explicitly condemned Anthimus. It was subscribed by 47 bishops, which was almost every bishop in the Three Palestines. There is no logical sequence to the subscriptions and they were all made in Greek.

List of signatory bishoprics

The list of 47 bishops appears to be nearly complete for the Three Palestines. Among the known sees of ancient Palestine, only the bishoprics of Diospolis, Maiuma of Ascalon, Maiuma of Gaza and

Zoara Zoara, the biblical Zoar, previously called Bela (), was one of the five "cities of the plain" – a pentapolis at that time of Abram or Abraham named later, it was a highly fertile valley apparently located along the lower Jordan Valley and th ...

were probably in existence in 536 and are unrepresented in the subscriptions.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{refend 536 530s in the Byzantine Empire Jerusaalem Medieval Jerusalem Christianity in Jerusalem