George Francis Popham Blyth (25 April 1832 – 5 November 1914) was an Anglican

bishop 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 ...

in the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first two of the twentieth.

Life

He was educated at St Paul's School and

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, and ordained in 1885. After a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at St Mary, Westport, he spent 20 years in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

(ending this part of his career as Archdeacon of Rangoon). In 1887 he was appointed the fourth Bishop of Jerusalem, a post he held for 27 years. A Sub-Prelate of the

Order of St John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, he died on 5 November 1914. He had become a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

(DD). During his ministry, as an Anglo-Catholic, he found himself unable to convert either

Christ Church, Jerusalem Christ Church, Jerusalem ( he, כנסיית המשיח), is an Anglican church located inside the Old City of Jerusalem, established in 1849 by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. It was the original seat of the Ang ...

(under the LJS) or St Paul's (Jerusalem, under the evangelical

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

) into his episcopal church. Therefore, he founded the

Jerusalem and the East Mission The Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association (JMECA), previously known as the Jerusalem and the East Mission (JEM), was founded in 1888 by Bishop George Blyth, the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem. History In 1888 Blyth establish ...

and purchased land outside of the Old City walls, and raised the funds to build what is today

St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem St. George's Cathedral is an Anglican (Episcopal) cathedral in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, established in 1899. It became the seat of the Bishop of Jerusalem of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, having taken the title from Ch ...

. To raise funds for his own work he started the Good Friday Offering, still observed in the Episcopal Church of the USA. Unlike his predecessor

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, ...

, who had resorted to proselytising among Christians of other, mostly Orthodox denominations, legalised by the

Porte Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

by a

ferman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...

in 1850 issued under the pressure of the Protestant powers of Britain and Prussia, Blyth preferred missions among Jews and Muslims.

Proselytism Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...

among Christians had been criticised by proponents of the Anglican

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 ...

faction. Blyth wanted to maintain good relations with the Orthodox churches.Cf.

Abdul Latif Tibawi Abdul Latif Tibawi ( ar, عبد اللطيف الطيباوي, 1910–1981) was a Palestinian historian and educationalist. Biography Born in Taybet El-Muthalath, near TulKarem, he was one of the earliest graduates of the Arabic College, Dar Al-M ...

, ''British Interest in Palestine 1800-1901: a Study of Religious and Educational Enterprise'', London: Oxford University Press, 1961, pp. 237-255.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Blyth, George Francis Popham 1832 births 1914 deaths 19th-century Anglican bishops in the Middle East Archdeacons of Rangoon Anglican bishops of Jerusalem People educated at St Paul's School, London Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Year of birth unknown Sub-Prelates of the Venerable Order of Saint John Anglo-Catholic bishops 20th-century Anglican bishops in the Middle East