Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
Archbishopric
Eastern Orthodox
Incumbent: Patriarch Theophilos III
Style	His Most Godly Beatitude
Information
First holder	James the Just
Established	33 (founded);[1] 531 (granted title of patriarch)
Cathedral	Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Website
jerusalem-patriarchate.info

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The Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem or Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, officially patriarch of Jerusalem (Greek: Πατριάρχης Ιεροσολύμων; Arabic: بطريرك القدس; Hebrew: פטריארך ירושלים), is the head bishop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 2005, the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem has been Theophilos III. The patriarch is styled "Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Holy Land, Syria, beyond the Jordan River, Cana of Galilee, and Holy Zion." The patriarch is the head of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, and the religious leader of about 130,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land,^[2] most of them Palestinian Christians in Israel and Palestine.

The patriarchate traces its line of succession to the first Christian bishops of Jerusalem, the first being James the Just in the 1st century AD. Jerusalem was granted autocephaly in 451 by the Council of Chalcedon and in 531 became one of the initial five patriarchates.

On the importance of Jerusalem in Christianity, the Catholic Encyclopedia reads:

During the first Christian centuries the church at this place (referring to the cenacle) was the centre of Christianity in Jerusalem, "Holy and glorious Sion, mother of all churches". Certainly no spot in Christendom can be more venerable than the place of the Last Supper, which became the first Christian church.^[3]