History
The history of Anglicanism in Jerusalem goes back to 1841. However, a proposal for the establishment of a permanent post in Jerusalem by the Church Missionary Society was under consideration as early as 1821. The London Jewish Society, which had as its aim the conversion of Jewry, also took an interest in the city. It was not until after the capture of the city by Mohammad Ali of Egypt in 1831 that much progress was made, and the first permanent station was established in Jerusalem in 1833. The first Bishop, Michael Solomon Alexander, a converted Jewish Rabbi, arrived in 1841 with the aim of converting the Jews and Palestinians to Christianity. In 1845, the first Anglican Church (Christ Church, Jaffa Gate) of the city was dedicated. The Bishopric started as an Anglo-Prussian union in Jerusalem, for Anglicans and Lutherans.
The second Bishop, Samuel Gobart, ministered mainly among local Christians: he opened 42 schools and ordained the first two Palestinian priests.
In 1881, the Anglo-Prussian union lapsed and the Bishopric became a solely Anglican Bishopric in 1887, centered on the Cathedral Church of St. George, which was built and dedicated during the episcopacy of the fourth Bishop, George Blyth, in 1898.
The increase of local Anglican congregations resulted in the formation of the Palestinian Native Church Council in 1905. While recognizing foreign leadership, the Council took the task of establishing a self-governing, self-supportive system.
The political developments in the region, largely affected the socio-political life of the Diocese, divided between the different countries, with the difficulty of bringing together the different Anglican communities in the Middle East. The 1948 war was a real blow for the church, with a tremendous task of coping with the refugees. 1957 witnessed the consecration of the first Arab Bishop, Bishop Najib Cubain. He was the Bishop of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Though he lived in Jerusalem, he did not have any Episcopal authority over the See of Jerusalem. Between 1957 and 1974, Jerusalem became an Archbishopric under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, overseeing the whole of the Middle East, including the Sudan, Somalia, Egypt, North Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Cyprus and the Gulf.
Between 1974-1976, under the supervision of the Vicar General, Robert Stopford, the Diocese was completely restructured. The Diocese of Jerusalem was established to include Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria, with Jerusalem as its center. A provision was made for an assistant Bishop, based in Amman, to maintain relations with Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
1976 saw the first Palestinian Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, Faik Hadad. The Diocese became one of the four Dioceses in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The Bishop in Jerusalem is the representative of the Anglican Communion and the successor of the Bishops of the Church of England in Jerusalem. The second Palestinian bishop in Jerusalem, and the 12th Anglican Bishop was the Rt. Rev. Samir Kafity who was instrumental in developing many of the local institutions and parishes of the Diocese with an increase in the numbers of those seeking Holy Orders. Our present Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal, is the thirteenth Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, and the third Palestinian Bishop.
The Diocese today has thirty-four institutions spread across the different countries that it covers. Two more institutions are yet to be opened in Palestine. Four other institutions are affiliated to the Diocese in partnership relationships. The Diocese employs about 1500 people. It has about 6,400 students in its schools and about 200 beds in its hospitals. The Bishop cares for 29 parishes, 29 priests and about 7,000 Anglicans across the Diocese.
The Rev. Yazeed Said
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