The Bishops of Rome, the Popes;
the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Armenia, and the East; Archbishops of Canterbury and Prince Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, Cologne, and Salzburg


On the map we have the Roman Empire as it was partially restored at the death of Justinian I. The capital, of course, is Constantinople, with the recovered western areas ruled from Ravenna (Italy, the Exarchate of Ravenna) and Carthage (Africa and Spain, the Exarchate of Carthage). The Roman Catholic Church is governed through the Emperor and the Patriarchs, namely the Patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, in that order of precedence. The role of the Emperor in governing the Church is now called "caesaro-papism," i.e. an Emperor acting like a Pope. However, the Emperor had exercised his powers since Constantine I, while the familiar powers of the Pope were much later claims and inventions. It is thus much less anarchonistic to characterize the claims of later Popes, not the Emperors, as the "caesaro-papism," i.e. the Pope trying to act like an Emperor. Chief among the powers of the Emperor -- the "Equal of the Apostles," always portrayed with a halo, -- was that of calling Church Councils, as Constantine had called the Council of Nicaea in 325. The first Council called by a Pope was the Lateran Council I in 1123. To resolve the Great Schism, the Council of Constance, 1414-1418, was called by the Emperor Sigismund; but once a single line of Popes was secure in Rome again, they denied that the Emperor had any authority to call Councils. The last Emperor in any position, and with any need, to call a Council, Charles V, deferred to the Pope -- who then was the one to call the Council of Trent, 1545-1563. At the time of Justinian, the Pope was regarded as primus inter pares, first among equals of the Patriarchs, but that was all. The Patriarch of Constantinople was made second in rank, although this was a bit resented by the other, older Patriarchates.

The diagram at right gives some impression of how the Una Sancta Romana Catholica et Apostolica Ecclesia, the "One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church" has broken up -- setting aside the Protestant fragmention of the See of Rome in the West, which of course would require a complex diagram in its own right. While the Coptic and Syrian Churches broke away over Chalcedon, there remained a continuous line of Greek Patriarchs in Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, even as the Patriarch of Constantinople proselytized Bulgaria, Russia, and other states in the Balkans. Beginning with the Crusades, the Church of Rome sought converts over the same territory; and so we see Catholic churches and counter-churches swarming around the older, Orthodox ones. The counter-churches double up with the existing Orthodox churches, but sometimes a Catholic church exists, e.g. in the Ukraine or Ruthenia, where a separate Orthodox one doesn't. The Popes claim doctrinal authority, while the doctrine of Constantinople is based on the Church Councils.

Just how people can be confused about the history of the Church we see in a statement by film maker Francis Ford Coppola in the director's commentary on his movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula [1991, 2007]:

The Orthodox religions, Greek Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, is [sic] in fact the original Christianity and, for my part, I think the most beautiful expression of Christianity -- that Roman Catholicism is Christianity having been fused with the Roman Empire and really I think has more to do with the Roman Empire than it does with Christianity. [transcribed from audio track]

Coppola is apparently unaware that the Orthodox Churches he mentions, Churches in doctrinal agreement with the Patriarch of Constantinople, are the actual direct descendants of the State Religion of the Roman Empire, founded under the authority of the Patriarch and the Emperor in Constantinople (starting with Constantine), while modern Roman Catholicism, far from being Christianity "fused with the Roman Empire," is the religion of the Bishops of Rome who repudiated the authority of the Roman Emperor and excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople. The religion of the City of Rome detached itself from the religion of the Roman Empire, i.e. Mediaeval Romania, centered in Constantinople. Few people, indeed, remember that Mediaeval "Romans" meant the Greek, Albanian, Vlach, Armenian, and other inhabitants of the so-called "Byzantine" Empire.

In this period there were five significant centers of Christianity outside what had ever been in the Roman Empire:  in the Caucasus, in Mesopotamia, in India, in Ethiopia, and in Ireland. In the Caucasus were the Churches of Georgia and Armenia. Georgia was doctrinally in union with Romania, but Armenia had not accepted the decision of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. The Patriarchate of Armenia was thus regarded by the Roman Church as heterodox. Similarly heterodox was the Patriarchate of the East, seated at the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, which had not accepted the decision of the Third Ecumenical Council -- and thus is often called the "Nestorian" Church, after the doctrine condemned by the Third Council. The authority of the Patriarch of the East already extended to Christians in India, and subsequently would reach all the way to China. Ethiopia was under the authority of the Patriarch of Alexandria and so, until the Fourth Ecumenical Council, was doctrinally in union with Rome -- later it would continue to follow the lead of the Coptic Church. Ethiopia has had its own autonomous Patriarchate just since 1959. That leaves Ireland, which traditionally was converted by St. Patrick after 432 AD. As communication between Ireland and the Empire became more tenuous, the Irish Church preserved literacy, as Britain itself fell out of history, and developed some of its own traditions -- though these never came to serious heterodoxy and any differences were later fixed up. As Irish nationalism later became identified with the Catholic Church, over and against the Protestant Church of England and British rule in Ireland, Ireland became one of the most staunchly Catholic states in Europe -- and today, with Poland, provides a disproportionate number of priests to the Catholic Church.

Philosophy of History

Philosophy of Religion


Patriarchal Index


The Bishops of Rome, the Popes,
42 AD-present

BISHOPS OF ROME
1 St. Peterc.42-c.64
2 St. Linusc.66-c.78
3 St. Anacletusc.79-c.91
4 St. Clement Ic.91-c.101
5 St. Evaristusc.100-c.109
6 St. Alexander Ic.109-c.116
7 St. Sixtus Ic.116-c.125
8 St. Telesphorusc.125-c.136
9 St. Hyginusc.138-c.142
10 St. Pius Ic.142-c.155
11 St. Anicetusc.155-c.166
12 St. Soterusc.166-c.174
13 St. Eleutheriusc.174-189
14 St. Victor I189-198
15 St. Zephirinus198/9-217
16 St. Calixtus/
Callistus I
217-222
[St. Hippolytus]217-235
17 St. Urban I222-230
18 St. Pontianus230-235
19 St. Anterius235-236
20 St. Fabianus236-250
killed in persecution
of Decius, 250
21 St. Cornelius251-253
[Novatianus]251-258
22 St. Lucius I253-254
23 St. Stephen I254-257
24 St. Sixtus II257-258
25 St. Dionysius260-268
26 St. Felix I269-274
27 St. Eutychianus275-283
28 St. Caius/Gaius283-296
29 St. Marcellinus296-303/4
Persecution of Diocletian, 303; apostasy of Marcellinus
Sedê Vacantê304-306/8
30 St. Marcellus I306/8-308/9
31 St. Eusebius309/10
32 St. Melchiades/
Miltiades
311-314
Toleration by Maxentius & Constantine, gift of Lateran Palace, 312
POPES
33 St. Sylvester I314-335
325 Council I, Nicaea I, Arianism condemned; Nicene Creed
34 St. Marcus I336
35 St. Julius I337-352
36 Liberius352-366
Meletian Schism, 361-401
[St. Felix II]355-365
37 St. Damasus I366-384
381 Council II, Constantinople I, Arianism condemned; regarded as definitively establishing Roman Catholic orthodoxy
[Ursinus]366-367
38 St. Siricius384-399
39 St. Anastasius I399-401
40 St. Innocent I401-417
41 St. Zosimus417-418
[Eulalius]418-419
42 St. Boniface I418-422
43 St. Celestine I422-432
431 Council III, Ephesus,
Nestorianism condemned
44St. Sixtus/
Xystus III
432-440
45 St. Leo I the Great440-461
449 "Robber" Council, Ephesus II, Monophysitism affirmed, still recognized by Monophysite Churches; 451 Council IV, Chalcedon, Monophysitism condemned; fatal disaffection of Syria & Egypt
46 St. Hilarus
(Hilary)
461-468
47 St. Simplicius468-483
48 St. Felix III (II)483-492
49 St. Gelasius I492-496
50 St. Anastasius II496-498
51 St. Symmachus498-514
[Laurentius]498-499,
501-506,
d.507/08
52 St. Hormisdas514-523
53 St. John I523-526
54 St. Felix IV (III)526-530
[Dioscorus]530
55 Boniface II530-532
56 John II533-535
57 St. Agapetus
Agapitus I
535-536
58 St. Sylverius536-537
59 Vigilius537-555
553 Council V, Constantinople II, Monophysitism condemned again
60 Pelagius I556-561
61 John III561-574
62 Benedict I575-579
63 Pelagius II579-590
64 St. Gregory I
the Great
590-604
65 Sabinianus604-606
66 Boniface III607
67 St. Boniface IV608-615
68 St. Deusdedit/
Adeodatus I
615-618
69 Boniface V619-625
70 Honorius I625-638
condemned as Monothelete heretic by Council VI
Sedê Vacantê638-640
71 Severinus640
72 John IV640-642
73 Theodore I642-649
74 St. Martin I649-653,
d.655
arrested by Emperor Constans II and died in exile in Crimea
75 St. Eugenius I654-657
76 St. Vitalianus657-672
77 Adeodatus II672-676
78 Domnus/Donus (I)676-678
79 St. Agathon678-681
680-681 Council VI, Constantinople III, Monotheletism condemned
80 St. Leo II682-683
81 St. Benedict II684-685
82 John V685-686
83 Conon686-687
[Theodorus]687
[Paschal]687, d.692
84 St. Sergius I687-701
ordered arrested but Italian garrison refuses
85 John VI701-705
86 John VII705-707
87 Sisinnius708
88 Constantine I708-715
last Pope to visit Constantinople
89 St. Gregory II715-731
90 St. Gregory III731-741
appeals to Franks for
help against Lombards
91 St. Zacharias741-752
92 Stephen II ??752
93 Stephen III (II)752-757
754 Donation of Pepin, Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna becomes Papal States
94 St. Paul I757-767
[Constantine II]767-768
[Philip]768
95 Stephen IV (III)768-772
96 Hadrian/Adrian I772-795
787 Council VII, Nicaea II, Iconoclasm condemned under guidance of Empress Irene; 794 Council of Frankfurt, Frankish Church rejects Council VII, contradicts Pope
97 St. Leo III795-816
800 crowns Charlemagne Roman Emperor; gives Papacy basis for claiming sovereign rights over later Holy Roman Emperors
98 Stephen V (IV)816-817
99 St. Paschal I817-824
100 Eugenius II824-827
101 Valentinus827
102 Gregory IV827-844
[John]844
103 Sergius II844-847
Sack of Ostia & Rome by
the Aghlabids, 846
104 St. Leo IV847-855
105 Benedict III855-858
[Anastasius]855
106 St. Nicholas I858-867
107 Hadrian II867-872
869-870 Council VIII, Constantinople IV, patched up filioque and other differences, later repudiated by East, last Oecumenical Council recognized by West which included Eastern Church
108 John VIII872-882
109 Martin II/
Marinus I
882-884
110 St. Hadrian III884-885
111 Stephen VI (V)885-891
112 Fromosus891-896
113 Boniface VI896
114 Stephen VII (VI)896-897
115 Romanus897
116 Theodore II897
117 John IX898-900
118 Benedict IV900-903
119 Leo V903, d.904
[Christopher ??]903-904
120 Sergius III904-911
121 Anastasius III911-913
122 Lando913-914
123 John X914-928,
d.929
124 Leo VI928
125 Stephen VIII (VII)928-931
126 John XI of Spoleto931-935/6
127 Leo VII936-939
128 Stephen IX (VIII)939-942
129 Martin III/
Marinus II
942-946
130 Agapetus II946-955
131 John XII
Octavian of Spoleto
955-964
East Frankish Otto crowned Emperor after he defeats Magyars
132 Leo VIII ??963, 964-965
133 Benedict V964, d.966
134 John XIII965-972
135 Benedict VI973-974
[Boniface VII Franco]974-985
{Domnus II}c.974
136 Benedict VII974-983
137 John XIV
Peter Canepanova
983-984
138 John XV985-996
139 Gregory V
Bruno
996-999
[John XVI
John Philagathos]
997-998,
d.1001
140 Sylvester II
Gerbert
999-1003
141 John XVII
John Sicco
1003
142 John XVIII
John Fasanus
1003-1009
143 Sergius IV
Peter
1009-1012
144 Benedict VIII
Theophylact of Tusculum
1012-1024
[Gregory (VI)]1012
145 John XIX
Romanus of Tusculum
1024-1032
146 Benedict IX !!
Theophylact of Tusculum
1032-1044, 1045,
& 1047-48,
d.1055/56
147 Sylvester III ??
John of Sabina
1045, d.1063
148 Gregory VI
John Gratian
1045-1046,
d.1047
149 Clement II
Suidger
1046-1047
150 Damasus II
Poppo
1048
151 St. Leo IX
Bruno
1049-1054
1054 Schism between Eastern
and Western Churches, "Donation of Constantine" cited
152 Victor II
Gerbhard
1055-1057
153 Stephen X (IX)
Frederick of Lorraine
1057-1058
[Benedict X ??
John Mincius]
1058-1059,
d.1073
154 Nicholas II
Gerard
1058-1061
decree for election of Popes by a college of Cardinals; beginning of Papal heyday
155 Alexander II
Anselm
1061-1073
[Honorius (II)
Peter Cadalus]
1061-1064,
d.1071/2
156 St. Gregory VII Hildebrand1073-1085
1076-1122 Investiture Controversy
[Clement (III)
Guibert]
1080, 1084-1100
Sedê Vacantê1085-1086
157 Victor III
Desiderius
1086, 1087
158 Urban II
Odo/Eudes
1088-1099
1096-1099 First Crusade,
defeats Seljuks,
recaptures Jerusalem
159 Paschal II
Rainerius
1099-1118
[Theodoric]1100-1101,
d.1102
[Albert]1101
[Sylvester (IV)
Maginulf]
1105-1111
160 Gelasius II
John of Gaeta
1118-1119
[Gregory (VIII)
Maurice Burdinus]
1118-1121,
d.1140
161 Callistus II
Guy/Guido of Burgundy
1119-1124
1123 Lateran Council I
162 Honorius II
Lamberto
1124-1130
[Celestine (II)
Teobaldo]
1124, d.1125/26
163 Innocent II
Gregorio Papareschi
1130-1143
1139 Lateran Council II
[Anacletus II Pietro]1130-1138
[Victor IV
Gregorio Conti]
1138
164 Celestine II
Guido of Città di Castello
1143-1144
165 Lucius II
Gherardo Caccianemici
1144-1145
166 Eugenius III
Bernardo Pignatelli
1145-1153
1147-1149 Second Crusade
167 Anastasius IV
Corrado
1153-1154
168 Hadrian IV
Nicholas Breakspear
1154-1159
only English Pope, confers Ireland on Henry II of England
169 Alexander III
Orlando Bandinelli
1159-1181
1179 Lateran Council III
[Victor IV
Ottaviano of Monticelli]
1159-1164
[Paschal III Rainald of Dassel]1164-1168
[Callistus (III) Giovanni]1168-1178,
d.1183
[Innocent (III) Lando]1179-1180
170 Lucius III
Ubaldo Allucingoli
1181-1185
171 Urban III
Umberto Crivelli
1185-1187
172 Gregory VIII
Alberto de Morra
1187
173 Clement III
Paolo Scolari
1187-1191
1189-1192 Third Crusade
174 Celestine III
Giacinto Bobo
1191-1198
175 Innocent III
Lotario
1198-1216
1202-1204 Fourth Crusade;
Constantinople taken by Crusaders in employ of Venice, first break in line of Roman (Rhômaic/Byzantine) Emperors; 1215 Lateran Council IV;
Albigensian Crusade, 1209-1229
176 Honorius III
Cencio Savelli
1216-1227
1217-1221 Fifth Crusade #1
177 Gregory IX
Ugo of Segni
1227-1241
1228-1229 Fifth Crusade #2, Frederick II excommunicated both for not going on Crusade and then for going on one and negotiating the possession of Jerusalem (until 1244)
178 Celestine IV
Goffredo da Castiglione
1241
Sedê Vacantê1241-1243
179 Innocent IV
Sinibaldo Fieschi
1243-1254
1248-1254 Sixth Crusade, St. Louis IX of France; 1245 Council of Lyon I
180 Alexander IV
Rinaldo of Segni
1254-1261
181 Urban IV
Jacques Pantaléon
Latin
Patriarch of
Jerusalem,
1255-1261
1261-1264
182 Clement IV
Guy Foulques
1265-1268
requests work from
Roger Bacon, 1266
Sedê Vacantê1268-1271
183 Gregory X
Teobaldo Visconti
1271-1276
1270 Seventh Crusade, St. Louis IX of France, got no further than Tunisia; 1274 Council of Lyon II
184 Innocent V
Pierre of Tarentaise
1276
185 Hadrian V
Ottobono Fieschi
1276
186 John XXI !!
Pedro Julião
1276-1277
187 Nicholas III
Giovanni Gaetano
1277-1280
188 Martin IV
Simon de Brie
1281-1285
189 Honorius IV
Giacomo Savelli
1285-1287
190 Nicholas IV
Girolamo Masci
1288-1292
Sedê Vacantê1292-1294
191 St. Peter Celestine V
Pietro del Morrone
1294-1294,
d.1296
192 Boniface VIII
Benedetto Caetani
1294-1303
most exaggerated claims for the mediaeval Papacy; humiliated by Philip the Fair of France
193 Benedict XI
Niccolò Boccasino
1303-1304
A 194 Clement V
Bertrand de Got
1305-1314
Templars arrested and suppressed, 1307-1312; Last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, tortured & burned by Philip IV of France, 1314
moves to Avignon, 1309;
lines of Popes reside at
Avignon (A), Rome (R), and Pisa (P) during the Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377) and the Great Schism (1378-1417); 1311-1312 Council of Vienne
Sedê Vacantê1314-1316
A 195 John XXII
Jacques Duèse
1316-1334
R [Nicholas (V)
Pietro Rainalducci]
1328-1330,
d.1333
A 196 Benedict XII Jacques Fournier1334-1342
A 197 Clement VI Pierre1342-1352
A 198 Innocent VI Étienne Aubert1352-1362
A 199 Urban V
Guillaume de Grimoard
1362-1370
R 200 Gregory XI
Pierre Roger de Beaufort
1370-1378
leaves Avignon, 1376;
returns to Rome, 1377
R 201 Urban VI
Bartolomeo Prignano
1378-1389
resides at Rome, Anti-Pope elected at Avignon; Great Schism
R 202 Boniface IX
Pietro Tomacelli
1389-1404
R 203 Innocent VII Cosimo Gentile de' Migliorati1404-1406
R 204 Gregory XII Angelo Correr1406-1415
d.1417
1414-1418 Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, Papal interregnum 1415-1417, resolves Great Schism, but principle of Council is threat to Papal authority
Sedê Vacantê1415-1417
205 Martin V
Oddo Colonna
1417-1431
206 Eugene
(Eugenius) IV
Gabriele Condulmaro
1431-1447
1431-1445 Council of Basil; Council at Ferrara & Florence, 1439-1440, attended by John VIII Palaeologus
[Felix (V),
Amadeus VIII of Savoy]
1439-1449,
d.1451
207 Nicholas V
Tommaso Parentucelli
1447-1455
Renaissance begins
208 Callistus/
Calixtus III
Alfonso de Borja/Borgia
1455-1458
209 Pius II
Enea Silvio Piccolomini
1458-1464
last piece of Romania, the fortress of Monemvasia, ceded by the Despot Thomas, 1461
210 Paul II
Pietro Barbo
1464-1471
211 Sixtus IV
Francesco della Rovere
1471-1484
212 Innocent VIII
Giovanni Battista Cibò
1484-1492
213 Alexander VI
Rodrigo de Borja y Borja/Borgia
1492-1503
214 Pius III
Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini
1503
215 Julius II
Giuliano della Rovere
1503-1513
recovers by combat all of Papal States, 1512-1517; Lateran Council V
216 Leo X
Giovanni de' Medici
1513-1521
1517 Reformation begins
217 Hadrian VI
Adrian Florensz Dedal
1522-1523
218 Clement VII
Giulio
de' Medici
1523-1534
1527 Sack of Rome by Imperial/Spanish army
219 Paul III
Alessandro Farnese
1534-1549
1545-1563 Council of Trent
19th Ecumenical Council
220 Julius III
Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte
1550-1555
221 Marcellus II
Marcello Cervini
1555
222 Paul IV
Giampietro Carafa
1555-1559
223 Pius IV
Giovanni Angelo Medici
1559-1565
224 St. Pius V
Michele Ghislieri
1566-1572
225 Gregory XIII
Ugo Boncompagni
1572-1585
5/15 October 1582,
Gregorian Calendar instituted
226 Sixtus V
Felice Peretti
1585-1590
227 Urban VII
Giambattista Castagna
1590
228 Gregory XIV
Niccolò Sfondrati
1590-1591
229 Innocent IX
Giovanni Antonio Fachinetti
1591
230 Clement VIII
Ippolito Aldobrandini
1592-1605
231 Leo XI
Alessandro Ottaviano de'Medici
1605
232 Paul V
Camillo Borghese
1605-1621
233 Gregory XV
Alessandro Ludovisi
1621-1623
234 Urban VIII
Maffeo Barberini
1623-1644
235 Innocent X
Giambattista Pamfili
1644-1655
236 Alexander VII
Fabio Chigi
1655-1667
237 Clement IX
Giulio Rospigliosi
1667-1669
238 Clement X
Emilio Altieri
1670-1676
239 Innocent XI
Benedetto Odescalchi
1676-1689
240 Alexander VIII
Petro Ottoboni
1689-1691
241 Innocent XII
Antonio Pignatelli
1691-1700
242 Clement XI
Giovanni Francesco Albani
1700-1721
Protests grant without Papal authority of the title "King in Prussia," 1701
243 Innocent XIII
Michelangelo dei Conti
1721-1727
244 Benedict XIII
Pietro Francesco Orsini
1724-1730
245 Clement XII
Lorenzo Corsini
1730-1740
246 Benedict XIV
Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini
1740-1758
247 Clement XIII
Carlo della Torre Rezzonico
1758-1769
248 Clement XIV
Lorenzo Giovanni Vicenzo Antonio Ganganelli
1769-1774
249 Pius VI
Giovanni Angelo Braschi
1775-1799
250 Pius VII
Luigi Barnabà Chiaramonte
1800-1823
Roman Republic, 1799; Concordat with Napoleon, 1801; Annexation by France, Napoleon excommunicated, Pope arrested, 1809-1814
251 Leo XII
Annibale Sermattei della Genga
1823-1829
252 Pius VIII
Francesco Saverio Castiglione
1829-1830
253 Gregory XVI
Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari
1831-1846
254 Pius IX
Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti
1846-1878
loss of Romagna, 1859; loss of the Marches & Umbria, 1860; occupation of Rome by Italy, 1870; 1869-1870 Vatican I Council
255 Leo XIII
Gioacchino Vincenzo Pecci
1878-1903
256 St. Pius X
Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto
1903-1914
257 Benedict XV
Giacomo Della Chiesa
1914-1922
258 Pius XI
Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti
1922-1939
Concordat with Mussolini, Independence of Vatican City, 1929
259 Pius XII
Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli
1939-1958
260 John XXIII
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli
1958-1963
1962-1965 Vatican II Council
261 Paul VI
Giovanni Battista Montini
1963-1978
262 John Paul I
Albino Luciani
1978
263 John Paul II
Karol Wojtyla
1978-2005
first Polish Pope
264 Benedict XVI
Joseph Ratzinger
2005
The Papacy is one of the oldest institutions in the world, perhaps even the oldest. There are likely to be few neutral opinions about it. To Roman Catholics, the Pope may be the holiest man on earth, the heir and keeper of the deepest truths of religion. To others, the Papacy may only stand for ignorance and dogma, intolerance, torture, arrogance, and bigotry. Purely historical judgments, which cannot take into account religious truth or falsehood, may nevertheless leave a negative impression because of the factual nature of things like torture and intolerance. One would like, therefore, as a historian (or philosopher) to ask, "What good was the Papacy?"

There is one very good answer in that respect:  By claiming independent authority and resisting secular power, the Papacy paved the way for the later conception of the separation of Church and State. Not that the Church ever wanted to give up its authority over the conscience and morals of citizens, but it accustomed people to the idea that secular power was not the last word and that obedience to the same was not an unconditioned duty. Once the Church was divided by the Reformation, and Protestants found even their own sects multiplying, the easiest solution was, not only to keep secular authority separate, but to deny to churches any coercive function. Thus, while Catholic countries often still mix some religious authority into secular law, the separation of religion from the state, or the principle of liberty of conscience, is a far, far less secure proposition out of the Western world. When China prohibits an inoffensive religious sect, and various countries debate whether to institute Islâmic Law (or apply it in all its rigor), the long struggles between Popes and Emperors, or Popes and Kings, look positively remarkable.

As with many people who look good out of power, for their resistance, but then prove as bad, or worse, as their tormentors once they are in power themselves, our appreciation of the Papacy has its limits. The Popes always looked better resisting than ruling. This has peristed into recent times, when the Church was the focus of undeniable opposition to communism in Poland, but then, again, sought to introduce Catholic moral teachings into the law of post-communist Poland. The irony of this dynamic is palpable when communism itself came to power in the name of the workers but then often slaughtered workers to stay in power.

Thus, one might well say, "OK, it was a worthy role to distinguish and limit the power of secular governments, but since then the Church has been more famous for its intolerance, for the Inquisition, for its authoritarianism. What has it done for us, outside of the Warsaw Pact, lately?" Indeed, if a Mediaeval or Cold War historical role is the best we can do, then perhaps the demise of the Church is long overdue. At the same time, the Church is no longer running any Inquisitions, and priests and nuns have often become activists in trendy political causes -- unfortunately sometimes poisonous leftist causes, as in "Liberation Theology." However, that kind of thing may be of less value than the continued conservative moral teaching of the Church. If the Catholic Church is not going to stand for conservative morality, who is? The principle lesson of traditional morality is self-control. If the Church argues that abortion and birth control are not necessary (apart from its moral objections) for economic success, this is actually true and an argument that should be made. Those who are so imprudent as to find themselves with illegitimate children, even if their fortunes can be retrieved by abortions, may not be prudent in any other areas of life either, to a great loss of fortune which cannot so easily be remedied. The proposition that people should be protected, usually by the government, from any adverse consequences of their own actions is the most destructive moral principle of the modern age, when relativism and nihilism have become the self-evident truths of the intelligentsia. Although the Church may err in the direction of moralism, this is no worse, and probably overall better, than the opposite popular trivializations of morality and prudence. The legendary, fortress-like chastity of Catholic girls, although often ridiculed as unhealthy inhibition, now, especially in the environment of herpes and AIDS, proves to have been the wisest of practical virtues.

On the other hand, the moral standing of the Church now stands gravely challenged by scandals over priests who take advantage of their positions to sexually prey on children. In the most scurrilous of anti-Catholic rumor and libel, Catholics were required to provide children to priests for sexual purposes. However innocent of this, the Church put itself in a very false, immoral, and illegal position by often simply transfering priests accused of sexual crimes instead of turning them over to the police. Why the Church would be reluctant to respond appropriately is understandable, since it has been harder and harder, especially outside of Ireland and Poland, to get men to commit to a life of celibacy to become priests. The Church invests a great deal in the education and training of priests and is going to be reluctant to lose them. Also, the priesthood might unfortunately tend to attract men who might otherwise be uninterested in marriage, i.e. homosexuals and those sexually attracted to children. In principle, homosexuals are going to be in no worse position than heterosexual priests in that the Church has no objection to anyone being a homosexual, as long as they don't engage in homosexual sex. Since priests are expected to avoid any kind of sex, homosexual priests face temptations in much the same way as heterosexual priests. A priest tempted into homosexual sex may be committing a greater sin than a heterosexual priest, but at least it is not illegal. Child molesting is something else. While homosexual priests as such may not be the problem, conservatives sometimes think it is, since much of the abuse really isn't of children, but of teenage boys. Either way, however, these particular priests don't seem to be able to observe either their vows of celibacy, the Church's teachings on sexuality, or the laws about the age of consent.

A reasonable solution to all this, since the fundamental problem is the scarcity of parish priests, could be married priests. While priestly celibacy is founded on the text, Matthew 19:12, "and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it," it may be that the emphasis on celibacy in the Latin Church developed mainly to prevent priestly offices from becoming hereditary -- a grave danger in the Middle Ages, as seen recently also in Japan, where a married Buddhist clergy has resulted precisely in hereditary succession to Buddhist temples. This not likely to become a danger in the modern Catholic Church, however, and the Church would do well to adopt a somewhat more relaxed policy, as in the Greek Orthodox Church, where married priests are simply disqualified from advancing in the hierarchy.

The mythic beginning of the Papacy with St. Peter may not be quite as mythic as Protestants like to suppose. St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican is built over a 1st century Christian cemetery. Rebuilt over time, ever since the first version built by Constantine, the altar turns out always to have been over a particular grave, with its own humble monument, of a man whose bones date from the correct era. This may or may not really be Peter, but the antiquity of bones and tomb rule out the kind of crude mediaeval fraud that the sceptic might suppose.

Since St. Peter's and the Papacy really are so old, the opposite temptation, from the one of priestly fictions, is that the Popes know far more about history than anyone suspects. One favorite notion, which may or may not have originated in the novel Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins, is that the Vatican possesses the actual body of Jesus Christ. Since Christ is supposed to have risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, his body would be, to say the least, an embarrassment. But when one wonders whether these few bones are actually St. Peter, the intact mummy of Jesus seems rather less credible. Another conceit, apparently taken seriously by the 1999 movie Stigmata, is that the Vatican possesses texts of the Gospels, even in Aramaic (surviving Gospels are in Greek), which contradict various points of Catholic doctrine, like the existence of the Church. Stigmata, however, very much, perhaps inadvertently, overstates its case, since the sayings of Jesus it treasures as directed against the (not yet existing) Catholic Church could, at the time, have had no possible object other than the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem. The viewer of the movie, taking into account the historical context in which Jesus spoke, might therefore take it as an anti-Semitic rather than just an anti-Catholic screed.

The antiquity of the Papacy is perhaps often forgotten when it comes to the monuments of Rome. The mediaeval Popes did not live in the Vatican, but in the Lateran Palace, which had been seized from its private owners by, of all people, the Emperor Nero. Constantine then donated it to the Bishop of Rome and built adjacent to it the church of San Giovanni in Laterno, which has remained ever since the actual episcopal church of Rome (not St. Peter's). Most of the mediaeval Church councils in Rome are thus "Lateran" Councils, held at the Pope's residence (as the last two Councils have been "Vatican" Councils). Later, while the Popes were in Avignon, the Palace burned twice, in 1307 and 1361. Although the Palace was rebuilt, when the Popes returned, they never lived there again, settling at Santa Maria in Trastevere, then at Santa Maria Maggiore (also ancient; built in 432), and finally, as we all know, at the Vatican. What was left of the ancient Lateran Palace was removed by Sixtus V, who then built the smaller existing building.


Anti-Popes are shown in brackets. Popes and Anti-Popes in the Great Schism at Avignon are shown with backgrounds in purple. Anti-Popes at Pisa are on a background in green. Sedê Vacantê is "with the Seat Vacant."

The Popes may be viewed in frames in conjunction with Roman-Romanian-Byzantine Emperors and Frankish-German-French-Austrian Emperors with this link. In a screen 640 pixels wide, the formatting suffers considerable distortions. In a wider screen, the window should be enlarged or maximized. To exit the frames, links from the "Popes" window must be used.


Although the Pope had been the de facto governor of Rome for a few years, the Donation of Pepin in 754 begins the formal history of the Papacy as a territorial power. This would last until 1870, giving the Papal States a run of 1116 years. The original terms of the grant were for the "Exarchate of Ravenna," i.e. the Roman Imperial territory that was preserved across central Italy after the invasion of Lombards in 568. The most important parts of this were, of course, Rome itself and the area of Romagna around Ravenna in the north, with a narrow salient connecting them.

The ability of the Popes to control the outlying territories, or even Rome itself, was, however, very uneven. Rome was often under the control of turbulent local aristocrats, and one reason for the Papal relocation to Avignon was to escape them. After the return of the Popes to Rome, it was some time before the territorial fortunes could be restored. The son of Alexander VI, Cesare Borgia, then conquered Romagna. This was for his own benefit; but the deaths of him and his father (who was perhaps trying to poison someone else) and the accession of the warrior Pope Julius II resulted in its being secured for the Papacy. Avignon was still a Papal possession, and there were some outlying holdings in Italy, like Benevento. This arrangement was then fairly stable until the French Revolution, when Avignon was lost, the Papal States temporarily annexed, and the Pope himself eventually imprisoned by Napoleon. The restorations of 1815 returned the Papal Italian territories, until the period of the unification of Italy, 1859-1870. This formally ended the political independence of the Papacy until the Concordat with Mussolini in 1929 recognized the sovereignty of the Vatican City.

The Donation of Pepin and the subsequent crowning of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor gave the Popes ideas. A document was manufactured, the "Donation of Constantine," whereby secular authority over the entire Western Roman Empire had been given to the Pope by Constantine the Great. This became the basis of Mediaeval Papal claims of authority over all secular rulers in Francia. Papal claims were occasionally enforced with some success, against the Emperors and even against the Kings of France and England; but they came to a bad end when Boniface VIII had to face the ruthlessness of King Philip IV of France. The subsequent Babylonian Captivity and Great Schism, not to mention the Reformation and the exposure of the Donation of Constantine as a forgery, put the Papacy at such disadvantages that it never again had as much leverage as before over secular rulers.

The Frankish Kingdom as the Roman Empire petered out (as it were) after a while, and the Pope granted the Imperial Crown for a few years to local Kings of Italy. This also lapsed. The institution got revived, for the rest of the Middle Ages, when the successful German King Otto I descended on Italy. This began a long struggle between the German Emperors and the Popes for control of Italy and control of the Church in Germany. The successes of the Popes crippled the authority of the German Throne, and ensured that Germany and Italy would enter the Modern period fragmented and anarchic. The political consequences even in the 20th century were severe, as the political immaturity of Germany and Italy rendered them vulnerable to ideologies like Fascism and Naziism. Italy remained tempted by Communism until its fall in 1989/91. The war and mass murder effected by the former temptations echo in the terrorism practiced by the die-hard believers of the latter, even after the Fall of Communism.


One sees differing numberings of the Popes. Here I have John Paul II as the 263rd Pope. At the time of his death, I began seeing him referred to as the 264th, and the Catholic Encyclopedia gives him as the 265th. Part of this uncertainty is that there may be disagreement about which Popes are legitimate. Thus, in this list, Christopher (903) and Benedict X (1058) were formerly counted as Popes, but they are not on the Catholic Encyclopedia list and are characterized as Anti-Popes by The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. On the other hand, Leo VIII (963) and Sylvester III (1045) are now on the Catholic Encyclopedia list but were formerly, at least by some, considered Anti-Popes.

As it happens, if we switch off between these Popes and Anti-Popes, it still leaves the count the same. So where does the difference come from between the 363 Popes here and the 365 in the Catholic Encyclopedia? Well, the 365 number in the Encyclopedia list comes from numbering Benedict IX (1032) three times, as the 146th, 148th, and 151st Pope. He was a layman elected by the power of his family, the Counts of Tusculum, following his uncles Benedict VIII (1012) and John XIX (1024). Opposition to his family, to his own secular ways, and by the Emperor, resulted in him being deposed three times, first in favor of Sylvester III (1045), then second in favor of Gregory VI (1045). Gregory, Sylvester, and Benedict were all pushed aside by the Emperor Henry III, who installed Clement II (1046). After Clement's death, Benedict finally returned again, only to be deposed a third time in 1048 by Boniface of Tuscany, who installed the Emperor's candidate, Damasus II (1048).

It is because of this mess that Benedict, uniquely, like President Grover Cleveland, can be numbered with non-consecutive "terms" as Pope. I am not sure this makes as much sense for Popes as for Presidents, however. We are not really dealing with terms of office. If we ask "How many popes?" we want to know the number of individuals. So I have dispensed with the extra numberings. Reckoning them into the count, if anyone really wants to do that, does make John Paul II the 265th Pope (given the other judgments about Popes and Anti-Popes).

The count of John Paul II as 264th may come from using the three reigns for Benedict IX but not counting Stephen II (752), who died after reigning for only three days. Since he was properly elected but was never consecrated, judgment has wavered about whether to count him as a proper Pope. This results in different numberings seen for subsequent Stephens. Here, however, I have included the original Stephen II as a true Pope. Even if we discount him, however, I think it is very wrong to renumber the subsequent Stephens. This can create tremendous confusion when dealing with older (mainly pre-1961) histories, which will not have the renumbering. Stephen III was a Pope of great historical significance, and it should be possible to refer to him, or read about him, without confusion. There are several cases where Popes now considered Anti-Popes nevertheless retain their place in the sequence of names. Thus, Boniface VII (974), John XVI (997), Benedict X (1058), and Alexander V (1409) are now all Anti-Popes who nevertheless are figured in the numbering of subsequent Popes of their name. Since Stephen II had a legitimate election, and has never been considered an Anti-Pope by anyone, it is especially inappropiate to create confusion with anyone after him.

The only other Papal name where we get this kind of confusing renumbering is with "Felix." Felix II (355) was the early Anti-Pope with the name, but the subsequent Felixes, III (or II, 483) and IV (or III, 526), are early and not of great historical significance -- so not much confusion arises. However, the Anti-Pope Felix V (1439), chosen by the Council of Basle, and the last Anti-Pope, is of rather more importance, and appears to always be numbered with the Anti-Pope Felix II in the sequence.

There actually is no Pope John XX. When John XXI (1276) became Pope, there was some confusion about the numbering of the earlier Johns. Since John XXI styled himself the "XXI," this number has been allowed to stand, even when the confusion has been cleared up. How much more appropriate, then to retain even a discounted Stephen II.


Although the Church of the Pope is called by one and all the "Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church" (Sancta Romana Catholica et Apostolica Ecclesia), and this is contrasted, not just with Protestant churches, but with the Orthodox Churches of the East, Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Bulgarian, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, etc., this has been no more than a very clever usurpation. The "Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church" was the Universal (katholikos) Church of the Roman Empire. The Pope was not the ruler of that Church, but one of the Ecumenical Patriarchs, along with the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. The Pope was allowed to be primus inter pares, "first among equals," but that was it. Governance of the Church was also shared with the Emperor, the "Equal of the Apostles," who had the authority to call Church Councils; and, after 476, that meant only the Emperor in Constantinople -- although, as it happened, only that Emperor had ever called Councils. After various disputes, the Latin and Greek Churches finally broke in 1054. Each thus claimed to be the proper "Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church," but over time the Papal use of the terminology seems curiously to have been conceded by the East. "Eastern Orthodox" is not particularly insulting, but it is a surrender. Even the expression "Greek Catholic" is used for the Roman Catholic counter-church that was created to lure the Greek Orthodox into allegiance to Rome.

The Schism between Greek and Latin Churches came at a very bad time for the Greeks. Defeat by the Turks and the loss of Asia Minor deprived Romania of more than half its territory. This was a catastrophe, and actually the Empire never recovered. The Emperor Alexius Comnenus appealed to the West for help. He had no idea what this would set off. Pope Urban II got the idea to call for a "Crusade," a great Christian army, not just to help the Greeks, but to go on and reconquer Jerusalem. This is what happened. The First Crusade defeated the Turks badly enough that Romania was able to recover considerable territory, but then it went on and obtained the great goal of Jerusalem, which had been in Islâmic hands for 463 years.

Later Crusades were the result of setbacks, like the fall of Edessa in 1144 and, much worse, the loss of Jerusalem in 1187. The Popes began to labor constantly to put together forces that could recover the Christian position in Outremer. The Third Crusade was the most powerful and direct, led by the heroic Richard the Lionheart of England, but it fell short. Much, much worse was the Fourth Crusade, which was redirected by the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, to the purposes of Venice. Pope Innocent III first had to excommunicate everyone for the use of the army in Dalmatia, and then the Venetians took it, not to Palestine, but to Constantinople. This could be seen as undoing the Schism between the Chruches, since now there was a Latin Emperor and Latin Patriarch in Romania, but it didn't accomplish the real purpose. Nor did it last long. Innocent also sanctioned the appalling Albigensian Crusade which precipitated massacre and cultural devestation in the South of France. Nevertheless, he also accepted the legitimancy of the new mendicant preachers, like the charismatic St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and St. Dominic (1170-1221), the founders of the Franciscan and Dominican Orders.

Later Popes had to contend with an excommunicated Emperor, Frederick II, regaining Jerusalem by negotiation (Fifth Crusade), and then with St. Louis of France getting himself captured in Egypt (Sixth Crusade) and then dying in Tunisia (Seventh Crusade). That was about it.

While the last glimmers of the Holy Land were fading, the self-importance of the Papacy was expanding. Boniface VIII went the furtherest with this. The Popes were essentially going to be rulers of the world, deposing and enthroning rulers as they wished. These were naive and dangerous pretentions given some of the rulers that the Pope would have to deal with. The Emperor Henry IV might have been willing to stand in the snow as a penitant, but King Philip IV of France sent one of his agents, Nogaret, to do something about the Pope. With a gang of mercenaries, Nogaret seized Boniface in his summer palace at Anagni, holding him hostage and sacking the place. By one account, they intented to take him back to France for trial but then were driven off, and Boniface rescued, by the local citizens. On another account, they thought it impractical to move Boniface and simply left him without further harm. But they had broken his spirit, and he died weeks later.

In short order, a French Pope was elected, Clement V, who may actually have meant well but who ended up as a dupe and tool of Philip. Clement settled at Avignon, where the Papal Court then resided until 1377 -- later called the "Babylonian Captivity" of the Papacy. Clement was helpless against Philip's schemes, like the destruction of the Templars, even though the Crusading Order was under the direct authority of the Pope and was theoretically immune to French sovereignty. That didn't help them, and Philip ended up burning the Grand Master, without so much as notifying Clement beforehand. Subsequently, all of Europe saw the Papacy as an instrument of French policy.

Finally, the Babylonian Captivity was ended when a French Pope, Gregory XI, returned to Rome, but not without great trouble wading in to Italian politics.
Popes at Avignon during Great Schism
A [Clement (VII)
Robert of Geneva]
1378-1394
A [Benedict (XIII)
Petro de Luna]
1394-1417
d.1423
1414-1418 Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, Papal interregnum 1415-1417
A [Clement (VIII)
Gil Sanchez Muñoz]
1423-1429,
d.1446
A [Benedict (XIV)
Bernard Garnier]
1425-?
in Armagnac
When he died a new Pope was elected in Rome, but another was soon also elected at Avignon. This resulted in two Papacies, the "Great Schism," and the states of Francia lined up on one side or another. As with the Northern Emperors in Japan, the Popes at Avignon during the Schism are now considered Anti-Popes and not numbered in the succession.

This awkward and mortifying division of Catholic Christendom eventually moved many to find a solution.
1409 Council of Pisa, adds third Pope at Pisa
P [Alexander V
Pietro Philarghi]
1409-1410
P [John (XXIII)
Baldassare Cossa]
1410-1415
d.1419
A Council at Pisa in 1409 elected a new Pope, but then the two old ones refused to resign. So the Great Schism now divided Europe in three, rather than just two. Even worse, the second Pope at Pisa, John XXIII, behaved so disgracefully that no legitimacy was left for the Pisa line, and no Pope would again take the name "John" for five hundred years, until 1958 -- then we get another John XXIII because the first was considered an anti-Pope and his number discounted.

Finally, a General Church Council was called at Constance by the Emperor Sigismund. All three Popes were asked to resign. They did, and the Schism was resolved with the election of a new Pope, Martin V. Although Benedict XIII at Avignon resigned, two more "Avignon" Popes were elected, though they were not in possession of the Papal city. The principle that Church Councils might be called by the Emperor and rule on matters of Church doctrine and discipline, although affirmed by Constance, was soon repudiated by Martin. The next Emperor who wanted to call a Council, and who had the power to do so,
Charles V, nevertheless deferred to the claims of the Papacy (even though his army sacked Rome in 1527, driving out the hostile Clement VII).

No sooner was the Papacy out of all this trouble, however, that it got into new problems. The Popes became wealthy Renaissance Princes. Alexander VI Borgia was one of the most infamous Popes ever, with rumors of incest as well as murder dogging him. He produced multiple illegitimate children, like Cesare and Lucretia Borgia, and was so busy poisoning his enemies that he seems to have accidentally poisoned himself and Cesare! This did not look good to the morally earnest.

The following tables contain some genealogy of two families of Renaissance Popes, the Borgias and the della Roveres. More della Rovere genealogy is given under the rulers of Urbino. Popes from a similiar family, the Medici, are featured in the genealogy of the Medici given with the rulers of Tuscany. Originally Spanish (Borja), Alexander VI's descendants through his son Juan returned to Spain and multiplied.

Leo X, the first of the Medici Popes, under whom the Protestant Reformation began, is supposed to have said, "God has given us the Papacy, so we might as well enjoy it." He dismissed Martin Luther as "some drunken German," but Luther's movement not only shook Francia, it shattered it. A division something like the Great Schism happened again, but this time is not was not over who would be Pope, but whether there would be a Pope at all.

The political divisions of the Reformation were only settled by war. The Dutch revolted against Spain (1568), and as the Spanish kept trying to defeat them, the Emperor moved to suppress heresy in Bohemia (1618). After Imperial forces secured Bohemia and advanced in Germany, France began to subsidize opposition. This brought Sweden into the war; and after Swedish fortunes faded, France, a Catholic state, entered the war against the Catholic side. Spanish power was permanently broken, and the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 secured Dutch (and Swiss) independence and the Protestant states in Germany. The Pope lost even theoretical and spiritual authority over most of Northern Europe.

If we ever wanted to know what a Counter-Reformation Pope was like, all we need is the portrait of Innocent X (1644-1655) by Velázquez (from 1649/50). This is often regarded as Velázquez' greatest portrait, and it is perhaps one the greatest in all history -- and the subject of more than one disturbing interpretation by the artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992). Click on image for larger popup.

By the 19th century, Popes were spending much of their energy just trying to maintain their rule over Rome and the Papal States. They were ultimately unsuccessful. A Concordat with Napoleon (1801) meant that the Corsican took a crown from the hands of Pius VII to crown himself Emperor. Later, Napoleon annexed Rome and arrested the Pope for excommunicating him. A few years later, after riding out the troubles of 1848, Napoleon III came to the rescue of the Papacy with French troops who prevented the absorption of Rome into the new Kingdom of Italy. When French troops were withdrawn to fight Prussia in 1870, the Italians rolled into Rome, made it the capital of Italy, and the Pope removed himself to sulk in the Vatican (and proclaim Papal Infallibility at the Vatican I Council). This was the end of the 1116 year history of the Papal States. Pope Pius XI finally settled for a Concordat with Mussolini (1929) that gave him sovereignty over the Vatican City. This left him with nothing to do but worry about religion and morality, which the Popes have largely confined themselves to since -- as most Catholics probably figure that they should. The Pope's Swiss Guard, still in 15th Century costume (at least on ceremonial occasions), remains to remind us of the day when the Pope had armies.


Detailed histories of the Papacy are readily available. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, by J.N.D. Kelley [Oxford, 1986, 1988], has good discussion of all Popes individually. Chronicle of the Popes, by P.G. Maxwell-Stuart [Thames and Hudson, 1997], sometimes doesn't have as much on individual Popes but supplements this with extensive illustrations and maps, like other books in the Thames and Hudson "Chronicle" series. The dates here are now taken out of the Oxford Dictionary.


In much recent writing, Pope Pius XII has been accused of being little better than a Nazi collaborator during World War II -- "Hitler's Pope," in the title of one book. There is one fact that all by itself refutes such charges. When the Germans occupied Rome after the surrender of Italy in 1943 and began rounding up Jews, no less than three thousand Jews found refuge at the Pope's summer residence, Castel Gandolfo (originally built, ironically, by the Roman Emperor Domitian). The Pope's own private apartments became an obstetrics ward. Critics of Pius generally ignore this case, or lamely and incredibly argue that this was done without the Pope's knowledge. That would have been, to say the least, impossible. But inferences are not necessary; the testimony and the evidence is abundant that Papal instructions to all were to rescue Jews. For instance, Tibor Branaski, honored by Israel as a "righteous gentile" for helping Jews escape Hungary, testifies that he worked with the Papal Nuncio, Angelo Rotta, who showed him letters from Pius with such instructions. Similarly, Angelo Roncalli, the future John XXIII, who had a Papal diplomatic post in Istanbul during the War, supplied immigration and transit papers to Hungarian and Slovakian Jews. In 1957, Israel thanked Roncalli, still a Cardinal, for what he had done. But Roncalli refused to take credit:  "I referred to the Holy See and afterwards I simply carried out the pope's orders." Similarly, in 1955, an Israeli deligation asked Giovanni Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, if he would accept an award for what he had done to rescue Jews. Montini declined, again referring to his instructions from the Pope, and affirming that he had simply done his duty. One result of the Church's efforts was that 80% of Roman Jews and 85% of Italian Jews were saved from the Nazis. But to the "Hitler's Pope" crowd, this was apparently in spite of Papal indifference or even collaboration. This is hardly believable. In truth, Pius never approved of the Nazis, often spoke out against them, and never had any friendly dealings with them. The implication of the "Hitler's Pope" thesis, that Pius would have met with or had some understanding with Hitler, is all false. Indeed, the attacks sink so low that a photograph is used of Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII, leaving a building guarded by German soldiers, with the implication that this was from a meeting with Hitler. In fact, it was Pacelli, who was a Papal diplomat in Germany, leaving a reception in 1928 for the German President, Paul von Hindenberg. The soldiers were those of the Weimar Republic.

In Mediaeval Europe, as it happens, one place that Jews could always be sure of a secure reception was in Rome. As early as 1247, for instance, a Papal Bull refuted with learned detail the "blood libel" charge against Jews, that they mixed the blood of Christian children with Passover matzos. This refutation was confirmed by another Bull in 1540. Meanwhile, Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 could find refuge in Rome, where the contemporary Pope, the notorious Alexander VI, had a Jewish personal physician. When the Emperor Maximilian I was about to order that the Talmud be banned, and burned, in Germany for reputed blasphemies against Jesus, Pope Leo X responded by ordering the entire Talmud published at Rome. These are the sorts of things that those with an animus for Catholicism or the Papacy don't seem to notice.

On the other hand, Pius cannot be entirely excused from a more complacent attitude towards, if not Nazis, then Fascists in general. In 1941 he granted an audience to Ante Pavelic, who, after exile in Italy, returned home to head the Nazi puppet state of Croatia -- for a while the state even had a figurehead King from the Italian royal family. Pavelic conducted round ups and massacres against Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and Communists. Nevertheless, after the War the Church apparently sheltered him in Italy before he fled to South America and found service with Juan Peron. This sort of thing, of course, is not to the credit of the Church or the Pope. Indeed, if Pius never had any use for the Nazis, the Church had much less of a problem with Mussolini's Fascism, or that of Franco in Spain (where Pavelic died in 1959) or Salazar in Portugal. That a Fascist like Franco could actually shelter Jews fleeing from Vichi France means that Fascism as such was not necessarily anti-Semitic, but it is troubling that conservatives or nationalists of the time, like Mircea Eliade, nevertheless became attracted to regimes like those of Mussolini or Franco. Then, as now, collectivist and statist politics were all too appealing, both to left and right, and liberal ideals disparaged. Indeed, few would confuse the traditional Papacy with a source of liberal policies or exhortations.

Nevertheless, despite a less than perfect record of dealing with Fascists, the Church was already on record as opposing the fundamentals of Fascism. Thus, in 1931 (just two years after the Concordat of 1929), Pope Pius XI had issued an encyclical, Non abbiamo bisogno, that condemned Fascism for its "statolatry," a charge on target for far too much of 20th century politics, but certainly especially apt for fascism and communism. The Fascists were accused of trying "to monopolize completely the young, from their tenderest years up to manhood and womanhood, for the exlcusive advantage of a party and of a regime based on an ideology which clearly resolves iself into a true, a real pagan worship of the State." This not only bespeaks the better angels of the Papal nature but is a caution for continuing political traditions, for long under the influence of Hegel, that denigrate the individual and exalt the reality of state and government. Critics of Catholicism should be careful of the statist log in their own eye before practicing their ophthamology on the Papacy.


The name "John," shunned for centuries, has now been born by three of the last four Popes. This was all due to the saintliness and magnanimity of John XXIII. John Paul I wished to honor John and his successor, Paul VI, and then John Paul II wished to honor all three of them. John Paul I's brief reign (little more than a month) moved the Cardinals to elect a relatively young and vigorous Pope. John Paul II, indeed, reigned into the new Millennium. He was the first non-Italian Pope in centuries, and the first Slavic and Polish Pope ever. It was a historic reign indeed, with John Paul playing a large part in the Fall of Communism, but in the 90's he grew gravely frail and ill. Rumors of the gravity of his condition occasionally surfaced. Some even suggested that he abdicate, but this is something that historically Popes have never done (of their own will). Now, on 2 April 2005, John Paul has died. Just the previous Sunday, on Easter, he appeared at his window and blessed the crowd, but he was unable to speak. An infection led to a brief critical illness. After what may have been the largest funeral in history, on April 8th, a historic Papal election will soon take place, the first in a quarter of a century.

Although Catholicism has declined in much of the secular West, John Paul himself made the Papacy a presence and a player in modern religion, culture, and politics. In the days of Paul VI, this hardly seemed possible. John Paul was able to accomplish it all through a combination of qualities that may be difficult to repeat. Personally, he was outgoing and appealing, giving a personal touch to an office that can easily swallow a Pope in pompous ritual and the trappings of Mediaeval monarchy. John Paul believed in the pastoral vocation of the Pope, and he travelled the world, meeting millions, to carry this out. All the same, he would not compromise Catholic doctrine just to be in tune with modernity. This turned many away from the Faith, even while it earned the respect, even of some of them, for his conviction and principles. Catholicism was not going to be some wimpy, pop, feel-good religion. But on the stage of history, looming over all of this, was John Paul's place as the de facto sovereign of Poland and the leader of the fight against Communism. In the dark days of the 80's, when the leaders of Solidarity had been arrested and dissent suppressed, the Poles knew that their Saviors, John Paul and Ronald Reagan, lived. And their Saviors delivered them. Josef Stalin had asked once how many divisions the Pope had. This was a joke. Now, burning in Hell, Stalin knows that the joke is on him.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the first German Pope in many centuries, has now been elected as Benedict XVI. Ratzinger is older, a close supporter of John Paul II, and very much more a Vatican insider, indeed a bureaucrat, than John Paul. Ratzinger was one of only two Cardinals who had elected John Paul himself and was still young enough to vote this time. His may be a kind of transition Papacy, as John XXIII's was expected to be. But one never knows, as with John XXIII himself. More dramatic might have been the election of a Latin American, African, or, I don't know, an Irish Pope. Perhaps that comes next.

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Copyright (c) 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

Archbishop-Electors of
Mainz, Trier, and Cologne


Among the oldest Bishoprics, and Archbishoprics, in Germany, Mainz, Trier, and Cologne were all Roman cities -- their Latin names are given below -- which became Ecclesiastical States and then the Ecclesiasitical Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. Their status as Electors was confirmed in the Golden Bull of the Emperor Charles IV in 1356. The three Archbishops all participated in the subsequent crowning of a new Emperor, as seen in the 1764 coronation of Joseph II at right, though they were really crowning him King of the Romans (originally King of the Eastern Franks). Only the Pope could crown the King as the actual Emperor of the Romans.

The secular power of the Archbishops was brought to an end by Napoleon in 1803. The cities themselves ended up within the borders of Napoleonic France. The last Elector of Mainz, Karl Theodor, was first transfered as a secular Elector to Regensburg and then, after Napoleon abolished the Empire (1806), to Frankfurt as a Grand Duke -- until Napoleon was defeated and Frankfurt became a Free City. Mainz, Trier, and Cologne were not restored to pre-Napoleonic Ecclesiastical rule or independence.

The bishoprics begin with a curious chapter in Church history. The first Bishop and then Archbishop of Mainz on the list was an English (or Anglo-Saxon, if you like) missionary, Wynfrith, later Boniface, of Crediton. In 718, at the age of about 43, Boniface left England to evangelize among the Germans. He coordinates his efforts by visiting the Pope three times and consulting with the powerful Carolingian Mayors of the Palace of Merovingian Francia, principally Charles Martel but then also Pepin the Short, who became King shortly before Boniface's death. Boniface brought a number of other English missionaries with him, including the nun St. Walburga who became an abbess in Germany, and who suffered the curious fate of having Walpurgisnacht, a sort of Springtime Halloween on April 30, grow up around her memory. This is discussed elsewhere. Since the letter "w" as used in modern German and Dutch was borrowed from English, I wonder if this may have been introduced by Boniface himself. However, written German isn't attested until, I think, the 9th century; so Boniface may be a bit early.

Bishops, Archbishops, Electors
Mainz,
Moguntiacum
Trier,
Augusta
Treverorum
Cologne,
Colonia Agrippina
Bonifatius, Wynfrith or Boniface of CreditonBishop,
722-732
Archbishop,
732-754
LullusBishop,
754-781
Archbishop,
782-786
Riculf787-813RichboldArchbishop,
c.791-804
HildebaldBishop,
787-794
Waso804-809Archbishop,
795-818
Amalharius809-814
Haistulf813-826Hetti814-847Hadebald819-841?
Otgar826-847
Hrabanus
Maurus
847-856Dietgald847-863,
d.868
Gunther850-864,
d.871
Charles of
Aquitaine
856-863
Ludbert863-889Bertulf869-883Willibert870-888
Sunderold889-891Ratbod883-915Hermann I889-924
Hatto I891-913
Heriger913-927Ruotbert931-956
Hildebert927-937Wikfried924-953
Friedrich937-954
Wilhelm954-968Heinrich I956-964Brun I953-965
Hatto II968-970Dietrich I965-977Folkmar966-969
Rupert970-975Gero969-976
Willigis975-1011Egbert977-993Warin976-985
Liudolf994-1008Everger985-999
Erkenbald1011-1021Megingaud1008-1015Heribert999-1021
Aribo1021-1031Poppo1016-1047Pilgrim1021-1036
Bardo1031-1051Hermann II1036-1056
Luitpold1051-1059Eberhard1047-1066Anno II1056-1075
Siegfried of
Eppenstein
1060-1084Kuno I1066
Udo of
Nellenburg
1066-1078Hildolf1076-1078
Wezelin1084-1088Egilbert1079-1101Sigewin1079-1089
Ruthard1089-1109Hermann III
of Hochstaden
1089-1099
Adalbert I of
Saarbrücken
1110-1137Bruno of
Brettheim
1102-1124Friedrich I of
Schwarzenberg
1100-1131
Gottfried1124-1127,
d.1128
Meginher1127-1130Brun/Bruno II
of Berg
1131-1137
Adalbert II of
Saarbrücken
1138-1141Alberto of
Montreuil
1131-1152Hugo of
Sponheim
1137
Markulf1141-1142Arnold I1138-1151
Heinrich I1142-1153
Arnold of
Seelenhofen
1153-1160Hillin of
Fallemaigne
1152-1169Arnold II
of Wied
1151-1156
Konrad I of
Wittelsbach
1161-1165,
1183-1200
Arnold I1169-1183Friedrich II
of Altena
1156-1158
Rainald
of Dassel
1159-1167
Philipp
of Heinsberg
1167-1191
Christian I
of Buch
1165-1183Johann I1190-1212Brun III
of Berg
1191-1193,
d.1196/1200
Siegfried II
of Eppenstein
1200-1230Dietrich II
of Weid
1212-1242Adolf I
of Altena
1193-1205,
1212-1216,
d.1220
Brun IV
of Sayn
1205-1208
Dietrich I
of Hengeberg
1208-1212,
d.1224?
Engelbert I
the Holy
of Berg
1216-1225
Siegfried III
of Eppenstein
1230-1249Arnold II
of Isenburg
Elector,
1242-1259
Heinrich I
of Molenark
1225-1238
Christian II
of Weisenau
1249-1251,
d.1253
Konrad of
Hochstaden
Elector,
1238-1261
Gerhard I
Wildgraf
Elector,
1251-1259
Werner of
Eppenstein
1259-1284Heinrich II1260-1286Engelbert II
of Falkenberg
1261-1274
Heinrich II1286-1288Boemund of
Warnesberg
1289-1299Siegfried of
Westerburg
1275-1297
Gerhard II
of Eppenstein
1289-1305Dieter of
Nassau
1300-1307Wikbold
of Holte
1297-1304
Peter of
Aspelt
1306-1320Balduin of
Luxemburg
1307-1354Heinrich II
of Virneburg
1306-1332
Matthias
of Bucheck
1321-1328
Heinrich III
of Virneburg
1328-1346,
d.1353
Walram
of Jülich
1332-1349
Gerlach of
Nassau
1346-1371Boemund of
Saarbrücken
1354-1362,
d.1367
Wilhelm1349-1362
Golden Bull, 1356
Johann I
of Luxemburg
1371-1373Kuno II of
Falkenstein
1362-1388Adolf II
of Mark
1363-1364
Ludwig of
Meißen
1374-1381,
1382
Engelbert III
of Mark
1364-1369
Adolf I of
Nassau
1381-1390Friedrich III
of Saarwerden
1370-1414
Konrad II
of Weinsberg
1391-1396Werner of
Falkenstein
1388-1418
Johann II
of Nassau
1397-1419
Konrad III,
Wild- and
Rheingraf of
Daun
1419-1434Otto of
Ziegenhain
1418-1430Dietrich II
of Moers
1414-1463
Dietrich
of Erbach
1434-1459Ulrich of
Manderscheid
1430-1436
Hrabanus of
Helmstadt
1436-1439
Jakob I
of Sirk
1439-1456
Dieter of
Isenburg
1459-1461,
1475-1482
Johann II
of Baden
1456-1503Ruprecht of
the Palatine
1463-1480
Adolf II
of Nassau
1461-1475
Albrecht I
of Saxony
1482-1484
Bertold of
Henneberg-
Römhold
1484-1504Hermann IV
of Hesse
1480-1508
Jakob of
Liebenstein
1504-1508Jakob II
of Baden
1503-1511Philipp of
Daun-Oberstein
1508-1515
Uriel of
Gemmingen
1508-1514
Albrecht II of
Brandenburg
1514-1545Richard of
Greiffenklau
1511-1531Hermann V
of Wied
1515-1547,
d.1552
Johann III of
Metzenhausen
1531-1540
Johann IV
Ludwig
of Hagen
1540-1547
Sebastian of
Heusenstamm
1545-1555Johann V
of Isenburg
1547-1556Adolf III of
Schauenburg
1546-1556
Daniel Brendel
of Homburg
1555-1582Johann VI
of Leyen
1556-1567Anton of
Schauenburg
1556-1558
Johann
Gebhard I of Mansfeld
1558-1562
Friedrich IV of Wied1562-1567,
d.1568
Salentin
of Isenburg
1567-1577,
d.1610
Jabob III
of Eltz
1567-1581Gebhard II
Truschseß
of Waldburg
1577-1583,
d.1601
Wolfgang
of Dalberg
1582-1601Johann VII
of Schönenberg
1581-1599Ernst of
Bavaria
1583-1612
Johann Adam
of Bicken
1601-1604Lothar of
Metternich
1599-1623
Johann
Schweickart
of Cronberg
1604-1626Ferdinand
of Bavaria
1612-1650
Georg
Friedrich of
Greiffenklau
1626-1629Philipp
Christoph
of Soetern
1623-1652
Anselm Kasimir
Wamboldt
1629-1647
Johann Phlipp
of Schönborn
1647-1673Karl Kaspar
of Leyen
1652-1676Max Heinrich
of Bavaria
1650-1688
Lothar Friedrich
of Metternich
1673-1675
Damian of
Leyen
1675-1678Johann VIII
Hugo of
Orsbeck
1676-1711
Karl Heinrich
of Metternich
1679
Anselm Franz
of Ingelheim
1679-1695Joseph Clemens
of Bavaria
1688-1723
Lothar Franz
of Schönborn
1695-1729Karl Joseph
of Lorraine
1711-1715
Franz Ludwig
of Neuburg
on Rhein
1716-1729,
d.1732
Franz Ludwig
of Neuburg
on Rhein
1729-1732Franz Georg
on Schönborn
1729-1756Clemens August
of Bavaria
1723-1761
Philipp Karl
of Eltz
1732-1743
Johann Friedrich
Karl of Ostein
1743-1763Johann IX
Philipp of
Walderdorf
1756-1768
Emmerich Josef
of Breidbach
1763-1774Klemens
Wenzeslaus
of Saxony
1768-1802,
d.1812
Maximilian
Friedrich of
Köngiseck-
Rothenfels
1761-1784
Friedrich Karl
Josef of Erthal
1774-1802Max Franz
of Austria
1784-1801
Karl Theodor
of Dalberg
1802-1803Secularized, 1803Secularized, 1803
Secularized,
1803
Regensburg,
1803-1810
Grand Duke
of Frankfurt,
1810-1813,
d.1817
Joseph Ludwig ColmarBishop, 1802-1818Charles MannayBishop, 1802-1816
Joseph Vitus Burg1829-1833Josef von Hommer1824-1836Ferdinand August von SpiegelArchbishop, 1824-1835
Johann Jakob Humann1833-1834Vacant
Petrus Leopold Kaiser1834-1848Wilhelm Arnoldi1842-1864Clemens August II Droste zu Fischering1835-1845
Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr von Ketteler1850-1877Leopold Pelldram1865-1867Johannes von Geissel1845-1864
Matthias Eberhard1867-1876Paul Melchers1866-1885
Paul Leopold Haffner1886-1899Michael Felix Korum1881-1921Philipp Krementz1885-1899
Heinrich Brück1900-1903Anton Hubert Fischer1902-1912
Georg Heinrich Kirstein1903-1921Felix von Hartmann1912-1919
Ludwig Maria Hugo1921-1935Franz Rudolf Bornewasser1922-1951Karl Joseph Schulte1920-1941
Albert Stohr1935-1961Matthias Wehr1951-1967Josef Frings1942-1969
Hermann Cardinal Volk1962-1982Bernhard Stein1967-1980Joseph Höffner1969-1987
Karl Cardinal Lehmann1983-presentHermann Josef Spital1981-2001Joachim Meisner1988-present
Reinhard Marx2002-present

The lists of all the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne are taken from the Regentenlisten und Stammtafeln zur Geschichte Europas, by Michael F. Feldkamp [Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 295-306 & 348-352] and from Wikipedia.

Patriarchal Index

Lorraine Index

Archbishops of Salzburg

Philosophy of History

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Copyright (c) 2002, 2003, 2008 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved


Archbishops of Canterbury
and Salzburg


Archbishops of Canterbury,
Roman Durovernum
1 St. Augustine597-605
2 Laurentius605-619
3 Mellitus619-624
4 Justus624-627
5 Honorius627-653
6 Deusdedit655-664
7 Theodore of Tarsus668-690
8 Berhtuald/
Berctwald
693-731
9 Taetwine/
Tatwin
731-734
10 Nothelm734-740
11 Cuthbert740-758
12 Breogwine759-762
13 Jaenberht763-790
14 Aethelheard790-803
15 Wulfred803-829
16 Fleogild829-830
17 Ceolnoth830-870
18 Aethelred870-889
19 Plegemund891-923
20 Aethelm923-925
21 Wulfelm928-941
22 Odo941-958
23 Aelsine958-959
24 Dunstan959-988
25 Aethelgar988-989
26 Sigeric990-994
27 Aefric995-1005
28 Alphege1006-1012
29 Lyfing1013-1020
30 Aethelnoth1020-1038
31 Eadsige1038-1050
32 Robert of Jumièges1051-1052
33 Stigand1052-1070
34 Lanfranc1070-1089
35 St. Anselm1093-1109
36 Ralph de Turbine1114-1122
37 William de Corbeuil1123-1136
38 Theobald1139-1161
39 St. Thomas
Becket
1162-1170
40 Richard1174-1184
41 Baldwin1185-1190
42 Reginald Fitz-
Jocelin
1191
43 Hubert Walter1193-1205
44 Stephen Langton1207-1228
45 Richard
Wethershed
1229-1231
46 Edmund Rich
(de Abbendon)
1233-1240
47 Boniface of Savoy1240-1270
48 Robert Kilwardby1273-1278
49 John Peckham1279-1292
50 Robert Winchelsea1293-1313
51 Walter Reynolds1313-1372
52 Simon de Meopham1327-1333
53 John Stratford133-1348
54 John de Ufford1348-1349
55 Thomas
Bradwardin
1349
56 Simon Islip1349-1366
57 Simon Langham1366-1368
58 William Wittlesey1368-1374
59 Simon Sudbury1375-1381
60 William Courtenay1381-1396
61 Thomas Arundel1396-1414
62 Henry Chicheley1414-1443
63 John Stafford1443-1452
64 John Kemp1452-1454
65 Thomas Bourchier1454-1486
66 John Morton1486-1500
67 Henry Deane1501-1503
68 William Warham1503-1532
69 Thomas Cranmer1533-1556
executed by Queen Mary
70 Reginald Pole1556-1558
71 Matthew Parker1559-1575
72 Edmund Grindal1575-1583
73 John Whitgift1583-1604
73 Richard Bancroft1604-1610
73 George Abbot1611-1633
76 William Laud1633-1645
vacant, 1645-1660
77 William Juxon1660-1663
78 Gilbert Sheldon1663-1677
79 William Sancroft1678-1691
80 John Tillotson1691-1694
81 Thomas Tenison1694-1715
82 William Wake1716-1737
83 John Potter1737-1747
84 Thomas Herring1747-1757
85 Matthew Hutton1757-1758
86 Thomas Ecker1758-1768
87 Frederick
Cornwallis
1768-1783
88 John Moore1783-1805
89 Charles Manners-Sutton1805-1828
90 William Howley1828-1848
91 John Bird Sumner1848-1862
92 Charles Thomas
Longley
1862-1868
93 Archibald Campbell
Tait
1868-1882
94 Edward White Benson1882-1896
95 Frederick Temple1896-1902
96 Randall Davidson1903-1928
97 Cosmo Gordon Lang1928-1942
98 William Temple1942-1944
99 Geoffrey Francis
Fisher
1945-1961
100 Arthur Michael
Ramsey
1961-1974
101 Frederick Donald
Coggan
1974-1980
102 Robert Alexander
Kennedy Runcie
1980-1991
103 George Leonard
Carey
1991-2002
104 Rowan Douglas
Williams
2002-present
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Primate of England. His seat is at Canterbury because this was the capital of the Kingdom of
Kent, an obvious place for St. Augustine, who was sent in 596 by Pope Gregory (I) the Great (590-604), to seek royal favor, from King (later St.) Æthelbert I, for his mission. The early Archbishops, down to Taetwine (Tatwin) are given by the Venerable Bede (673-735) in his History of the English Church and People (731). The first part of this is still well in the Dark Ages, but it is already not too long before the time of Bede himself.

Several Archbishops are particularly noteworthy. St. Anselm was one of the most important philosophers of the 12th century, responsible for the "ontological argument" for the existence of God which would bedevil subsequent thinkers. He was himself a Lombard who had entered a monastery in Normandy. As Archbishop, he was involved in the particular political dispute of his time, trying to strip secular rulers, in this case the Kings of England, of their powers to designate bishops of the Church. In Germany, this occurred as the formidable and epic Investiture Controversy (1076-1122). Things got so hot that Anselm spent some years in exile (1097-1100, 1103-1107).

Soon after Anselm came Thomas à Becket, who had been a friend and official of King Henry II but after becoming Archbishop entered into further attempts to limit secular authority, in this case in defense of clerics accused of crimes. Since the crimes were sometimes things like murder and rape, for which Becket's ecclesiastical courts often only handed down nominal punishments, it is understandable that Henry took exception to clerical immunity to secular prosecution. A careless wish expressed by Henry resulted in Becket's murder. While Becket was immediately canonized and enthusiastically venerated, he was not a selfless advocate for justice, but a rather foolish champion of clerical privilege who seems to have almost been eager to provoke his own martyrdom. He did succeed, and long afterwards inspired rather good books, plays, and movies of the business. Although some of these make Becket out to have been a Saxon, defending native Englishmen against Norman rulers like Henry, he was actually just as much a Norman himself.

After many centuries, Thomas Cranmer was the first Protestant Archbishop,
Archbishops of Salzburg,
Roman Iuvavum
ArnoBishop,
785-798
Archbishop,
798-821
Adalram821-836
Liutpram836-859
Adalwin859-873
Adalbert I873-874
Dietmar I874-907
Pilgrim I907-923
Adalbert II923-935
Egilolf935-939
Herold of
Scheyern
939-958,
d.984
Friedrich I958-991
Hartwig991-1023
Gunther of
Meißen
1024-1025
Dietmar II1025-1041
Balduin1041-1060
Gebhard1060-1088
Thiemo of
Medling
1090-1101
Konrad I1106-1147
Eberhard I1147-1164
Konrad II
of Austria
1164-1168
Adalbert III1168-1177,
1183-1200
Konrad III
of Wittelsbach
1177-1183,
d.1200
Eberhard II
of Regensburg
1200-1246
Burkard of
Ziegenhain
1247
Philipp of
Carinthia
1247-1256
Ulrich1257-1265,
d.1268
Ladislaus of
Schlesien
1265-1270
Friedrich II
of Walchen
1273-1284
Rudolf of
Hoheneck
1284-1290
Konrad IV
of Fohnsdorf-
Praitenfurt
1291-1312
Weichard of
Polheim
1312-1315
Friedrich III
of Leibnitz
1316-1338
Heinrich of
Piernbrunn
1338-1343
Ortolf of
Weißeneck
1343-1365
Pilgrim II
of Puchheim
1366-1396
Georg I Schenk
of Osterwitz
1396-1403
Eberhard III
of Neuhaus
1403-1427
Eberhard IV
of Starhemberg
1427-1429
Johannes of
Reichenberg
1429-1441
Friedrich IV
of Emmerberg
1441-1452
Sigismund I
of Volkersdorf
1452-1461
Burkard of
Weißbriach
1462-1466
Bernhard
of Rohr
1466-1482,
d.1487
Johannes
Beckenschlager
Coadjutor,
1482-1487
Archbishop,
1487-1489
Friederich V
of Schaumburg
1490-1494
Sigismund II
of Holneck
1494-1495
Leonhard of
Keutschach
1495-1519
Matthäus Lang
of Wellenburg
Coadjutor,
1512-1519
Archbishop,
1519-1540
Ernst of
Bavaria
1540-1554,
d.1560
Michael of
Kuenberg
1554-1560
Johannes Jakob
of Kuen-Belasy
1561-1586
Georg II
of Kuenberg
Coadjutor,
1580-1586
Archbishop,
1586-1587
Wolf Dietrich
of Raittenau
1587-1612,
d.1617
Marcus Sitticus
of Hohenems
1612-1619
Paris of
Lodron
1621-1653
Guidobald
of Thun
1654-1668
Max Gandolf
of Kuenberg
1668-1687
Johann Ernst
of Thun
1687-1709
Franz Anton
of Harrach
1709-1727
Leopold Anton
of Firmian
1727-1744
Jakob Ernst of
Liechtenstein
1745-1747
Andreas Jakob of
Dietrichstein
1749-1753
Sigmund Christoph
of Schrattenbach
1753-1771
Hieronymous Joseph
Franz of Colloredo-
Waldsee
Archbishop,
Landesherr,
1772-1803,
d.1812
Ferdinand,
III of Tuscany
Duke of
Tuscany,
1790-1801,
1814-1824
Elector of
Salzburg,
1803-1806
Elector of
Würzburg,
1806
Grand Duke
of Würzburg,
1806-1814
helping King
Henry VIII to break the Church of England away from Rome, seize monastic properties, etc. This earned him arrest by the subsequent Catholic Queen Mary. Tortured into confessing to heresy, Cranmer was going to be burned at the stake nevertheless. At the event, he recanted his confessions and thrust his own hand into the flames for signing the coerced documents, saying, "This hath offended; oh, this unworthy hand!" The Martyr's Memorial stands outside Balliol College, Oxford, where Cranmer and two other prelates were excecuted.

The See stood empty during the Civil War (1640-1649), Commonwealth (1649-1653), and the Protectorate (1653-1660) of the Cromwells but has had to endure little in the way of such political trials since. Instead, the Church has tried so hard, despite being a State Religion, not to be judgmental, exclusive, or demanding that it has seemed to cease to stand for, or mean, much of anything. It has thus steadily lost membership and excites comments like the following, from Michael Whelton:

This position of so-called "inclusiveness" back in the 1950s and 1960s was perceived by many in the British Isles as slightly preposterous. Sadly, the Anglican Church lost respect, influence, and relevance, becoming the target of much satire and the butt of many jokes. One comedian declared, "In England we have a wonderful institution called the Anglican Church, and no one from Joseph Stalin to Mao Tse Tung can say with any certainty that he is not a member." [Popes and Patriarchs, Conciliar Press, 2006, p.15]

Even better we have the classic poem by T.S. Elliot, "The Hippopotamus," comparing that animal, favorably, to the Church of England. The poem can be examined in a popup.

We see a classic expression of the 19th century politics of the Church of England in Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers (1857), with conflict between the traditionalist High Church and the Evangelical, Protestantizing Low Church. Indeed, even today the Anglican Church remains ritually so close to the Roman Catholic Church that Anglican priests who convert to Catholicism are accepted as Catholic priests, even if they are married. They are, I believe, the only married priests in the Catholic Church.

Already in the 19th century there were some high-profile converts to Catholicism, such as John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who went on from a pinacle of Anglican scholarship at Oxford to be a Catholic priest (1846) and then cardinal (1879). Nevertheless, he is still commemorated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship in 1822. There he steadily moved from Calvinist sentiments and association with the Low Church to the creation of the High Church "Oxford Movement." This led steadily on towards Catholcism and conversion in 1845.


Salzburg was a very large eccelesiastical state. Its principal claim to fame may be as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1736-1791). Apart from European tours, Mozart lived in Salzburg and worked for the Archbishop (who has been described as "strict and unkind") until 1781. At this time, of course, composers could be treated as feudal retainers not much above the status of footmen. Mozart then died in poverty and was buried in an anonymous pauper's grave in Vienna. Before long, composers like Ludwig van Beethoven became such figures of public celebrity that such a fate was unthinkable.

Another minor claim to fame for Salzburg may be that the location shots for the 1965 movie The Sound of Music were in or near the city. For people who have not visited the area, the movie contains the images of the Alps that they probably retain.

Eventually Salzburg fell to Napoleon's rearrangements of Europe. In 1803 it was made an Imperial Electorate for the deposed Hapsburg Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand III. When Napoleon gave the city to Austria in 1806, Ferdinand was moved to Würzburg, which became a Grand Duchy when Napoleon abolished the Empire in the same year. In 1809 Napoleon took Salzburg from Austria and gave it to a better ally, Bavaria; but then Austria got it back at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1815 it has remained part of Austria. Ferdinand returned to Tuscany.

The list of the Archbishops of Salzburg is taken from the Regentenlisten und Stammtafeln zur Geschichte Europas, by Michael F. Feldkamp [Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 295-306 & 348-352].

Patriarchal Index

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Copyright (c) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

Patriarchs of Constantinople


Bishops of Byzantium
St. Andrew the Apostle
Stachys
the Apostle
38-54
Onesimus54-68
Polycarpus I69-89
Plutarch89-105
Sedecion105-114
Diogenes114-129
Eleutherius129-136
Felix136-141
Polycarpus II141-144
Athendodorus144-148
Euzois148-154
Laurence154-166
Alypius166-169
Pertinax169-187
Olympians187-198
Mark I198-211
Philadelphus211-217
Ciriacus I217-230
Castinus230-237
Eugenius I237-242
Titus242-272
Dometius272-284
Rufinus I284-293
Probus293-306
Metrophanes306-314
Archbishops of
Constantinople, 324
Alexander314-337
325 Council I, Nicaea I,
Arianism condemned;
Nicene Creed
Paul I337-339,
341-342
Eusebius
of Nicomedia
339-341
Macedonius I342-346,
351-360
Paul I346-351
Eudoxius
of Antioch
Patriarch of
Antioch, 360
360-370
Meletian Schism, 361-401
Demophilus370-379
[Evagrius]379
[Maximus]380
Gregory I
of Nazianzus,
the Theologian
379-381
Patriarchs of Constantinople
Nectarius381-397
381 Council II, Constantinople I,
Arianism condemned; regarded as
definitively establishing
Roman Catholic orthodoxy;
Patriarch of Constantinople
Second in Precedence after Rome
St. John I
Chrysostom
398-404, d.407
Arsacius
of Tarsus
404-405
Atticus406-425
Sisinius I426-427
Nestorius428-431
Maximianus431-434
431 Council III, Ephesus,
Nestorianism condemned
Proclus434-446
Flavian,
Phlabianus
446-449
Anatolius449-458
449 "Robber" Council,
Ephesus II, Monophysitism
affirmed, still recognized
by Monophysite Churches;
451 Council IV, Chalcedon,
Monophysitism condemned; fatal
disaffection of Syria & Egypt
Gennadius I458-471
Acacius471-488/9
Fravitas,
Phrabitas
488/9-
489/90
Euphemius489/90-495/6
Macedonus II495/6-511
Timothy,
Timotheus I
511-518
John II
of Cappadocia
518-520
Epiphanius520-535
Anthimus I535-536
Menas536-552
Eutychius552-565,
577-582
553 Council V, Constantinople II,
Monophysitism condemned again
John III
Scholasticus
565-577
John IV
Nesteutes,
the Faster
582-595
Cyriacus596-606
Thomas I607-610
Sergius I610-638
Pyrrhus638-641,
654
Paul II641-653
Peter654-666
Thomas II667-669
John V669-675
Constantine I675-677
Theodore I677-679,
686-687
George I679-686
680-681 Council VI,
Constantinople III,
Monotheletism condemned,
Pope Honorius I & Patriarch
Sergius I condemned as heretics
Paul III687/8-693/4
Callinicus I693/4-705/6
Cyrus705/6-711/2
John VI712-715
Germanus I715-730
Anastasius730-754
Constantine II754-766
Nicetas I766-780
Paul IV,
of Cyprus
780-784
Tarasius784-806
787 Council VII,
Nicaea II, Iconoclasm condemned
under guidance of Empress Irene
Nicephorus I806-815
Theodotus I,
Cassiteras,
Melissenus
815-821
Anthony I821-836
John VII
Grammaticus
836-843
Iconoclasm finally repudiated
under guidance of
Empress Theodora, 843
Methodius I843-847
Ignatius847-858,
867-877
869-870 Council VIII,
Constantinople IV, "Anti-Photian
Council," patched up
filioque and other differences,
later repudiated by East, last
Oecumenical Council recognized
by West which included the
Eastern Church
St. Photius
the Great
858-867,
877-886
significant scholar; sends
Cyril & Methodius on mission
to Moravia; Photian Schism,
861-867; deposed, 867,
by Emperor Basil I;
New Council, Constantinope V,
879-880, repudiated Council VIII
Stephanus I886-893
Anthony II
Cauleas
893-901
Nicholas I
Mysticus
901-907,
912-925
Euthymius I907-912
Stephanus II925-927/8
Tryphon927/8-931
Theophylactus933-956
Polyeuctus956-970
Basil I
Scamandrenus
970-973/4
Anthony III
Studites
973/4-978/80
Nicholas II
Chrysoberges
980-992/6
Sisinius II996-998
Sergius II999/1101-1019
Eustathius1019-1025
Alexius I
Studites
1025-1043
Michael I
Cerularius
1043-1058
Schism with
Latin Church, 1054
Constantine III
Lichudes
1059-1063
John VIII
Xiphilinus
1064-1075
Cosmas I
of Jerusalem
1075-1081
Eustathius
Garidas
1081-1084
Nicholas III
Grammaticus
1084-1111
John IX
Agapetus
1111-1134
Leo Styppes,
Stypiotes
1134-1143
Michael II
Curcuas
1143-1146
Cosmas II
Atticus
1146-1147
Nicholas IV
Muzalon
1147-1151
Theodotus II1151/2-1153/4
[Neophytus I]1153/4
Constantine IV
Chiliarenus
1154-1156/7
Lucas
Chrysoberges
1156/7-1169/70
Michael III
of Anchialus
1170-1177/8
Chariton
Eugeniotes
1177/8-1178/9
Theodosius I
Boradiotes
1179-1183
Basil II
Camaterus
1183-1186
Nicetas II
Muntanes
1186-1189
Dositheus of
Jerusalem
1189,
1189/90-1191
Leontius
Theotocites
1189/90
George II
Xiphilinus
1191-1198
John X
Camaterus
1198-1206
Nicaea, 1208-1261
Michael IV
Autorianus
1207/8-1213/4
Theodore II
Irenicus
1213/4-1215/6
Maximus II1215/6
Manuel I
Sarantenus,
Charitopulus
1215/7-1222
Germanus II1222-1240
Methodius II1240
Manuel II1244-1254/5
Arsenius
Autorianus
1254/5-1259,
1261-1267
Nicephorus II1259/60-1260/1
Constantinople, 1261
Germanus III1265-1266/7
Joseph I
Galesiotes
1266/7-1275,
1282-1283
John XI Beccus1275-1282
Gregory II
Cyprius
1283-1289
Athanasius I1289-1293,
1303-1309
John XII
Cosmas
1294-1303
Nephon I1310-1314
John XIII
Glycys
1315-1319/20
Gerasimus I1320-1321
Isaiah,
Jesaias
1323-1332/4
John XIV
Calecas
1334-1347
Isidore I
Bucharis
1347-1350
Callistus I1350-1353/4,
1355-1363
Philotheus
Coccinus
1353/4-1354/5,
1364-1376
Macarius1376-1379,
1390-1391
Nilus Cerameus1379/80-1388
Anthony IV1389-1390,
1391-1397
Callistus II
Xanthopulus
1397
Matthew I1397-1410
Euthymius II1410-1416
Joseph II1416-1439
Metrophanes II1440-1443
Gregory III
Mammas
1443-1450/1
Athanasius II1450/1-1453
Ottoman Conquest, 1453;
Church of the Holy
Apostles, 1453-1455;
Convent of St. Mary
Pammakaristos, 1455-1587
Gennadius II
Scholarius
1453/4-1456,
1458?,
1462-1463,
1464
Isidore II
Xanthopulus
1456-1457/62
Sophronius I
Syropulus
1463-1464
Joseph,
Ioasaph
1464-1466
Marcus II
Xylokaraves
1466/7
Symeon I1466/7
Dionysius I1466-1471,
1489-1491
Symeon I of
Trebizond
1471-1474,
1481-1486,
1482-1486
Raphael I1475-1476
Maximus III1476-1481
Nephon II1486-1488,
1497-1498,
1502
Maximus IV1491-1497
Joachim I1498-1502,
1504
Pachomius I1503-1504,
1504-1513
Theoleptus I1513-1522
Jeremias I1522-1545
Joannicus I1546
Dionysius II1546-1555
Joseph,
Joasaph II
1555-1565
Metrophanes III1565-1572
Jeremias II
Tranos
1572-1579,
1580-1584,
1587-1595
Metrophanes III1579-1580
Pachomius II1584-1585
Theoleptus II1585-1586
Palace of the Wallachians,
Vlach Saray, 1587-1597
Matthew II1596, 1603
St. Demetrius Monastery
at Xyloporta, 1597-1599;
Church of St. George,
Phanar Quarter, 1600
Gabriel I1596
Theophanes I
Karykes
1597
Matthew II1598-1602
Neophytus II1602-1603,
1607-1612
Matthew II1603
Raphael II1603-1607
Cyril I Lucaris1612,
1620-1623,
1623-1633,
1633-1634,
1634-1635,
1637-1638
Timotheus1612-1620
Greg IV1623
Anthimus1623
Cyril II Kontares1633,
1635-1636,
1638-1639
Athanasius III
Patelaros
1634
Neophytus III1636-1637
Parthenius I1639-1644
Parthenius II1644-1646,
1648-1651
Joannicius II1646-1648,
1651-1652,
1653-1654,
1655-1656
Cyril III1652,
1654
Paisius I1652-1653,
1654-1655
Parthenius III1656-1657
Gabriel II1657
Parthenius IV1657-1662,
1665-1667,
1671,
1675-1676,
1684-1685
Dionysius III1662-1665
Clement1667
Methodius III1668-1671
Dionysus IV
Muselimes
1671-1673,
1676-1679,
1682-1684,
1686-1687,
1693-1694
Gerasimus II1673-1674
Athanasius IV1679
James1679-1682,
1685-1686,
1687-1688
Callinicus II1688
Neophytus IV1688
Callinicus II1689-1693,
1694-1702
Gabriel III1702-1707
Neophytus V1707
Cyprianus I1707-1709,
1713-1714
Athanasius V1709-1711
Cyril IV1711-1713
Cosmas III1714-1716
Jeremias III1716-1726,
1732-1733
Paisius II1726-1732,
1740-1743,
1744-1748
Serapheim I1733-1734
Neophytus VI1734-1740,
1743-1744
Cyril V1748-1751,
1752-1757
Callinicus III1757
Serapheim II1757-1761
Joannicius III1761-1763
Samuel I
Chatzeres
1763-1768,
1773-1774
Meletius II1768-1769
Theodosius II1769-1773
Sophoronius II1774-1780
Gabriel IV1780-1785
Procopius I1785-1789
Neophytus VII1789-1794,
1798-1801
Gerasimus III1794-1797
Gregory V1797-1798,
1806-1808,
1818-1821
Callinicus IV1801-1806,
1808-1809
Jeremias IV1809-1813
Cyril VI1813-1818
Eugenius II1821-1822
Anthimus III1822-1824
Chrysanthos I1824-1826
Agathangelos I1826-1830
Constantios I1830-1834
Constantios II1834-1835
Gregory VI1835-1840,
1867-1871
Anthimus IV1840-1841,
1848-1852
Anthimus V1841-1842
Germanus IV1842-1845,
1852-1853
Meletius III1845
Anthimus VI1845-1848,
1853-1855,
1871-1873
Cyril VII1855-1860
Joachim II1860-1863,
1873-1878
Sophronios III1863-1866
Joachim III1878-1884,
1901-1912
Joachim IV1884-1887
Dionysios V1887-1891
Neophytos VIII1891-1894
Anthimus VII1895-1897
Constantine V1897-1901
Germanus V1913-1918
Vacant1918-1921
Meletius IV
Metaxakis
1921-1923
Gregory VII1923-1924
Constantine VI1924-1925
Basil III1925-1929
Photius II1929-1935
Benjamin I1936-1946
Maximus V1946-1948
Athenagoras1948-1972
Demetrius1972-1991
Bartholomew1991-present

Constantinople now fades from memory. It's name resonates like something from legend or mythology, and many who hear the name may not quite know what it was or where to place it in their conceptual or historical universe. Indeed, it belongs to something that most would think of as oxymoronic or impossible:  the Mediaeval Roman Empire. As Schopenhauer says of what is excellent, Constantinople is "like a meteorite, sprung from an order of things different from that which prevails here" [The World as Will and Representation, Volume I, §59, Dover Publications, 1966, E.F.J. Payne translation, p.324]. To someone who hears only the drumbeat that Rome "Fell" in 476, this introduces a sort of cognitive dissonance. Something isn't quite right there. Something doesn't compute. Something must be rethought. Indeed, Constantinople requires much rethinking. It was the last capital of the Rome Empire, Roma Nova, "New Rome," or Constantinou Polis, the "City of Constantine," for many centuries the largest and richest city in Europe and Christendom, the repository of much of Greek and Roman Classical learning. When it Fell to the Turks in 1453, it became much the same thing again, the largest and richest city, in Islâm (outside, perhaps, India), a repository of its own wealth, learning, and romance, still echoing in the Maltese Falcon [1930]. Now, as Istanbul, the City is simply a large modern city, the largest in Turkey, but no longer a capital, a fortress, a redoubt, or a beacon of culture or religion. Nevertheless, among the ruins, like those of the great Land Walls, there is one fragile institution that survives from the earliest days of the City:  the Office of Christian Patriarch of Constantinople.

The Cathedral Church of Constantinople was the Church of "Holy Wisdom," Hagia Sophia in Greek, Sancta Sophia in Latin, and Ayasofya as rendered into Turkish (based on the Mediaeval and Modern Greek pronunciation). This was built in its present form by the Emperor Justinian, although subsequently damaged by earthquakes and then restored. At the Fall of Constantiople to the Turks in 1453, the Church was converted into a mosque, with minarets added. Fortunately, the many mosaics of the Church were painted over rather than destroyed. With the secularization of the Turkish state by Atatürk, the building became a museum, and the mosaics were uncovered. However, even while a small chapel has been added for Islamic worship, Christian worship is still prohibited in the building. While in its day Hagia Sophia was architecturally unique, and remained so for centuries -- also as the largest Church in Christendom -- the Ottomans began to build great mosques in the same style, culminating in the Sultan Ahmad (I), or Blue, Mosque nearby, built adjacent to, and using many of the stones from, the classical Hippodrome. The style of the Church has thus entered the canons of Islamic architecure, even while the form of churches developed separately.

While the early Church Councils conceded to the Papacy the position of primus inter pares, "first among equals," this did not give to the Popes any special authority. Second place in precedence was acknowledged for the Patriarch of Constantinople by the Ecumenical Council II of 381, though this was somewhat resented by the older Patriarchates at Alexandria and Antioch. The elevated status for Constantinople was because, of course, this had become the seat of the Emperor, beginning with Constantine, and the principal capital of the Roman Empire. Even when there was a Western Emperor, his seat was no longer at Rome, but in Milan and Ravenna. Indeed, more of the Ecumenical Councils were held in Constantinople (II, V, VI, VIII) than elsewhere -- and Council IV was held just across the Bosporus in Chalcedon.

In Constantinople it was unmistakable that the Emperor imposed a unity on the Church that it would not otherwise have, and that would not otherwise be claimed until the Papacy began arrogating powers to itself that otherwise had belonged only to the Emperor or to Church Councils. I have discussed above how the term "Caesaro-Papism," often used for the role of the Emperor in Constantinople, is applied more appropriately to the Popes themselves, whose claims and accumulation of power were an innovation, while the role of the Emperor had precedents all the way back to Constantine (and earlier, when a Roman Emperor was the Pontifex Maximus). What ends up being distinctive about the Orthodox Churches in communion with Constantinople is that, although Constantinople was responsible for the establishment of several such Churches, e.g. Bulgaria and Russia, the new ones ended up with independent authority, i.e. they were autocephalous, and were in no way subordinate to Constantinople the way the Popes expected national churches to be obedient to them. The principle is still that Orthodox Churches base their doctrine on the Ecumenical Councils. Orthodox Churches not in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople today reject one of the seven Councils noted in the list of Patriarchs. Thus, the Church of the East rejects Council III and the Monophysite Churches of Egypt and Syria reject Council IV. As shown in the diagram, the Churches loyal to Constantinople in the traditional Patriarchates, generally called "Melkite" ("Royal" or, really, "Imperial"), are the Antiochian Church of Antioch, the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, and the Melkite Church of Alexandria. Otherwise, we see national Churches of Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, etc., that are in agreement with Constantinople without being governed by it. Since the Patriarch of Constantinople, living in Turkey, no longer is responsible for the national Church of a traditionally Christian nation, he has come to be simple the "Ecumenical" Patriarch.

A curious institution that is governed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, or at least operates under his direct authority, is the "Holy Mountain," Hágion Óros, Mt. Áthôs. This is the most north-eastern of three peninsulas that extend out into the Aegean Sea from the larger peninsula of the Chalcidice. There are still 20 active monasteries on the Mountain, with a number of smaller settlements and institutions. The road from the mainland ends at Uranopolis (or Ouranoupoli, one now usually sees spellings that reflect modern Greek pronunciation -- I have Latinized many of the names, but the spelling of the monasteries especially reflects this trend). From there one (men only) must take a boat down to Daphne. From Daphne a road, recently built, goes up to Caryes (Karyes, Karyai), the town that is the administrative center of the Mountain, on the land of the Koutloumousiou Monastery. Although most Greek churches operate under the authority of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church, Mt. Áthôs is still under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Over the years, monasteries were founded, not just by Greeks, but by Georgians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Russians, and even Italians. The Italians are now gone (there being the Schism and all), but there are also (modern) Romanians present, though they do not have their own monastery. Mt. Áthôs thus unites all the Orthodox Churches who share the theology of Constantinople. The mysticism of the theology of Mt. Áthôs contrasts with the humanism of Mistra -- this is discussed elsewhere in relation to the Renaissance. The Great Laura Monastery, the first of many in this most sacred place, the Mt. Hiei, , of Orthodox Christianity, was built (961-963) by St. Athanasius during the Macedonian Dynasty. Tradition holds with some earlier foundations, and several small hermitages, as well as individual hermits in caves and elsewhere, certainly had been there for some time; but the Great Laura is the first for which there is contemporary historical documentation.

There are many more Patriarchs of Constantinople than there are Popes. Since the Emperor was present in the City, and religious issues were political issues that concerned the Emperor and the populace, many Patriarchs were deposed in doctrinal, jurisdictional, and purely political disputes, sometimes even to be reinstated. This problem continued under the Ottomans, when the Sult.ân deposed Patriarchs 105 times, and 6 were even killed. Also, the Sult.ân once (1587) confiscated the Patriarchal seat, at the monastery of St. Mary Pammakaristos. The traditional Cathedral of Constantinople, of course, was the great Church of Santa (Sancta/Hagia) Sophia. With the Ottoman Conquest, this was immediately taken over as a mosque. The Patriarchate briefly was based at the second church of the City, the Church of the Holy Apostles, which may already have been in disrepair. Afterwards, it was demolished by the Ottomans for the Mosque of the Sult.ân Meh.med II (Fâtih. Jâmi-i). When the Patriarchate settled in the Phanar Quarter, it was forbidden to build a new church, and forbidden to have any church with a dome. The church of St. George has been rebuilt more than once, and is still the seat of the Patriarch.

As in the Francis Ford Coppola quote discussed above, I begin to see popular comparisons of the Othrodox Church with Catholicism and Protestantism. Much Orthodox antipathy seems to be directed at St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), even though Augustine lived long before the Schism between the Churches and so does properly count as a Saint in the Orthodox as well as in the Catholic tradition. Nevertheless, the Orthodox view seems to be that things in the West really began to go wrong starting with him. Augustine is unfavorably compared with his contemporary, St. John I Chrysostom ("Golden Mouth," c.347-407), Patriarch of Constantinople, 398-404. One issue that definitely engages moderns is their attitude towards sex. Augustine sees Original Sin embodied in sex, and the involuntary sexual response itself represents the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God. Before the Fall, arousal was under voluntary control. This now seems rather bizarre, as it already did to Chrysostom. The Greek Church did not make the strong connection between sex and sin that the Catholic Church did. One consequence of this may have been the allowance for clerical marriage under Constantinople but the eventual requirement of clerical celibacy under Rome. To be sure, Christianity is conflicted. St. Paul does say "It is better to marry than to burn" [I Corinthians 7:9], where we are given to understand that fornication is punishable by damnation. At the same time, orthodox Christianity did not go as far as Neoplatonism, Manicheanism, or Gnosticism, where matter and the body can be construed as intrinsically evil, requiring celibacy for all those, lay or clerical, seeking Salvation. For a world-denying religion, Christianity represented a kind of Middle Way between ascetic mortification and hedonistic excess. Just where it comes down in the Middle is the question. It is clear from Genesis that the Fall has something to do with sex, since Adam and Eve become ashamed of their bodies. Whether this is a matter of privacy or of evil is open to interpretation. After the Essenes, Judaism found nothing wrong about suitably private sexual activity. The Orthodox Church seems more in this vein. Having rebelled, not against God but against Catholicism, Protestantism has gone in many directions, though nearly all Protestant Churches have become accustomed to divorce, despite clear statements by Jesus against it except for adultery [Matthew 5:32]. The Catholic Church had drifted into forbidding divorce for any reason -- but now increasingly provides annulments as the equivalent. Orthodox divorce is easier than in Catholicism, though not as easy as in Protestantism. Orthodox priests can marry, but then they cannot rise further in the hierarchy. Thus, the Church tends to get governed by priests who have taken monastic vows on top of the priesthood, and remain celibate. This is definitely more in the Christian tradition, where Protestants completely ignore the saying of Jesus: "And there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it" [Matthew 19:12]. Catholics forgot the "he that is able" part, while Protestants forget the whole thing.

Although the list of Bishops of Byzantium is given from the early days of the Church, this was not a particularly important city at the time, and one wonders about its historicity even more than with the early Bishops given for Rome. Much the same might be said about the early Armenian Church. The establishment of Christianity in Armenia (301) and by Constantine (312) for Rome, and then the founding of Constantinople (324-330), all bring the lists fully into history -- whence to continue until the present day.
Latin Patriarchs
of Constantinople,
1204-1261
Thomas Morosoni1204-1211
Vacant, 1211-1215
Gervase1215-1219
Vacant, 1219-1221
Matthew1221-1226
John Halgrin1226
Simon1227-1233
Vacant, 1233-1234
Nicholas
de Castro
Arquato
1234-1251
Vacant, 1251-1253
Pantaleon Giustiani1253-1286
Titular Latin Patriarchs,
1261-1948
Peter Correr1286-1302
Leonard Faliero1302-1305?
Nicholas,
Archbishop
of Thebes
1308-1331?
Cardinalis1332-1335
Gozio Battaglia1335-1339
Roland de Ast1339
Henry de Ast,
Bishop of
Negroponte
1339-1345
Stephen de Pinu1346
William1346-1361,
administrator,
1361-1364
St. Peter Thomas,
Archbishop
of Crete
1364-1366
Paul, Archbishop
of Thebes
1366-1370
Hugolin
Malabranca
1371-1375?
James d'Itri,
Archbishop
of Otranto
1376-1378
William, Bishop
of Urbino
1379
Paul1379-?
Angelo Correr1390-1405
Pope Gregory XII
Louis, Archbishop
of Mitylene
1405-?
Cardinal
Antonio Correr
administator,
1408
Alphonese,
Archbishop
of Seville
1408-?
Francis Lando,
Patriarch of Grado
?-1409
John Contarini1409-?,
1424-?
John de La
Rochetaillee
1412-1423
Gregory Mamme1451-1459
Cardinal Bessarion1459-1472
Peter Riario1472-1474
Jerome Lanod,
Archbishop
of Crete
1474-1493/6
Cardinal
John Michael
1497-1503
Cardinal
John Borgia
1503-1503
Cardinal Francis
de Lorris
1503-1506
Tamás Bakócz1507-1521
unknown, 1521-1594
Silvio Savelli1594-1599
Bonifazio Bevilacqua Aldobrandini1598-1627?
unknown, 1627?-1640
Francesco Maria Macchiavelli1640-1641
Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli1641-1643
Giovanni Battista Spada1643-1675?
unknown, 1675?-1706
Lodovico Pico Della Mirandola1706-1718
Camillo Cybo1718-1743
vacant, 1743-1751
Ferdinando Maria de Rossi1751-1771?
Juan Portugal de la Puebla1771-1781
unknown, 1781-1823
Giuseppe della Porta Rodiani1823-1835
Giovanni Soglia Ceroni1835-1844
Fabio Maria Asquini1844-1851
Dominicus Lucciardi1851-1860
Iosephus Melchiades Ferlisi1860-1865
Latin Patriarch of Antioch, 1858-1860
Rogerius Aloysius Emygdius Antici Mattei1866-1878
Iacobus Gallo1878-1881
vacant, 1881-1887
Iulius Lenti1887-1895
Ioannes Baptista Casali del Drago1895-1899
Alexander Sanminiatelli Zabarella1899-1901
Carlo Nocella1901-1903, d.1908
Latin Patriarch of Antioch, 1899-1901
Giuseppe Ceppetelli1903-1917
vacant, 1917-1923
Michele Zezza di Zapponeta1923-1927
Antonio Anastasio Rossi1927-1948
vacant, 1948-1964;
abolished 1965

A benchmark on the survival of Classical and later Greek literature can be found in the Bibiotheca of the Patriarch Photius the Great (858-867, 877-886), which contains 280 reviews. This is not a catalogue of existing literature, or of a particular library, not even that of Photius. It is a treatment of works familiar to Photius, apart from the mainstream of general education, that Photius is recommending to his brother Tarasius. Thus, popular authors like Homer, Plato, Aristotle, or the Greek playwrights are missing from the list. Photius' treatment ranges from brief descriptions and evaluations to long summaries and discussions. Of the 386 works mentioned by Photius, 239 are theological. Nevertheless, only 43% of the text actually focuses on them. The majority of the text (in a book whose modern edition in Greek is 1600 pages long) is thus secular. For example, in addressing A History of Events After Alexander (in ten books) by the Roman historian Arrian of Nicomedia (an early member of the Second Sophistic), we get a long summary of those very events, which are often obscure enough that every description helps. Although much of Arrian survives, and his Anabasis Alexandri is the best account of the campaigns of Alexander, all we have of A History of Events After Alexander is Photius' summary. Our benchmark is that about half of the works mentioned by Photius, like the Events, are now lost. It is distressing to think of what survived, despite the Dark Ages, and then what later disasters, like the Fourth Crusade, may have cost us. It is hard to imagine an undisturbed Constantinople being subsequently so careless with its literary heritage. At no other Court of the age could visitors have found the nobility quoting Homer. [cf. Photius, The Bibiotheca, A selection translated with notes by N.G. Wilson, Duckworth, London, 1994.] Photius, whose Bibliotheca was only part of his literary output, was a major political figure and himself was responsible for the mission of Cyril and Methodius to convert the Slavs.

When the Crusaders took Constantinople in 1204, a Latin Patriarch was installed. This event, of course, is still remembered with bitterness in Greece and all the Orthodox Churches, since it fatally weakened in the Orthodox world in the face of the threat of the Turks. Even when the City was retaken by the Palaeologi in 1261, the Latin Patriarch fled, and the line continued with a titular Patriarch living in Rome until falling vacant in 1948. The position was than formally abolished, with some other Latin Patriarchates, in 1965, certainly as part of the ecumenical reconciliation of Pope Paul VI with the Patriarch Athenagoras. This confusion of multiple Patriarchs, however, is typical for the other classical Patriarchal Sees. No less than four prelates, for instance, claim the title of Patriarch of Alexandria and of Jerusalem. There are also at least six Patriarchs of Antioch. Late in Ottoman history, we get Armenian Patriarchs of Constantinople, as in the list that follows.

The Armenian
Patriarchs of
Constantinople
Maghakia
Ormanian
1896-
1908
Madteos
Izmirlian
1908-
1909
Yeghische
Tourian
1909-
1910
Hovhannes
Arscharouni
1911-
1913
Zaven Der
Yeghiayan
1913-
1922
Mesrob
Naroyan
1927-
1943
Karekin
Khacha-
dourian
1951-
1961
Shenork
Kaloustian
1963-
1990
Karekin II
Kazanjian
1990-
1998
Mesrop
Mutafyan
1998-
present

While most Americans would think of the Patriarch of Constantinople as the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, this is not necessarily the case and gives rise to some confusion. The problem began when Greece revolted against the Turks in 1821. The unfortunate Patriarch Gregory V (1797-1798, 1806-1808, & 1818-1821) was actually hanged because of suspected sympathy for the revolt, or perhaps just to discourage and terrorize local Greeks. Greek independence was recognized in 1830, and a Greek national Church then broke away from the Patriarchate in 1833. The Patriarch recognized the Greek Church as autocephalous in 1850. At that point, the "Greek Orthodox Church" can simply mean the Greek national Church, not the Church of the Patriarch. Further tension between Greece and the Turks occurred in the Balkan Wars and World War I, when Greece was fighting with the Allies. After the War, Greece then tried to seize Smyrna (Izmir). Soundly defeating the Greeks, the Turks directed considerable displeasure at the unfortunate Patriarch and then expelled nearly all ethnic Greeks remaining in Turkey -- as part of an "exchange" with Greece, so that Christians left Turkey and Muslims left Greece -- although many of the former were actually Turkish speaking and the latter Greek speaking. This means that the Patriarch is just about all that is left of the ancient Greek community in Istanbul.

Over the years, the question must have come up many times whether the Patriarch should simply quit what now is so unfriendly a City. Fortunately, he has not, and so a single institution continues in Istanbul that has survived right from the days of Constantine. Now, since confusion would arise by calling the Patriarch's Church "Greek Orthodox," it has become customary to identify him as the "Ecumenical" Patriarch. Before 1833, however, worries about the Church of Constantinople not being the "Greek Orthodox Church" would be anachronistic. Since the language and liturgy of the Church of Constantinople has always been Greek, "Greek Orthodox" in historic terms is always going to mean the Church that used the Greek language. "Greek Orthodox" is still used for other Churches, as of Jerusalem, that have nothing to do with the Greek national Church but that are in doctrinal communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople.

The Walls of Constantinople, initially completed in 413, despite their preservation, are rarely noted or acknowledged as one of the architectural wonders of the Ancient World. This is probably because of the ideological blind spot that afflicts historians who dislike the world of Late Antiquity. There came to be strong religious associations with them. The Virgin of Blachernae -- the Blacherniotissa -- was an Icon that for centuries was though to protect the City. On the eve of the Turkish conquest, the legend is that the Icon was taken up to Heaven, a sure sign that the City would fall. Similarly, the last Emperor, Constantine XI, whose body is supposed to have disappeared during the sack of the City, was believed by many to subsequently be asleep under the Golden Gate, though which he would rise and reënter the City. This may be one reason why the Golden Gate has been kept closed up since the Conquest.

Patriarchal Index

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Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved


Coptic and Melkite
Patriarchs of Alexandria


Patriarchs of Alexandria
St. Mark I
the Evangelist
43-61,
d.63
Anianus61-82
Avilius83-95
Kedron96-106
Primus106-118
Justus118-129
Eumenes131-141
Mark II142-152
Celadion152-166
Agrippinus167-178
Julian178-189
Demetrius189-232
Heraclas232-248
St. Dionysius248-264
Maximus265-282
Theonas282-300
St. Peter I300-311
Achillas312-313
St. Alexander I313-328
St. Athanasius I328-373
Frumentius, first Primate
of Ethiopia, c.305?
[Pistus]335-337
[Gregory]340-346
[George]357-361
[Lucius]365,
375-378
Peter II373-380
Timothy I380-385
Theophilus I385-412
leads Destruction
of the Serapeum, 391
St. Cyril I412-444
St. Dioscorus I444-451,
d. 454
President of "Robber"
Council, Ephesus II, 449, Monophysitism affirmed, still recognized by Monophysite Churches
St. Proterius452-457
Timothy/
Timotheos
II Eluros
457-460,
475-477
Coptic Patriarchs
of Alexandria,
Petros III Monge477,
482-489
Athanasios II Keletes489-496
Yoannis I496-505
Yoannis II505-516
Dioscoros II516-517
Timotheos III517-535
Theodosios I535-566
[Gaïanos]535
[Elpidios]?-565
Dorotheos565-580
[Theodoros]575-587
[Petros IV]575-578
Damianos578-607
Anastasios607-619
Andronikos619-665
[Benjamin I]626-665
[Mina]634
Agatho665-681
Yoannis III681-689
Isaac689?-692?
Simeon I692-700
[Theodoros]c.695
Alexandros II702-729
Kosma I729-730
Theodoros II730-742
Mikhael I743-767
Mina I767-775
Yoannis IV776-799
Markos II799-819
Yakub819-830
Simeon II830
Yousab I831-849
Khail/
Mikhael II
849-851
Kosma II851-858
Shenouda I859-880
Khail/
Mikhael III
880-907
[vacant]907-910
Gabriel I910-921
Kosma III921-933
Macari I933?-953?
Theophelios/
Theophanes
953-956
Mina II956-974
Patriarchate moves
to Cairo, 960
Abraham/
Ephrem
975-978
Philotheos979-1003
Zacharias1004-1032
Shenouda II1032-1046
Khristosolos1047-1077
Kirellos II1078-1092
Mikhael IV1092-1102
Macari II1102-1128
[vacant]1128-1131
Gabriel II1131-1145
Mikhael IV or V1145-1146
Yoannis V1146-1166
Markos III1166-1189
Yoannis VI1189-1216
[vacant]1216-1235
Kirellos III1235-1243
[vacant]1243-1250
Athanasios III1250-1261
Yoannis VII1261-1268,
1271-1293
Gabriel III1268-1271
Theodosios III1294-1300
Yoannis VIII1300-1320
Yoannis IX1320-1327
Benjamin II1327-1339
Petros V1340-1348
Marcos IV1348-1363
Yoannis X1363-1369
Gabriel IV1370-1378
Matheos I1378-1408
Gabriel V1408/9-
1427/8
"Mikhael IV"?1428
Yoannis XI1428-1453
Matheos II1453-1466
Gabriel VI.1466-1475
[vacant]1475-1477
Mikhail IV (VII)1477-1478
[vacant]1478-1480
Yoannis XII1480-1483
Yoannis XIII1483-1524
[vacant]1524-1526
Gabriel VII1526-1569
[vacant]1569-1573
Yoannis XIV1573-1589
Gabriel VIII1590-1601
[vacant]1601-1610
Marcos V (VI)1610-1621?
Yoannis XV1621?-1631?
Matheos III1631?-1645?
Marcos VI (VII)1645?-1660
Matheos IV1660-1676
Yoannis XVI1676-1718
Petros VI1718-1726
Yoannis XVII1727-1745
Markos VIII1745-1770
Yoannis XVIII1770-1797
Markos IX1797-1810
Petros VII1810-1854
Kirellos IV1854-1861
Dimitrios II1862-1870
[vacant]1870-1874
Kirellos V1874-1928
Yoannis XIX1929-1942
[vacant]1942-1944
Makari III1944-1945
Yusab II1946-1956
First Ethiopian Primate of Ethiopia, 1950; autonomous Patriarchate of Ethiopia, 1959
[vacant]1956-1959
Kirellos VI1959-1971
Shenouda III1971-present
There is no way of knowing whether St. Mark was the first Patriarch of Alexandria, but there is little doubt that the Christian community in Egypt is very old. Even before Christianity was officially tolerated, Egypt was one of the strongholds of the new religion. There seem to have been affinities between Christianity and traditional Egyptian religiosity. Some of the iconography of traditional Egyptian religion could be adapted to Christianity. Isis suckling Horus now becomes Mary suckling Jesus. Egypt also benefits from the Biblical tradition that Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt with Jesus to avoid
Herod's slaughter of the children. Sites of the Family's sojourn are still revered.

The influence of the Egyptian Church on the Church in general then becomes considerable. Monasticism really began in Egypt, apparently with St. Antony (d.356). The most important doctrinal influence, however, came from the Patriarch St. Athanasius, who attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, strongly opposing the doctrine of Arius (Arianism) that Christ was perfect Man but not perfect God. Since Arianism enjoyed considerable Imperial favor until Theodosius I, Athanasius experienced a good deal of trouble. He was exiled to Trier (335-337) and then to Rome (339-346). Constantius II tried to arrest him in 356, but he escaped into the desert until the Emperor died in 361. He was unmolested from 366 to his death in 373. Several opposing Patriarchs will be noted in the list. Athanasian Orthodoxy, that Christ was God of God, was established at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. But even centuries later, we find a Unitarian like Thomas Jefferson complaining that Athanasius was the one who had ruined Christianity, turning it from a moral teaching into magical superstition. However, what could be more Egyptian than the idea that the King is God!

The next great doctrinal controversy involving Egypt had grave and enduring consequences for the Egyptian Church. At the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451 the doctrine was condemned that Christ had only one Nature. This was Monophysitism, from monê physis, "one nature," in Greek. Greek and Latin Orthodoxy would be that Christ had two Natures, human and divine. One Nature, however, was the position of the Patriarch Dioscorus of Alexandria, who was then deposed. But that was nowhere near the end of the matter. The Egyptians supported Dioscorus and Monophysitism, and their support soon translated into a national revival and a cultural, at least, revolt against the Imperial (the Roman Catholic) Church. The Egyptian Church now began using the spoken language of Egypt, later called Coptic, as its liturgical language, writing it in an adaptation of the Greek alphabet. This now preserved complete the latest stage of the Ancient Egyptian language, which in the 19th century became one of the keys to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Church then began appointing its own Patriarch. We thus get a Schism represented by the Monophysite Patriarch, the Coptic Patriarch, often called the Coptic Pope, opposed by the appointee of the Imperial Church, called the "Greek" or "Melkite" Patriarch.

Melkite or Greek
Patriarchs of Alexandria
Timothy III460-475,
477-482
d.482
Peter III477,
482-489
John I482 ,
d. 489
Athanasius II489-496
John II496-505
John III505-516
Dioscorus II516-517
Timothy IV517-535
Theodosius I535-536,
d.566
[Gainas]535, d.?
Paul537-540,
d.?
Zoilus541-551,
d.?
Apollinarius551-569
John IV569-579
[vacant]579-581
St. Eulogius I581-607
St. Theodore607-609
St. John V610-619
[vacant]619-621
George I621-631
Cyrus631-643
Peter IV643-651
[vacant]651-727
Theodore IICoadjutor,
c.662
Peter VCoadjutor,
c.680
Peter VICoadjutor,
c.691
TheophylactusCoadjutor,
c.695
OnopsusCoadjutor,
c.711
Cosmas I727-768
Politianus768-813
Eustatius813-817
Christopher I817-841
Sophronius I841-860
Michael I860-870
Michael II870-903
[vacant]903-907
Christodoulus907-932
Eutychius933-940
Sophronius II941
Isaac941-954
Job954-960
[vacant]960-963
Elias I963-1000
St. Arsenius1000-1010
Theophilus II1010-1020
George II1021-1052
Leontius1052-1059
Alexander II1059-1062
John VI1062-1100?
Eulogius IIc.1110
Sabbasc.1117
Cyril II?
Theodosius II?
Sophronius III<1166-1171
Elias II1171-1175
Eleutherius1175-1180
Mark III1180-1209
Nicholas I1210-1243
Gregory I1243-1263
Nicholas II1263-1276
Athanasius III1276-1316
Gregory II1316-1354
Gregory III1354-1366
Niphon1366-1385
Mark IV1385-1389
Nicholas III1389-1398
Gregory IV1398-1412
Nicholas IV1412-1417
Athanasius IV1417-1425
Mark V1425-1435
Philotheus1435-1459
Mark VI1459-1484
Gregory V1484-1486
Joachim1486-1567
[vacant]1567-1569
Silvester1569-1590
Meletius I1590-1601
Cyril III1601-1620
Gerasimus I1620-1636
Metrophanes1636-1639
Nicephorus1639-1645
Joannicius1645-1657
Paisius1657-1678,
d.1681
Parthenius I1678-1688
Gerasimus II1688-1710,
d.1714
Samuel1710-1712,
1714-1723
Cosmas II1712-1714,
1723-1736
Cosmas III1737-1746
Matthew1746-1766,
d.1775
Cyprian1766-1783
Gerasimus III1783-1788
Parthenius II1788-1805
Theophilus III1805-1825
Hierotheus I1825-1845
Artemius1845-1847,
d.1852
Hierotheus II1847-1858
Callinicus1858-1861,
d.1889
Jacob1861-1865
Nicanor1866-1869
Sophronius IV1870-1899
Photius1900-1925
Meletius II1926-1935
Nicholas V1936-1939
Christopher II1939-1966,
d.1967
[vacant]1966-1968
Nicholas VI1968-1986
Parthenius III1987-1996
Peter VII1997-present
"Melkite" means "Royal" (compare Hebrew melekh and Arabic malik), i.e. "Imperial." Since the Melkite Patriarch had little popular support in Egypt, one might expect that the
Arab Conquest in 640 would have ended the line; but it didn't. Both Patriarchates continue down to the present. Indeed, there have been no less than four "Patriarchs of Alexandria":

  1. The original Coptic Patriarch, who has resided in Cairo since 960, when the city was founded by the Fatimid Caliphs (969).

  2. The Greek or Melchite Patriarch, given at right.

  3. The Latin Patriarch. In 1215, 1219, or thereabouts, during the Crusades, as at Constantinople, a Latin Church was created for Alexandria. In recent history, however, the titular Latin Patriarch lived in Rome, ruling through an Apostolic Vicar in Alexandria. The See fell vacant in 1954 and finally was simply abolished in 1964.

  4. The Coptic Catholic Patriarch. Despite the existence of a Latin Patriarch of Alexandria, in 1741 (or 1895, I see both dates) the Catholic Church organized a Coptic Counter-Church (the Coptic Catholic Church), which is like the Coptic Church in every way except that it accepts Roman doctrine and authority. Counter-Churches have been created by Rome for many Eastern Churches. They sometimes differ in curious details from the original Church, for instance that the Coptic Counter-Church uses the Gregorian Calendar rather than the Julian Calendar still used by the Copts. Where the Coptic New Year is usually September 11, as in 2002, the Counter-Church would observe it on August 29. The Coptic Catholic Patriarch has lived in Alexandria, at the Church of the Resurrenction, whose construction was funded by the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef and dedicated in 1902.

The Schism over the Council of Chalcedon may have helped the Arab Conquest, since there was little local support for the persecuting Empire. The Patriarch of Alexandria, who would have been Andronikos (with some opposition), is supposed to have said that it was the Will of God that Egypt should fall to the Arabs.

After the Conquest, conversion to Islâm and use of the Arabic language began to spread in Egypt. The Coptic language survived as a spoken language at least until the 17th century. Now it only survives as the liturgical language of the Church. Coptic Christians, however, have been leaving Egypt, in great part because of attacks from Muslim fanatics that have developed as the result of the recent increase in Islâmic militancy. Not long ago, Copts were 10% of the population of Egypt. Now they may be no more than 6%. A Coptic desk calendar I have for 1997 was printed in Brooklyn. It is largely in English but is partially bilingual in....Arabic.

When I was in Egypt in 1969, my tour group from Beirut was met at the El-Moallaka Church in Old Cairo by the Priest, Shenouda Hanna. I bought a book he had written, Who Are The Copts?, which he autographed. The Coptic Patriarch at the time was Kirellos VI. Now, since 1971, the Patriarch is Shenouda III, and I find myself wondering if this is Shenouda Hanna. There are many Coptic websites about the Patriarch, but I have not been able to find the biographical information that would clarify the issue.

Finding complete lists of these Patriarchs has not been easy. Fortunately, Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies came through, as it often has, even though the Patriarchs are not really "regnal." Gordon has lists of Patriarchs for many other Eastern Churches, but they don't always seem to be clearly identified with their doctrinal and institutional affiliation.

One traditional duty of the Patriarchs of Alexandria was appointing the Archbishop and Primate of Ethiopia, the Abune or Abuna (Arabic for "Our Father"). The first such appointee was Frumentius, a Syrian who had been living at the Ethiopian court for some time and journeyed to Alexandria in order to ask for a Bishop to be appointed. Traditionally, it is supposed to have been St. Athanasius himself who then appointed Frumentius to the post. However, the known dates of Athanasius are a bit late for the likely date of Frumentius's trip. After the advent of Islam, communication between the (now Coptic) Patriarch and Ethiopia was interrupted; but in the 12th century, appointments were resumed. It was always an Egyptian Coptic monk who was appointed; and by the 20th century, Ethiopians were beginning to think that maybe it was time for an Ethiopian to be Primate of Ethiopia. Negotiations over this in 1929 still resulted in an Egyptian monk as Archbishop and Primate, but with four Ethiopians concecrated as Bishops. After World War II, an Ethiopian, Basilos, had already been elected Primate, and in 1950 the Coptic Patriarch recognized him. In 1959 the Coptic Patriarch recognized the Ethiopian Church as an autocephalous Patriarchate, although in communion, of course, with Alexandria.

In an ecumenical era, the doctrine of the Coptic Church has been subject to some rethinking. It has recently been brought to my attention that the Coptic, the Syrian Orthodox, and the Armenian Churches have rejected the term "Monophysite" and adopted the term "Miaphysite." The doctrinal difference that goes along with this, as I understand it, is that Jesus was both human and divine, as the Latin and Greek Churches agreed, but that these are united in One Nature. Now, this possibility goes all the way back to the original dispute. In the 5th century, Monophysites could be "Eutychian," that the One Nature of Jesus was entirely divine, or "Hesitant," that the One Nature was both human and divine. The latter could also be called "Severan" Monophysitism, after the deposed Patriarch of Antioch, Severus, who for some years led the Monophysite movement from exile in Egypt. Now, Jesus being both human divine was precisely what the Latin and Greek Churches meant by "two natures." But Monophysites thought that "two natures" implied Nestorianism. The "Hesitant" or "Severan" formula showed some promise of unifying the doctrine of the Churches, but historically that didn't happen. If the "Miaphysite" formula, although the modern version of this, has a similar promise of ecumenical unification, that's fine -- though I don't know how the Pope or the Patriarch of Constantinople have responded. Today, the Coptic, Syriac, and Armenian Orthodox Churches all like to deny that they were ever Monophysite, meaning Eutychian, and that somehow this was all a misunderstanding of the theology. I think this is more an issue for historians than for interested theologians to decide. Warren Threadgold (A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Standford University Press, 1997) says that while most Monophysites were Hesitant (p.99), Dioscorus himself was indeed Eutychian (p.96). Terminologically, one thing that I have to go on is the explicit statment of Father Shenouda Hanna, in the book cited above:

The Coptic Orthodoxy has clung from the very beginning to the doctrines of monophysitism and monothelitism, that is the one nature and one will of Jesus Christ. [op.cit. p.22]

Since this was published in 1967, my guess would be that it antedates the introduction of the term "Miaphysite." This term itself doesn't help in understanding the doctrine. "Monophysite" combines monos, "one, sole," with physis, while "Miaphysite" combines the independent word for "one" in the feminine gender (to agree with physis), mia. Between monos and mia there is a distinction that doesn't make a difference, though certainly such a terminological difference can be used to represent conceptual differences. For example, "monotheism" means belief in one God, while "henotheism," using the independent word for "one" in the masculine gender, henos, has been used to mean belief in many gods, where one in particular is superior to the others (e.g. Zeus in Greek religion). Thus, "Miaphysite" could be used, by definition, to mean absolutely anything. Now, I can understand the Copts and others being annoyed at terms from Greek and Latin Heresiology being applied to them, so "Miaphysite" accompanies a proprietary claim of self-description -- something very popular in ethnic identity movements. But if they think that "Monophysite" was improperty applied to them just because it always only meant the Eutychian doctrine, this is not true.

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Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved


Greek Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch


Primates of the Apostolic See of Antioch
St. Peter the Apostle37/45-53
Euodiusc.53-c.68
St. Ignatiusc.68-107
Hero I107-c.127
Corneliusc.127-c.154
Eros/Heros IIc.154-c.169
Theophilusc.169-182
Maximus I/Maximianus182-191
Serapion191-211/212
Ascelpiades/
Aslipiades
211/212-
218/220
Philetus220-231
Zebinnus/
Zebinus/
Zenobius
231-237
St. Babylas237-253
Fabius253-256
Demetrius/
Demetrian
256-260
Amphilochius?c.263
Paul of Samosata260/267-
270/272
Domnus I/Dmonus268-273
Timaeus273-282
Cyril283-303
Tyrannos/
Tyrannion
304-314
Vitalis/Vitalius314-320
St. Philogonus/
Philogonius
320-323
Paulinus of Tyre323-324
St. Eustathius324-337
Paulinus?c.332
Eulalius5 months? 331-333
Euphronius333-334
Philaclus/
Placentius
334-342
Stephanus I342-344
Leontius344-357
Eudoxius358-359
Annias/
Ammianus
c.357
Euzoius/
Eudozius/
Eudoxius
360
Patriarch of Constantinople, 360-370
St. Meletius361-381
Meletian Schism, 361-401; 381, President of Council II, Constantinople I
Dorotheus?rival, c.370
PaulinusPapal rival, c.371
Vitalius?rival, c.376
Flavian I381-404
Porphyrus/
Porphyrius
404-412
Alexander412-417
Theodotus417-428
John I428-442
Domnus II442-449
PATRIARCHS OF ANTIOCH, 451
Maximus II449-455
Basil456-458
Acacius458-461
Martyrius461-465
Peter the Fuller465-466, 476-488
Julian466-476
John II488-490
Stephanus II490-495
Stephen III?c.493
Callandion495-496
John Codonatus?c.495
Palladius496-498
Flavian II498-512
Severus of Antioch512-518, d.538/546
deposed in schism, exiled in Egypt, recognized by Syrian Church
Greek Orthodox/Melkite Patriarchs of Antioch
Paul I/II518-521
Euphrosius/
Euphrasius
521-526/528
Ephrem/
Ephraim of Amid
526/528-546
Domnus III546-561
Anastasius the Sinaite561-571, 593-599
Gregory I571-594
Anastasius II599-610
Gregory II610-620
Anastasius III620-628
Macedonius628-640
Arab Conquest
George I640-656
Macarius656-681
Theophanes681-687
Sebastian687-690
George II690-695
Alexander695-702
vacant, 702-742
Stephen IV742-744
Theophylact744-751
Theodore751-797
John IV797-810
Job810-826
Nicholas826-834
Simeon834-840
Elias840-852
Theodosius I852-860
Nicholas II860-879
Michael879-890
Zacharias890-902
George III902-917
Job II917-939
Eustratius939-960
Christopher960-966
Theodorus II966-977
Antioch recovered by Romania, 969
Agapius977-995
John IV995-1000
Nicholas III1000-1003
Elias II1003-1010
George Lascaris1010-1015
Macarius the Virtuous1015-1023
Eleutherius1023-1028
Peter III1028-1051
John VI/
Dionysus
1051-1062
Aemilian1062-1075
Antioch falls to Turks
Theodosius II1075-1084
Nicephorus1084-1090
John VII1090-1155
Antioch taken by Crusaders, 1098
John IX1155-1159
Euthymius1159-1164
Macarius1164-1166
Athanasius I1166-1180
Theodosius III1180-1182
Elias III1182-1184
Christopher II1184-1185
Patriarchate was in exile at Constantinople
Theodore IV/Balsamon1185-1199
Joachim1199-1219
Dorotheus1219-1245
Simeon II1245-1268
Euthymius II1268-1269
Antioch falls to Mamlûks, 1268; Patriarchate returned to Antioch
Theodosius IV1269-1276
Theodosius V1276-1285
Arsenius1285-1293
Dionysius1293-1308
Mark1308-1342
Patriarchate transferred to Damascus, 1342
Ignatius II1342-1386
Pachomius1386-1393
Nilus1393-1401
Michael III1401-1410
Pachomius II1410-1411
Joachim II1411-1426
Mark III1426-1436
Dorotheus II1436-1454
Michael IV1454-1476
Mark IV1476
Joachim III1476-1483
Gregory III1483-1497
Dorotheus III1497-1523
Michael V1523-1541
Dorotheus IV1541-1543
Joachim IV Ibn Juma1543-1576
Michael VI Sabbagh1577-1581
Joachim V1581-1592
Joachim VI1593-1604
Dorotheus V1604-1611
Athanasius III Dabbas1611-1619
Ignatius III Attiyah1619-1631
Euthymius III1635-1636
Euthymius IV1636-1648
Michael III Zaim1648-1672
Neophytos1674-1684
Athanasius IV Dabbas1686-1694
Cyril III Zaim1694-1720
Athanasius IV Dabbas1720-1724
Separation of the Melkites, Greek Patriarchs in Damascus
Sylvester1724-1766
Philemon1766-1767
Daniel1767-1791
Euthymius1792-1813
Seraphim1813-1823
Methodius1843-1859
Hierotheos1850-1885
Gerasimos1885-1891
Spyridon1892-1898
Restoration of Arab Patriarchs
Meletius II Doumani1899-1906
Gregory IV Haddad1906-1928
Alexander III Tahan1928-1958
Theodosius VI Abourjaily1958-1970
Elias IV Muawad1970-1979
Ignatius IV Hazim1979-present
The list of the bishops of Antioch down to Cyril is given by Eusebius, the 4th century historian of the Church [The History of the Church, Penguin, 1965]. The rest of the list is from different websites. As with the Patriarchs of
Jerusalem, the main list is commonly identified as "Greek Orthodox," but historically means the Melkite, i.e. Imperial, Church, which was in opposition to the Monophysite Patriarchs who rejected the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Today this line is self-identified as the "Antiochian Orthodox" Church, and the term "Melkite" is no longer used for it. The "Separation of the Melkites" in 1724 was a schism in the Church where a branch came into existence that entered into communion with Rome and is now called the "Melkite Greek Catholic" Church. The Greek Church was literally headed by Greeks until the "Restoration of the Arab Patriarchs" in 1899, when we get Arab, i.e. Syrian, instead of Greek Patriarchs. Antioch today is part of Turkey, separated from Syria by the French in 1939. The "Antiochian" Patriarch resides in Damascus.
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch
Sergius of Tella544-546
vacant, 546-550
Paul II the Black of Alexandria550-575
vacant, 575-581
Peter III of Raqqa581-591
Julian I591-595
Athanasius I Gammolo595-631
John II of the Sedre631-648
Theodore649-667
Severius II bar Masqeh667-681
Athanasius II683-686
Julian II686-708
Elias I709-723
Athanasius III724-740
Iwanis I740-754
Euwanis I754-?
Athanasius al-Sandali?-758
George I758-790
Joseph790-792
Quryaqos of Takrit793-817
Dionysius I of Tellmahreh817-845
John III846-873
Ignatius II878-883
Theodosius Romanos of Takrit887-896
Dionysius II897-909
John IV Qurzahli910-922
Baselius I923-935
John V936-953
Iwanis II954-957
Dionysius III958-961
Abraham I962-963
John VI Sarigta965-985
Athanasius IV of Salah986-1002
John VII bar Abdun1004-1033
Dionysius IV Yahya1034-1044
vacant, 1044-1049
John VIII1049-1057
Athanasius V1058-1063
John IX bar Shushan1063-1073
Baselius II1074-1075
John Abdun1075-1077
Dionysius V Lazaros1077-1078
Iwanis III1080-1082
Dionysius VI1088-1090
Athanasius VI bar Khamoro1091-1129
John X bar Mawdyono1129-1137
Athanasius VII bar Qutreh1138-1166
Michael I the Great1166-1199
Athanasius VIII1200-1207
John XI1208-1220
Ignatius III David1222-1252
John XII bar Madani1252-1263
Ignatius IV Yeshu1264-1282
Philoxenos I Nemrud1283-1292
Michael II1292-1312
Michael III Yeshu1312-1349
Baselius III Gabriel1349-1387
Philoxenos II the Writer1387-1421
Baselius IV Shemun1421-1444
Ignatius Behnam al-Hadli1445-1454
Ignatius Khalaf1455-1483
Ignatius John XIII1483-1493
Ignatius Nuh of Lebanon1493-1509
Ignatius Yeshu I1509-1512
Ignatius Jacob I1512-1517
Ignatius David I1517-1520
Ignatius Abd-Allah I1520-1557
Ignatius Nemet Allah I1557-1576
Ignatius David II Shah1576-1591
Ignatius Pilate I1591-1597
Ignatius Hadayat Allah1597-1639
Ignatius Simon I1640-1659
Ignatius Yeshu II Qamsheh1659-1662
Ignatius Abdul Masih I1662-1686
Ignatius George II1687-1708
Ignatius Isaac Azar1709-1722
Ignatius Shukr Allah II1722-1745
Ignatius George III1745-1768
Ignatius George IV1768-1781
Ignatius Matthew1782-1817
Ignatius Yunan1817-1818
Ignatius George V1819-1837
Ignatius Elias II1838-1847
Ignatius Jacob II1847-1871
Ignatius Peter IV1872-1894
Ignatius Abdul Masih II1895-1905
Ignatius Abd Allah II1906-1915
Ignatius Elias III1917-1932
Ignatius Afram I Barsoum1933-1957
Ignatius Jacob III1957-1980
Ignatius Zakka Iwas1980-present

My understanding is that there are at least five different lineages claiming to be the Patriarchs of Antioch, as follows, with the addition of the discontinued Latin Patriarchate. Two of these are Catholic Counter-Churches, created or recognized by the Vatican to duplicate the native "Schismatic" Churches in outward form, but agreeing with Rome in doctrine and in acknowledging the authority of the Pope.

  1. Orthodox Melkite, as with the Melkite Church at Alexandria. This is the line often called "Greek Orthodox" as it is in conformity with the theology of the Patriarch of Constantinople, although, like many such Orthodox Churches, autocephalous i.e. autonomous. The Church today is self-characterized as the "Antiochian Orthodox" Church. "Melkite" is generally no longer used. The Patriarch actually resides in Damascus.
  2. Catholic Melkite, a Catholic Counter-Church for the Melkite one. However, this was not created by the Catholic Church but originated in a disputed election in 1724. In 1729 the losing candidate was recognized by the Pope as the Patriarch Cyril VI, who then entered into conformity with Roman doctrine and authority. Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) recognized Maxim III (1833-1855) as Patriarch of Alexandria and Jerusalem as well as Antioch. Thus, even today the Church is self-styled the "Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, of Alexandria, and of Jerusalem."
  3. Syriac Orthodox (or "Syrian," a term now avoided to prevent confusion with the modern state of Syria, though historically the Chruch was indeed associated with geographical Syria). This is often called the "Jacobite" Church, a name that comes from Jacob Baradaeus (Yaqub bar-Addai), who was made Bishop of Edessa in 542 and then promoted Monophysite theology. Previously the Monophysite cause was championed by the Patriarch Severus of Antioch, who had been deposed (518) but then led the movement from exile in Egypt. He died either in 538 or 546, and so possibly was off the scene when Jacob Baradaeus became active -- where his activity included travelling around through Egypt and Syria ordaining Monophysite priests. The first of the line of Monophysite Patriarchs of Antioch, Sergius of Tella, appears soon afterwards (544) The installation of Jacob was on the recommendation of the Monophysite Ghassanid ruler al-Harith V to the Empress Theodora. The Monophysite sympathies of Theordora thus fostered the very existence of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Edessa came to be the center of Syrian Orthodox intellectual life, long remained an important city in the Middle Ages, and was one of the early Crusader States. The ancient language of Edessa was a dialect of Eastern Syriac and, as Classical Syriac, became the intermediary of transation of Greek philosophy ultimately into Arabic. Edessa today is the city of Urfa in Turkey. The large Syriac Christian population of the area was hit by the Turkish attacks on Armenians and other Christians during World War I and today has dwindled to a small remant. Similarly, there are Syriac Orthodox Christians in Iraq who have also suffered from Islamist and nationalistic attacks. Thus, the largest Syriac Orthodox communities are in the United States, the Netherlands, and other Western countries.
  4. Syrian Catholic, the Catholic Counter-Church to the Orthodox one, recognized by Rome in 1783.
  5. Maronite. The Maronite Patriarch in Lebanon is styled the Patriarch of Antioch. The Church is now doctrinally in union with Rome, avoiding the need for a Catholic Counter-Church.
  6. Latin. The Latin Patriarchate, as at Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, was created during the Crusades, in this case in 1098 by the first Prince of Antioch. It fell vacant in 1953, and was formally abolished, like Alexandria, in 1964.

The language of Roman Syria and Palestine was a descendant of Aramaic. This is usually still called "Aramaic" by linguists and anthropologists but "Syriac" by historians. After the Schism over Chalcedon, Syriac replaced Greek as the liturgical language of the local Church. This grew into something of larger historical importance, as various books of Greek philosophy, as well as religious works, were translated into the language. Syriac translation of Greek philosophers then became models and stepping stones to the Arabic translations of the 9th century, usually carried out by Syriac speakers who learned Greek and Arabic. The dialect of Syria proper, Western Syriac, only barely survives in three villages near Damascus. Interestingly, we thus see that the Syrian linguistic and religious boundaries are different, with the former west of Edessa and the later East of it. The cultural and religious boundary, indeed, reflects that of the Late Roman Empire. The map below right shows the contrasting boundaries.

Antioch is named after the second monarch of the Hellenistic Seleucid Dynasty, Antiochus I Soter. It is now a little hard to recapture the sense that it used to be the principal city of Syria (the third largest city of the Roman Empire, after Rome and Alexandria) right down to when it was taken by the Mamlûks in 1268. After that, Damascus quickly grew to dominance, and the Patriarchate reflects this when its seat was transferred there in 1342.

The Schism between the Imperial and Monophysite Churches is delayed a few years after Chalcedon. The Patriarch Severus was deposed in 518 and exiled to Egypt, but he retained the loyalty of most of the local Church, which elected a new Patriarch, Sergius of Tella, to succeed him -- though, as noted, active leadership was by then largely in the hands of Jacob Baradaeus. The area soon becomes troubled with war. In 540, Shah Khusro I of Persia sacked Antioch, while the Roman army was away fighting in Italy. This victory was commemorated with the construction of the Arch of Ctesiphon, the greatest suriving monument of Sassanid Persia. The Persians were back in 611, and by 613 had conquered all of Syria. The Emperor Heraclius defeated them with an invasion of Persia itself, and all the Persian conquests were restored in 628. The respite was brief. The Arabs secured all of Syria by 640. This abruptly introduced religious and cultural changes unlike any seen in Antioch since the city was founded by the Seleucids. Indeed, although Antioch remained the principal city of the area for a while, it was never the home of an Islamic state, like Damascus or nearby Aleppo.
Maronite Patriarchs of Lebanon
St. Youhanna/
John Maron I
d.410
Qorush/Cyrrhus/Cyr
Gebrael/Gabriel I
Youhanna/
John Maron II
Patriarch,
687
Youhanna/John I ?
Gregorius/Gregory I
Estephanos/Stephen I
Marcus/Mark
Eusebius
Youhanna/
John I/II
896
Yeshua/Joshua I
Daoud/David I
Gregorius/Gregory II ?
Theofelictus/
Theofelix/Habib
Yeshua/Joshua II
Domitius/
Dumit/Dumith
Isshak/Isaac
Youhanna/John II/III
Semaan/Simeon/Simon I /Chamoun I
Gregory II ?
Ermea/Jeremiah ?
Youhanna/John III/IV ?
Chamoun II ?
Chamoun III ?
Joseph El Gergessi1110-1120
Peter I1121-1130
Gregory of Halate1130-1141
Jacob of Ramate1141-1151
John III1151-1154
Peter II1154-1173
Peter of Lehfed1173-1199
Jeremiah of Amshit1199-1230
Daniel of Shamat1230-1239
John of Jaje1239-1245
Simon II1245-1277
Daniel of Hadshit1278-1282
Jeremiah of Dmalsa1282-1297
Simon III1297-1339
John IV1339-1357
Gabriel of Hjula1357-1367
John V1367-1404
John of Jaje1440-1445
Jacob of Hadeth1445-1468
Joseph of Hadeth1468-1492
Symeon of Hadeth1492-1524
Moussa Akari of Barida1524-1567
Michael Rizzi of Bkoufa1567-1581
Sarkis Rizzi of Bkoufa1581-1596
Union with Rome, 1584
Joseph Rizzi of Bkoufa1596-1608
John Maklouf of Ehden1608-1633
George Omaira of Ehden1633-1644
Joseph Halib of Akoura1644-1648
John Bawab of Safra1648-1656
George Rizkallah of Bseb'el1656-1670
Stephen Douaihy of Ehden1670-1704
briel of Blaouza1704-1705
Jacob Awad of Hasroun1705-1733
Joseph Dergham Khazen of Ghosta1733-1742
Symeon Awad of Hasroun1743-1756
Toubia El Khazen of Bekaata Kanaan1756-1766
Joseph Stephan of Ghosta1766-1793
Michael Fadel of Beirut1793-1795
Philip Gemayel of Bikfaya1795-1796
Joseph Tyan of Beirut1796-1808
John Helou of Ghosta1808-1823
Youssef Hobaish of Sahel Alma1823-1845
Youssef El Khazen of Ajaltoun1845-1854
Boulos Massad of Ashkout1854-1890
Hanna El Hajj of Dlebta1890-1898
Elias Hoayek of Hilta1898-1931
Antoun Arida of Bsharri1931-1955
Boulos Meoushi of Jezzine1955-1975
Anthony Khoraish of Ain Ibl1975-1986
Nasrallah Sfeir of Reyfoun1986-Present
Unlike the other cities of Syria, however, Antioch returned more than once to Christian control. In 969, the Emperor
Nicephorus II Phocus, riding on the reviving fortunes of Romania, recovered the city. It remained Roman for a good century, but then fell to the Seljuk Turks in the aftermath of the disastrous defeat at Manzikert in 1071. This catastrophe, however, set off a response -- the Crusades.

Antioch was the scene of one of the most formative events of the First Crusade. It was the greatest obstacle on the way to Jerusalem. Arriving in October 1097, the Crusaders did not get into the city until 3 June 1098. They were immediately beseiged in turn by Kerbuqua, Atabeg of Mosul. This looked like the end of the Crusade. However, the Franks were heartened by a vision that led to the discovery of the Holy Lance, the weapon that had pierced the side of Christ. They were thus inspired to sortee against the Atabeg's army, on 28 June 1098, and won a complete victory. In January 1099 Bohemond of Apulia was left as Prince of Antioch, and the rest of the Crusaders left for Jerusalem. Antioch remained a Crusader State until 1268.

When the Mamlûks took Antioch in that year, they largely destroyed the city, so that it could not again become a Christian foothold. They need not have worried, since no Christian power would come close again for centuries. Antioch became a minor city, eclipsed by Aleppo and Damascus.

A Christian power, however, did eventually determine its modern fate. When France occupied Syria as a League of Nations Mandate in 1920, they did so against active opposition, and during their tenure had to deal with violent resistance. It may have simply been a kind of anti-nationalist revenge that in 1939 France ceded Antioch and Alexandretta to Turkey. The cities continue under Turkish sovereignty, as Antakya and Iskenderun.

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria
Cyril VI Tanas1724-1759
Athanasius IV Jawhar1759-1760, 1765-1768, 1788-1794
Maximos II Hakim1760-1761
Theodosius V Dahan1761-1788
Cyril VII Siaj1794-1796
Agapius II Matar1796-1812
Ignatius IV Sarruf1812
Athanasius V Matar1813-1814
Macarius IV Tawil1814-1815
Ignatius V Qattan1816-1833
Maxim III Mazlum1833-1855
Clement Bahouth1856-1864
Gregory II Youssef-
Sayur
1864-1897
Peter IV Jaraijiry1898-1902
Cyril VIII Jaha1902-1916
Vacant, 1916-1919
Demetrius I Qadi1919-1925
Cyril IX
Moghabghab
1925-1947
Maximos IV
Cardinal Saïgh
1947-1967
Maximos V Hakim1967-2000
Gregory III Laham2000-
Present

 
When I visited Antioch in 1970, I walked out of town to the cave Church traditionally associated with St. Peter. The people working on the farms along the way seemed to be speaking Arabic, even though everyone in the city itself appeared to be Turkish. I have not seen any information about the ethnic composition of the city in 1939, but the process of Turkification seems far advanced. Meanwhile, I am unware of which, if any, of the Christian Patriarchates of Antioch are actually resident in the city, or what kind of Christian population survives at all. The large Syriac Othrodox population of Turkey had mainly been centered to the east, around Edessa (Urfa) and Diyarbakir; but beginning in World War I, with attacks on them as well as on
Armenians and Assyrians, most such Christians have fled the area.

A recent controversy of note in Turkey has been over the Syriac Orthodox Mor Gabriel Monastery, where a government land resurvey and hostile neighboring Muslim villagers have threatened the monastery, founded in 397 AD, with the loss of half of its land. Since local Christians have been leaving the area for decades, few remain, and the monastery itself is down to three monks and twleve nuns [cf. The Wall Street Journal, March 7-8, 2009, p.A8]. The Turkish government is caught between the attraction of tourism and even Christian return, with economic benefits, and the Islamists, who would just as soon drive all non-Muslims out of the area, if not out of Turkey altogether, regardless of the consequences. As a land dispute, the matter has ended up in the Turkish courts, which have shown some reluctance to get drawn in. With observers and diplomats from the EU and international Christian and human rights organizations present, the courts are at least aware that they operate in a spotlight, with sensitive politcal issues on the line.

A new development in Syriac Orthodox doctrine, the introduction of the term "Miaphysite," is addressed under the treatment of the Coptic Church.

The Maronites began with a proposal in the Christological controversies of the early Church. This was Monotheletism, the idea that Jesus had two natures, thus conforming to Orthodoxy, but only one Will, intended as a concession to Monophysitism. Although the matter is poorly attested, this was supposed to have been the proposal of the monk Maron. The Emperor Heraclius briefly got this accepted as Orthodox, but it was eventually rejected. This put the Maronites in conflict with the Imperial Church, but they were already on the outs with the majority Monophysities of Syria. By the end of the 5th century, long before Heraclius, Maronites were already moving for refuge to Mount Lebanon, also finding converts among the locals.

The early history of the Maronite Patriarchate is very obscure, with few dates and even uncertainty about the existence or identity of many Patriarchs. Indeed, it is not clear just when the notion would have arisen that the Maronite primate was supposed to be a Patriarch (of the Apostolic See of Antioch) at all.

Names that do not occur on all lists are followed by question marks, and the numbering of subsequent Maronite Patriarchs depends on which individuals are accepted as historical. It even looks like the original Maron, in the 5th century, is sometimes confused with the later Maron, after the Arab conquest in the 7th century, who became the first Patriarch -- or perhaps it is not a confusion. The first secure date and uncontroversial list of Patriarchs appears to begin in 1110, which significantly is soon after the arrival of the Crusaders in 1098. By then, the Lebanese had largely ceased speaking Aramaic and, with Muslim neighbors, adopted Arabic. However, the Church sometimes still wrote Arabic in the Western Syriac alphabet, a style call Karshûnî.

During the life of Outremer and after, between 1182 and 1584 the Maronites negotiated full doctrinal union with the Roman Catholic Church, while the Patriarch retained autocephalous control of his Church. The present Patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir, is the third one to also be a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.

Thus, the last Christological heresy, still surviving institutionally, is thus long gone doctrinally.

For a brief moment, the Shihâbî Amîrs of Lebanon, 1697-1842, led the Maronites to Lebanese autonomy under the Ottoman Empire and almost achieved independence. Although France was sympathetic with this, British foreign policy, which aimed to maintain Turkey as a buffer against Russia, turned against it. Maronite Christians still form the major Christian community of the Republic of Lebanon, and the Lebanese Maronite Patriarch still regards himself as the proper Patriarch of Antioch. While the Modern Republic of Lebanon was created by France in such a way as to ensure control by the Maronites, the greater birth rate of Muslims upset the balance and the Lebanese Civil War of the 1970's destroyed the agreement between the confessional communities that had previously preserved the peace and allowed the country to prosper. The community with the greatest birth rate, and the least prosperity, the Shiites, are now the most radicalized, still the least prosperous, and the most inclined to harbor terrorists and provoke Israel. In line with the ideology of Irân, and supplied with weapons from Irân through Syria, their focus is Apocalyptic, on the Jihâd rather than on triffles like economic development.

There are several lists of the Maronite Patriarchs on line. One list with features on recent Patriarchs is at the Kobayat website.

Latin Patriarchs of Antioch

Patriarchal Index

Philosophy of History

Philosophy of Religion

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Copyright (c) 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved


Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and
Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem


Primates of the
Apostolic See of Jerusalem
Jacob/Ya'akov/
James the Brother
of Jesus
c.62
Jewish War, 66-73; Jerusalem falls to Romans, Temple destroyed, 70
Symeon/Simon Ic.70-99
Ioustos/Judas/
Justus I
99-111
Zakheos/Zakhaios/
Zacchaeus
111-117
Tobias
Beniamin/Veniamin/
Benjamin I
John/Ioannis I117-134
Matthew/Matthias I
Phillip
Senekas/Seneca
Ioustos/Justus II
Levis/Levy/Levi
Efrem/Efraim/Ephres
Joseph I
Judas
Revolt of Bar Kokhba, destruction of Jerusalem, 132-135
Marcus/Markos/
Mark
134-162
Cassianos/
Kassianos/
Cassian
Pouplios/Publius
Maximus I
Ioulianos/Julian I
Gaios/Gaius I
Simmahos/
Symmachus
Gaios/Gaius II
Ioulianos/Oialis/
Julian II
162-185
Capion/Kapion/
Capito
Maximus II
Antonios/Antoninus
Oualis/Oialis/
Valens
Dolihianos/Dolichian
Narkissos/
Narcissus II
185-211
Dios?
Germanion?
Gordios?
Alexander211-249
Mazabanis/
Mazabanes
249-260
Imeneos/Ymenaios/
Hymenaeus
260-276
Zamvdas/Zambdas/
Zabdas
276-283
Ermon/Hermo283-314
Makarios I314-333
Maximos III333-348
Cyrill/Cyrillos I350-386
John/Ioannis II386-417
Praulios/Praylios417-422
Patriarchs of Jerusalem, 451
Iouvenalios422-458
Anastasios I458-478
Martyrios478-486
Salloustios486-494
Elias/Helliah I494-516
John III516-524
Peter524-552
Makarios II552, 564-575
Eustathios/Efstohios552-594
John IV575-594
Amos594-601
Isaac/Isaakios601-609
Zacharias/Zachary609-632
Jerusalem under the Persians, 614-628
Modestos632-634
Sofronios I634-638
Jerusalem falls to the Arabs, 636
Anastasios II?-706
John V706-735
Theodore745-770
Elias/Helliah II770-797
George797-807
Thomas I807-820
Basil/Vasillios820-838
John VI838-842
Sergios I842-844
Solomon855-860
Theodosios862-878
Elias/Helliah III878-907
Sergios II908-911
Leontios I912-929
Athanasios I929-937
Christodoulos937-?
Agathon964-966
John VII964-966
Christodoulos II966-969
Thomas II969-978
Joseph II980-983
Orestis983-1005
Theophilos I1012-1020
Nikiphoros I1020-1084
Ioannikios1020-1084
Sofronios II1020-1084
Euthimios/
Efthymios I
1084
Simon/Symeon II1084-1106
Jerusalem falls to the First Crusade, 1099
Savvas1106-1156
John VIII1106-1156
Nicolas/Nicholaus1106-1156
John IX1156-1166
Nikiforos II1166-1170
Leontios/Leodios II1170-1190
Jerusalem falls to Saladin, 1187
Dositheos I?-1191
Markos I?
Markos II1191-?
Euthimios II1223
Athanasios II1224-1236
Jerusalem ceded by Ayyubids, 1229
Sofronios III1236-1298
Battle of La Forbie, Jerusalem lost to Ayyubids, 1244
Gregory I
Thadaios1298
Athanasios III1313-1314
Gregory II1322
Lazarus1334-1368
Arsenios1344
Dorotheos I1376-1417
Theophilos II1417-1424
Theophanis I1424-1431
Ioakim/Johakim1431-?
Theophanis II1450
Athanasios IV1452-?
Jacob II1460
Abraham1468
Gregory III1468-1493
Markos III1503
Dorotheos II1505-1537
Ottoman Turkish occupation, 1517
Germanos1537-1579
Sophronios IV1579-1608
Theophanis III1608-1644
Paissios1645-1660
Nektarios1660-1669
Dositheos II1669-1707
Chrysanthos/
Hrisanthos
1707-1731
Meletios1731-1737
Parthenios1737-1766
Efarim/Efraim II1766-1771
Sophronios V1771-1775
Abramios/Evramios1775-1787
Prokopios1787-1788
Anthimos1788-1808
Polikarpos1808-1827
Athanasios V1827-1845
Cyrill/Cyrillos II1845-1872
Prokopios II1872-1875
Ierotheos1875-1882
Nikodimos1883-1890
Gerassimos1891-1897
Damianos1897-1931
British occupation, 1918
Timotheos1935-1955
Annexed by Jordan, 1948
Benedict1957-1980
Annexed by Israel, 1967
Diodoros1981-2000
Eirineos/Irinaios2001-present
As is often noted, Jerusalem is sacred to three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This distinguishes it from the other Christian Patriarchates -- Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria -- which are of no particular significance to Judaism or Islam. Jerusalem could be considered the oldest Christian Patriarchate.
Christianity certainly began there and the first leaders of the religion lived there. However, the ideas of a Church, of a hierarchy, of priests, and of a Patriarchate are all later developments. And then the Christian community, such as it was, disappeared in the chaos of the Jewish War. The growing root of Christianity was transferred elsewhere by leaders like St. Paul. The destruction of the Temple and the later annihilation of the whole city after the revolt in 135 probably helped destroy the base of the community who would have kept Christianity as a sect of Judaism. Instead, it grew into a heresy of Judaism and then a separate religion, spreading among Gentiles freed by Paul from the strictures of Jewish Law. Meanwhile, Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman city, Aelia Capitolina -- Jews were prohibited from entering except once a year to visit the Wailing Wall, believed to be the only remaining part of Solomon's Temple.

The numbers on the map of Jerusalem refer to the "Stations of the Cross," the route that Jesus took from his condemnation to the Crucifixion and burial. These are (1) the place of his condemnation by Pilate, (2) where he receives the Cross, (3) where he fell the first time, (4) where he met his mother, (5) where Simon of Cyrene took the Cross, (6) where Veronica wiped his face, (7) where he fell the second time, (8) where he met the women of Jerusalem, and (9) where he fell the third time. The 7th Station is actually the first one in the Christian rather than the Moselm Quarter of the City. The Stations after the 9th are all within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (10) Where Jesus was stripped of his clothes, (11) where he was nailed to the Cross, (12) where he died on the Cross, (13) where he was taken down, and (14) where he was laid in the tomb. Where the condemnation is thought to have taken place may well be in error, and many of the events along the way are not in the Gospels but a matter of local tradition. We see them all played out in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem
Abraham638-669
Krikor Yetesatzi669-696
Kevork696-708
Mgrdich708-730
Hovhannes730-758
Stepanos758-774
Yeghia774-797
Abraham885-909
Krikor981-1006
Arsen1006-1038
Mesrob1008
Simeon1090-1109
Movses1109-1133
Esayee1133-1152
Sahag1152-1180
Abraham of Jerusalem1180-1191
Minas1191-1205
Abraham1215-1218
Arakel1218-1230
Hovhannes1230-1238
Garabed of Jerusalem1238-1254
Hagopos1254-1281
Sarkis1281-1313
Theodore1313-1316
David1316-1321
Boghos1321-1323
Vartan Areveltzi1323-1332
Hovhannes Josleen1332-1341
Parsegh1341-1356
Garabed1349
Krikor,
Giragos, coadjutor
1356-1363
Mgrdich1363-1378
Hovhannes Lehatzee1378-1386
Krikor of Egypt1386-1391
Esayee1391-1394
Sarkis1394-1415
Mardiros, coadjutor1399
Mesrob, coadjutor1402
Boghos Karnetzi1415-1419
Mardiros of Egypt1419-1430
Minas, coadjutor1426
Esayee1430-1431
Hovhannes1431-1441
Muron1436-1437
Abraham Missirtzee1441-1454
Mesrob1454-1461
Bedros1461-1476
Mgrdich Elovtzee1476-1479
Abraham Pereeahtzee1497-1485
Hovhannes Missirtzee1485-1491
Mardiros Broosatzee1491-1501
Bedros1501-1507
Sarkis1507-1517
Hovhannes1517-1522
Theodore (Asdvadzadoor Merdeentzee)1532-1542, 1550-1551
Pilibos1542-1550
Antreas Merdeentzee1551-83
David Merdeentzee1583-1613
Krikor Kantzagehtzee1613-1645
Theodore (Asdvadzadoor Daronetzee)1645-1664, 1665-1666
Yeghiazar Hromglayetzee, coadjutor1664-1665
Yeghiazar1666-1668, 1670-1677
Theodore (Asdvadzadoor)1668-1670
Mardiros Khrimtzi1677-1680, 1681-1683
Hovhannes Amasyatzee1680
Lay Locum Tenens1683-1684
Hovhannes Bolsetzi1684-1697
Simeon1688-1691
Minas Hamtetzi,
Kaloosd Hetoontzi, coadjutor
1697-1704
Krikor, coadjutor, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople1704-1715
Krikor Shiravantzee, Chainbearer1715-1749
Hagop Nalian1749-1752, resigned
Teotoros1752-1761
Garabed Tantchagetzee1761-1768
Boghos Vanetzee1768-1775
Hovhannes Kanapertzee1775-1793
Bedros Yevtogeeyatzee1793-1800
Teodoros Vanetzi1800-1818
Kapriel Neegomeetatzee1818-1840
Boghos Atreeunoobolsetzi1824-1847
Zakaria Gopetzi1840-1846
Giragos of Jerusalem1846-1850
Hovhannes of Smyrna1850-1860
Vertanes Locum Tenens1860-1864
Esayee of Talas1864-1885
Yeremya Der Sahagian1885-1889
Harootiun Vehabedian1889-1910
Yeghishe Tourian1921-1929
Torkom Koushagian1929-1939
Mesrob Nishanian1939-1944
Guregh Israelian1944-1949
Tiran Nersoyan1957-1958, unconsecrated
Yeghishe Derderian1960-1990
Torkom Manoogian1990-present

There has been an Armenian Patriarch in Jerusalem since shortly after the Islamic Conquest (636).

This joins three other Patriarchs of Jerusalem:

  1. Greek Orthodox or Melkite, the main line we see at left here.
  2. Greek Catholic, the Catholic Counter- Church to the Orthodox one. It is unclear to me whether this is actually identical to the Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, who is also styled the Patriarch of Jerusalem, or something else.
  3. Latin, established during the Crusades.
  4. Armenian, which is listed at right.

    In fact there are two other "Patriarchates" in Jerusalem:

  5. Coptic.
  6. Ethiopian.

Neither of these latter two Patriarchates, however, has an actual Patriarch. It would be odd if the Ethiopians did, when the Primate of Ethiopia himself did not become a Patriarch until 1959 -- previously the Ethiopian Church was subordinate to the Coptic Patriarch. Either way, the Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem seems extraordinary. There is even a small Ethiopian monastary on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The parts of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are the province of different sects, as defined by the Status Quo decree issued by the Ottoman Sultân in 1852. Those involved are the Greeks, Catholics, Armenians, Copts, Ethiopians, and Syrians. The Syrians, i.e. the Syrian Orthodox, are the only ones not associated with a "Patriarchate" of Jerusalem -- their church in Jerusalem is St. Mark's. Disputes over jurisdiction in the Church led to one of the most extraordinary provisions:  The keys to the Church are in the charge of a particular Muslim family.


The 4th century historian of the Church, Eusebius, gives a list of bishops of Jerusalem down to Hermo. There is no way of knowing what evidence, traditions, or documents this may have been based on. There is certainly no independent evidence for it, but no lack of skepticism now about the historicity or possibility of such a thing. Apostolic succession and a lineage of transmission were, again, later conceptions and aspirations. Fictitious lines of transmission are not unknown even in Buddhism.

As the Church achieved toleration and then privileged status in the Roman Empire, the system of recognized Patriarchates developed. Jerusalem was certain to come in for special attention. The Emperor Constantine initiated the identification of the sites of the Crucification and burial of Jesus, and the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (dedicated 335) over them. Constantine's mother, the eighty-year-old St. Helena, is supposed to have been involved in identifying the sites, on a pilgrimage in 325 or 326, and was also believed to have discovered the actual Cross of the Crucifixion. She was said to have returned to Italy with various relics, including the Titulus Crucis, the plaque nailed to the Cross that identified Jesus as the "King of the Jews." This still exists where Helena reportedly deposited it, in the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Argument continues about its antiquity.

One of the most important inhabitants of Jerusalem, or actually of the nearby Bethlehem, in the following period was St. Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus), who had been secretary to the Pope, St. Damasus, who charged him to make a Latin translation of the Bible. After Damasus' death in 384, Jerome retired to Palestine to do this. It is hard to tell how much of the Vulgate is Jerome's original translation and how much he worked over from previous ones, but he completed the job. For the Old Testament, having learned Hebrew, Jerome could do his work from the original text, not just relying on the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Jerome is still regarded as one of the Doctors (i.e. Teachers) of the Catholic Church.

The first great event in the Mediaeval troubles of Jerusalem was the taking of the city by the Sassanid Persians in 614. The True Cross was removed from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Shah Khusro II. When the Emperor Heraclius defeated the Persians and Khusro was assassinated in 628, the Cross was returned. After a display in Constantinople, it was restored to Jerusalem in 629. The story is that Heraclius wanted to carry the Cross himself, but found it too heavy. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Zacharias, suggested that the Emperor lay aside his Imperial Crown and robes. When he did so, the Cross became light enough to carry.

This moment of triumph was doomed to be brief. In 636 a new and unexpected, almost unbelievable enemy appeared, the Arab army of Islam. Heraclius was defeated at the Battle of the Yarmuk and Jerusalem was occupied by the Caliph Omar. The consequences of this event echo down to the present day in undiminished force. Omar himself, however, was kind and magnanimus. When the Call to Prayer came as he was actually being shown the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Patriarch invited him to pray in the Church. Omar declined, saying that if he prayed there, "The Believers would come," and take over the Church as a site hallowed by the Caliph. So Omar went across the street to pray, where, predictably, the Mosque of Omar was subsequently built.

Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem
Arnulf of Chocques1099, 1112-1118
Dagobert of Pisa1099-1102, 1102-1107
Ehremar1102
Ghibbelin of Arles1107-1112
Garmond of Picquigny1119-1128
Stephen1128-1130
William I of Malines1130-1145
Fulk1146-1157
Amalric1157-1180
Heraclius1180-1191
Jerusalem lost in 1187; seat of the Patriarch moved to Acre; Vacant, 1191-1194
Aymar the Monk1194-1202
Soffred1202-1204
Albert Avogadro1204-1214
Raoul of Merencourt1214-1225
Gerald of Lausanne1225-1238
Vacant, 1238-1240
Robert of Nantes1240-1254
Jacques Pantaléon1255-1261
Pope Urban IV, 1261-1265
William II of Agen1261-1270
Thomas Agni of Cosenza1271-1277
John of Versailles1278-1279
Elijah1279-1287
Nicholas of Hanapes1288-1294
Acre lost, moved to Cyprus, 1291; moved to Rome after 1374; only honorary patriarchs until 1847
Antony Beck1306-1311
Bishop of Durham, England, from 1284-1310
The Grand Masters of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, 1342-1572
Gian Antonio Facchinetti de Nuce1572-1591
Pope Innocent IX, 1591-1592
Augustus Foscolo1830-1847
Return to Jerusalem, 1847
Joseph Valerga1847-1872
Vincent Braco1872-1889
Latin patriarchate hierarchy re-established, 1889
Luigi Piavi1889-1905
Vacant, 1905-1907
Filippo Camassei1907-1919
Luigi Balassina1920-1947
Vacant, 1947-1949
Alberto Gori1949-1970
Giacomo Giuseppi Beltritti1970-1987
Michel Sabah1987-present

Today other Islamic monuments, like the al-Aqsa Mosque, are sometimes confused with the Mosque of Omar. The most conspicuous Islamic structure is still the Dome of the Rock, on the center of the Temple Mount, which was built by the Omayyad Caliph 'Abd al-Malik (685-705). This was built over a rock from which, in a dream, the Prophet Muh.ammad is supposed to have ascended to heaven. This makes Jerusalem the third holiest city of Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

It would be many years before Christian forces would return to Jerusalem. The Macedonian Roman Emperors, after retaking Antioch (969), entered Palestine and came close, but were not able to secure anything permanent or assault the city. It remained just out of reach.

A new era arrived for Jerusalem with the Crusades. The Emperor Alexius Comnenus, with the Turks overrunning Anatolia, appealed for help from the West. Help arrived, with only marginal interest in the Turks, but bent on recovering Jerusalem itself, 663 years after the original Islamic Conquest. The City was taken, amid scenes of indiscriminate slaughter. After the diplomatic niceties that had developed in the Middle East, this was regarded as nearly as appalling as it has seemed more recently. The Crusaders, indeed, by comparison with contemporary Greeks or Arabs, were barbarians. In an era when Islamic terrorists blow up children with suicide bombs, however, judging the Crusaders too harshly seems a little anachronistic and disproportionate. Other objections, that the Crusades represent some kind of Western "imperialism," gloss over the question of what justified the original Islamic Conquest in the first place. Of course, nothing did. The Arabs had no moral or historical claims on the Levant, Iraq, Iran, or Egypt. Harsh judgments about the Crusaders 900 years ago, while winking at, or even supporting, Terrorists today, gives us a good example of moralistic relativism.

With the foundation of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, we get a new Patriarchate at Jerusalem. The Greek/Melkite Patriarch was regarded as a Schismatic by the Franks, and we get a new Latin/Catholic Patriarch in communion with Rome. Although the Latin Patriarch retreated with the declining fortunes of the Crusaders, to Acre and then Cyprus, and finally all the way to Rome after 1374, the idea was maintained, and a Latin Patriarch returned to Jerusalem in 1847.

After the Ayyubids, Mamluks, and Ottomans ruled Palestine and Jerusalem, the city's sleep of ages ended in 1918. General Allenby arrived with the British Army, driving the Turks before him. Allenby entered the city, as we see, on foot. A Christian power now secured the city for the first time since 1244. The British, however, although with a phlegmatic kind of pious interest in the city, were no Crusaders. Far from securing the Holy Places for Christendom, the British arrived burdened with promises to allow the creation of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. Conflicting promises and reassurances to the Arabs prepared the ground for one of the most bitter, durable, and dangerous conflicts of the 20th, and now the 21st, century. When Palestine was partitioned in 1948, the city of Jerusalem ended up itself divided, with the Old City annexed to Jordan, and most of the New City made the capital of an independent Israel. The city was reunited in 1967 and all of it annexed to Israel. This action has not been accepted by Palestinians, the United Nations, or even the United States -- which never recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the first place, since the UN partition plan made it some kind of international city. Israeli governments, on the other hand, have vowed never to divide the city again. There is still little hope of a compromise or peaceful solution to all this, though it is obvious that at least some of the city (e.g. the Temple Mount) should be part of a dual sovereignty condominium. Such things have been done, though mainly between friendly powers.

The list of Orthodox Patriarchs is from a combination of various sources on the internet and Eusebius' The History of the Church [Penguin, 1965]. Websites identity this lineage as the "Greek Orthodox" Patriarchs of Jerusalem. This is a little confusing, since today the "Greek Orthodox" Church may simply mean the national Church of Greece. But this national Church has only existed since Greek independence. Before then "Greek Orthodox" can only mean the Christian Church whose primary liturgical language was Greek, and for the entire Middle Ages that meant the Church of the Patriarch of Constantinople -- now commonly called the "Ecumenical" Patriarchate to distinguish him from the Greek national Church. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem, however, was never any kind of subsidiary of the Patriarch of Constantinople. What did happen, however, was the Schism of the Latin and the Greek Church with those of Syria and Egypt over the Fourth Ecumenical Council, which declared the Monophysite doctrine, that Jesus had one nature, heretical. This divided the Patriarchates of Antioch and Alexandria into Monophysite ("Jacobite" and Coptic, respectively) and Imperial lines. The Imperial Church might be call the "Catholic" Church, as it was at the time, but this would now be confusing, since it has come to simply mean the Papal Latin Church of Rome -- after the Schism with the Greek Church in 1054. The term used for the Middle Eastern Imperial Churches has been "Melkite," i.e. "Royal" (Hebrew melekh and Arabic malik, "king," the related Aramaic or Syriac term would have been the more immediate source). My understanding, therefore, is that the "Greek Orthodox" Patriarchs of Jerusalem are actually the Melkite Patriarchs. I may be confused about this, but full accounts of the situation are rare. There is, as it happens, an independent Monophysite Church represented in Jerusalem, and that is the line of Armenian Patriarchs, beginning with Abraham (638-669). It may be revealing that this starts right after the Islamic Conquest, when Imperial authorities could no longer object. The Armenian Patriarch presided over an actual Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, thus distinguished from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters.

In Mediaeval Europe, until the 13th century there was little progress in geographical knowledge. The view of the world came to be determined by a religious template. Most importantly, this meant that Jerusalem would be regarded as the center of all the lands of the earth. This actually did not mean that the educated thought that the earth was flat. Evidence for a round earth was known since the Pythagoreans, and Eratosthenes had estimated its diameter with considerable accuracy in the 3rd century BC. However, even given the best ancient geographical knowledge, Europe, Africa, and Asia could still more or less be fit into the circular form surrounded by the Ocean originally envisioned by the Greeks. Putting Jerusalem in the precise center of the circle did produce distortions. Europeans didn't know much about the far reaches of Asia, but estimates of the distance to China in general were greater than the true distance. However, Jerusalem-centric maps generally were much more schematic than I show here and so introduce much greater distortions than just a foreshortening of Asia. Thus, an aesthetic urge to render the Mediterranean, Black, and Red Seas into a convenient "T" required that much that was already known be ignored. The "T maps" were therefore works of sacred rather than practical geography. The version I have produced at left is schematic but less so than many "T" maps. Even with overestimates of the size of Asia, the total known area of the earth seemed small in relation to the calculations of Eratosthenes.

This had two consequences. One was that it encouraged Dante to regard Purgatory as having an actual terrestrial location, at the precise antipode of Jerusalem. This would put it now in open ocean a good bit south of the island of Rapa (or Rapa Iti, "Small Rapa," in contrast to Rapa Nui, "Great Rapa," a.k.a. Easter Island) in French Polynesia. In Dante's day that would make the place practically inaccessible to human travel. Even today, not many people are going to find themselves out there. How seriously Dante took this cosmology as literal geography is a good question, but it would be centuries before he would be in much danger of being contradicted.

Dante places the "Earthly Paradise" of the Garden of Eden at the summit of Purgatory. In the Bible, Eden is said to be "in the East" [Genesis 2:8] where "a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers" -- the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates [Genesis 2:10-14]. Thus, the "T" maps often show Eden at some indefinite point east of Jerusalem. It has been argued by David Rohl that, if the Pishon is identified with the Uzun (Mardus, Rud-e-Safid) and the Gihon with the Aras (Araxes), the directions specify that Eden would be in the valley of Tabriz (the capital of the Il-Khâns and the Safavids) in Iranian Azerbaijanistan. Dante doesn't use any of these named rivers in the Purgatorio and so completely ignores the tradition of taking the Biblical clues as evidence of a familiar geographical location. One might think that he would postulate that Eden was moved after the Fall, but he affirms that Adam and Eve saw the same (Southern) sky over Eden that Dante and Virgil did.

In the Inferno, Dante travels down through Hell, which is supposed to be centered directly under Jerusalem, a literal Underworld as most ancients had thought, and then emerges through the bottom of Hell up to Purgatory, at the far side of the world. In the image we see the structure of Purgatory, according to the system of the Seven Deadly Sins, as illustrated by Dorothy Sayers in the Penguin edition of the Purgatorio [note]. A modern, secular version of Dante's descent into the Underworld would be Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth [1864] -- although his travelers, starting in Iceland, manage to emerge no further than Italy. Italy, indeed, would be where Dante's journey began, since that is where he lived, with a Roman tradition that an entrance to the Underworld was located at Avernus, a volcanic crater lake in Campania. Since Dante's Hell was conical in shape, centered under Jerusalem, its edges and entrances would be on a perimeter at some distance from Jerusalem, as in Italy. Dante's idea was that the funnel shape of Hell was the result of the impact of Satan being thrown down from Heaven after the Revolt of the Angels. Thus, Dante has Satan lodged at the bottom of Hell, which presumably was then roofed over to make it a prison. Dante sees Purgatory created by the material thrust up opposite the point that Hell is pushed down. In fantasy and legend, the idea of mysterious hidden islands in the South Pacific still has its appeal, from the remote island of the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin in the Chinese Journey to the West, to "Skull Island" of the King Kong movies [1933, 1976, 2006].

The other consequence of Eratosthenes' calculation was that many simply did not believe that the world could be that large in relation to the known land mass. An estimate by Arab astronomers of a much smaller earth seemed more reasonable, and that encouraged Christopher Columbus to believe that he could reach the Indies by sailing West across the Atlantic. Since Eratosthenes had been right, Columbus might have died in mid-ocean -- if it weren't for the convenient accident that there were unknown continents in the way. Indeed, sailing West, it is impossible to miss them. The "Indies" turned out to be the West Indies. Thus, as often happens, surprising truths emerge from embarrassing, or even suicidal, errors.

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Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Note


Purgatory is a unique conception of the Latin Roman Catholic Church. It was never accepted by the Orthodox Churches, subsequently was rejected by the Protestants, and is now not believed even by many Catholics. However, morally it is a superior conception.

The problem was the Christian doctrine that sincere repentance by a sinner and the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross mean that all sins are forgiven and washed clean. This is not the manner of secular justice, where repentance and contrition may somewhat mitigate the sentence for a crime, especially in a plea bargain with a confession of guilt, but it does not erase the requirement for penal retribution and punishment. The public is generally offended when condemned murderers begin to assert that they are forgiven and clean of sin because they have been redeemed by Christ. The impression is that they may have thereby become unrepentant and remain unmoved by the suffering of their victims. A version of this in popular culture is the fate of Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) in the Star Wars movies. We see that Vader has personally murdered many individuals and has ordered acts of mass murder, especially the destruction of the entire planet of Alderaan, with its whole population. Nevertheless, in Return of the Jedi [1983], Vader changes his mind, repents of his deeds, and so, after death, becomes a transfigured being of light, along with the heroes Obi-wan Kenobi (whom Vader has killed) and Yoda. This is morally offensive.

Catholic doctrine thus tries to reconcile the requirements both of salvation and of retribution. If one has committed a wrong, such as a murder, that very well could mean one deserves damnation for eternity, then Christian doctrine offers the hope that genuine rependance can lead to redemption. Eternity is a long time, and other religious traditions with Hells, like Buddhism, do not actually see eternal punishment as necessary (although this is sometimes the belief). Christianity condemns for eternity the unrepentant, but allows forgiveness for the others. This seems appropriate. However, even sincere repentance morally looks insufficient to simply void the justice of retribution. Catholicism, on the one hand, says that it does, since the doctrine is that the sin is eradicated, but, on the other hand, says that it doesn't, with the principle that the "stain of sin" can only be erased with the proper penance. This may be no less than a bit of sophistry, but it also neatly addresses both the hope of salvation and the requirements of justice. Darth Vader eventually will be able to join Obi-wan and Yoda, but not until after working off his penance.

Catholic doctrine similarly tries to reconcile two other comparable issues, faith and works. Thus while Martin Luther is famous for the docrine of Salvation by Faith alone, Catholicism actually accepted this also. Even repentance in articulo mortis, at the moment of death, wins salvation. The difference then is, again, the role of Purgatory; for those who are only saved in articulo mortis have an extra delay in getting into heaven. Dante puts them in "Ante-Purgatory," where they must wait before passing through St. Peter's Gate and entering Purgatory proper. What good works and the Sacraments of the Church then accomplish is to speed up the process. If this is merely to give the Church something to do as a parasitic gatekeeper, it is not a worthy conception. However, if what it does is introduce a moral dimension in the process, which might otherwise be lost, it is important.

The whole issue involves the independence of the categories of moral and religious value. While it may be the case in Zoroastrianism that the good are those who are saved and the wicked are those who are damned, that is not the case in religions like Christianity, Islam, or even Pure Land Buddhism. There, the good, like Dante's "virtuous pagans," may still find themselves cut off from salvation, while the wicked can find redemption through faith. Behind it all is the oldest expectation of most ancient religion, as in Greek mythology, that all the dead lead a miserable existence in the Underworld -- but also the newest expectation of modern life that death is simply the extinction of the self and eternal oblivion. Thus, both the just and the unjust either descend to Hades or simply and equally become nothing. The promise of religion, then, ever since the Eleusian Mysteries, is that something more and better awaits. It is then, on the one hand, comforting that religion offers the promise of salvation, even while, on the other hand, there is the implicit view that those who do not avail themselves of the means of salvation will, in the words of Sophocles, "suffer an evil lot" -- through no fault of their own. This is morally disturbing in its own right, although, to be sure, the atheist would have no grounds for complaint, having expected no better anyway. Nevertheless, the problem of reconciling salvation and morality seems to be another case of an antinomy of transcendence -- that, as Kant holds, attempts to conceptualize transcendent existence result in contradictions and paradoxes.

A moral equivalent to Purgatory may be identified in Pure Land Buddhism. Birth in the Pure Land is gained as a matter of faith in the Vow of the Buddha Amitâbha, (Amida, Jp.). Even the most sinful can erase kalpas worth of evils by acts of faith and devotion. Thus, are they then free and clear of their sins? No, because there is a hierarchy of birth in the Pure Land, nine grades, which depend on one's merit -- i.e. on one's moral desserts. At the highest grades of birth, the dead are greeted and escorted to the Pure Land by Amitâbha himself, attended by a great host of Bodhisattvas, monks, and deities, including the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon, Jp.), who bears a lotus upon which the deceased will be reborn. Enclosed in the lotus, the dead at the higher grades of rebirth are released in short order. However, at the lowest levels of rebirth, one is greeted at death by no more than the lotus itself, whose opening in the Pure Land will be delayed. At the very lowest grade, the lotus will not open for 15 kalpas. Since this will mean millions of years, one is in effect condemned to solitary confinement for a period that could be expected, with any kind of psychological realism, to drive people insane. It is very hard not to see that as punishment for sin, although, to be sure, one is not otherwise troubled with the sorts of tortures that characterize Buddhist hells. No one in the Pure Land experiences even thirst or hunger. Thus, as with Purgatory, we have a doctrine of the forgiveness of sin which nevertheless treats very differently those with more merit and less sin from those with less merit and more sin.

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Patriarchs of Armenia and the East


The Armenian Patriarch,
or Catholicos
St. Thaddeus
the Apostle
43-66
St. Bartholomew
the Apostle
.60-68
St. Zacharias68-72
St. Zementus72-76
St. Atrnerseh77-92
St. Mushe93-123
St. Shahen124-150
St. Shavarsh151-171
St. Leontius172-190
unknown
St. Merozanes240-270
unknown
Etchmiadzin,
301-452
St. Gregory I
the Enlightener
301-325
St. Aristaces I325-333
St. Vrtanes333-341
St. Husik341-347
Pharen I348-352
Nerses I353-373
Shahak I373-377
Zaven377-381
Aspuraces I381-386
St. Sahak I387-436
St. Hovsep I437-452
Dvin, 452-992
Melitus452-456
Moses I456-461
St. Kyud461-478
St. John I478-490
Papken I490-516
Samuel I516-526
Mushe I526-534
Sahak II534-539
Christopher I539-545
Ghevond545-458
Nerses II548-557
John II557-574
Moses II574-604
Abraham I607-615
Gomidas615-628
Christopher II628-630
d.630+
Ezra630-641
Nerses III
the Builder
641-661
Anastasius661-667
Israel667-677
Sahak III677-703
Elias703-717
St. John III
the Philosopher
717-728
David I728-741
Dertad I741-764
Dertad II764-767
Sion767-775
Isaiah775-788
Stephen I788-790
Joab790-791
Solomon791-792
George I792-795
Joseph I795-806
David II806-833
John IV833-855
Zacharias I855-876
George II877-897
St. Mashdotz897-898
John V
the Historian
898-929
Stephen II929-930
Theodore I930-941
Yeghishe941-946
Ananias949-968
Vahan968-969
Stephen III969-972
Khachig I973-992
Ani, 992-1058
Sarkis I992-1019,
d.1019+
Peter1019-1058
Khachig II1058-1065
Sivas, 1058-1062;
line moves to Cilicia,
Tavbloor, 1062-1066
Gregory II
the Martyrophile
1066-1105
Zamidia, 1066-1116
Basil1105-1113
Gregory III1113-1166
Dzovk, 1116-1149,
Hromgla, 1149-1293
St. Nerses IV
the Graceful
1166-1173
Gregory IV
the Young
1173-1193
Gregory V1193-1194
Gregory VI1194-1203
John VI
the Affluent
1203-1221
Constantine I1221-1267
Jacob I
the Learned
1268-1286
Constantine II
the Woolmaker
1286-1289
Stephen IV1290-1293
Sis, 1293-1441
Gregory VII1293-1307
Constantine III1307-1322
Constantine IV1323-1326
Jacob II1327-1341,
1355-1359
Mekhitar1341-1355
Mesrob1359-1372
Constantine V1372-1374
Paul I1374-1382
Theodore II1382-1392
Garabed1393-1404
Jacob III1404-1411
Gregory VIII1411-1418
Paul II1418-1430
Constantine VI1430-1439
Gregory IX1439-1446
continues in Cilicia
Patriarchate reëstablished
in Armenia, at Etchmiadzin,
1441-Present
Giragos1441-1443
Gregory X1443-1465
Aristaces IICoadjutor,
1465-1469
Sarkis II
the Relic-Carrier
1469-1474
John VII
the Relic-Bearer
1474-1484,
d.1506
Sarkis III
the Other
1484-1515
Zacharias II1515-1520
Sarkis IV1520-1536
Gregory XI1536-1545
Stephen V1545-1567
Michael1567-1576
Gregory XII1576-1590
David IV1590-1629,
d.1633
Moses III1629-1632
Philip1633-1655
Jacob IV1655-1680
Eliazar1681-1691
Nahabed1691-1705
Alexander I1706-1714
Asdvadzadur1715-1725
Garabed II1725-1729
Abraham II1730-1734
Abraham III1734-1737
Lazar1737-1751
Minas1751-1753
Alexander II1753-1755
Sahak V
(never
consecrated)
1755
Vacant1755-1759
Jacob V1759-1763
Simeon1763-1780
Luke1780-1799
Joseph (II)
(never
consecrated)
1800,
d.1801
David V1801-1807
Danielrival,
1802-1808
Yeprem1809-1830
d.1835
John VIII1831-1842
Nerses V1843-1857
Matthew I1858-1865
George IV1866-1882
Vacant1882-1885
Magar1885-1891
Mgrdich1892-1907
Matthew II1908-1910
George V1911-1930
Vacant1930-1932
Khoren1932-1938
Vacant1938-1945
George VI1945-1954
Vasken1955-1994
Karekin I,
II of Cilicia
Cilicia,
1977-1995
1995-1999
Karekin II1999-present

The Armenian Church developed largely outside of Roman authority. It also split with Orthodoxy over Chalcedon. Thus, it is almost like a separate religious tradition (comparable to Ethiopia and the Church of the East). While traditionally Armenia converted to Chistianity before Rome, in 301, there is now some question about this, discussed elsewhere. The conversion may have before more like in 314, though still in the days of St. Gregory I the Enlightener (d.325). While the Arab Conquest left the Patriarchate in place, the Turkish Conquest of 1064 was something else. People were already fleeing to relative safety in Cilicia. The Patriarch relocated there in 1062. The collapse of Roman power at Manzikert in 1071 meant that even more Armenians fled to Cilicia, where soon the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia became established. With the fall of the Kingdom to the Mamlûks in 1375, the Patriarch continued to represent the Armenian community. But with the loss of political authority, and the disrupted nature of the area, in 1441 a new Patriarchate was established back in Armenia proper, at Etchmiadzin. This was not a relocation but resulted in two Patriarchates, with the original line continuing, down to the present, as the Patriarchs of the Great House of Cilicia. This curious situation is rather like what happened in the Church of the East. The Cilician line eventually was itself relocated. In 1921, as a Greek invasion and an Armenian revolt were being crushed by Kemal Atatürk, attacks on Armenians in Cilicia, who previously has been protected by a French occupation, began. Most of the Armenians, including the Patriarch, fled to French controlled Lebanon. The Patriarchate was formally established there, at Antelias, in 1930. It thus continues down to the present, while now recognizing the primacy of the Patriarchate in Armenia.

Armenia itself, after so many centuries under Islam, finally came under the rule of a Christian power, Russia, which annexed the area around Yerevan in 1828 and around Kars in 1878. With the collapse of Tsarist Russia and an attempt to establish an Armenian Republic in 1920, the Turks managed to retake both Kars and everything south of the Aras River near Yerevan. The annexation of what remained of Armenia to the Soviet Union then brought on a kind of equivalent of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, since the Soviet regime had its own reasons for hostility to Christianity. This ended with the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the creation of a new Republic of Armenia. Like a lot of the rest of the former Soviet Union, Armenia has not done that well from independence. Many people have left, looking for work. The Patriarch, however, as the most visible continuation of the deep past of Armenian history and tradition, now can travel the world to visit and reunite disparate communities of Armenian immigrants. Although Soviet hostility had kept the Armenian and Cilician Patriarchs estranged, this was quickly made good. In 1995, a Patriarch of Cilicia, Karekin II, became Patriarch of Armenia, as Karekin I.

Patriarchs of the East

The Church of the East was originally the Christian Church of Persia. Since Persia was occasionally at war with Rome, resident Christians would have been under some pressure to show that they were not acting as agents of Rome. Whether this was the reason or not, the opportunity to distinguish the Persian Church from the Roman arrived in 431 AD, when the Third Ecumenical Council, of Ephesus, condemned the teachings of the Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople. The Church of the East had not participated in the Council, and word of it took a while to reach Ctesiphon. Then, however, the Church refused to anathematize Nestorius and did not accept the decision of the Council. Since then, the Church of the East has been characterized as the "Nestorian" Church by Greek and Latin authors, and those following in their tradition. It remains a matter of dispute whether the Christology of the Church of the East is or ever was Nestorian or not, and "Nestorian" may or may not be a characterization used or accepted by Church members. Nevertheless, the Church does use Nestorius's formula for Mary as the "Mother of Christ," rather than the Orthodox and Catholic formula of Mary as the "Mother of God." As long as that formula is used, implicitly still rejecting the Third Council, doctrinal unification will have a way to go.
Patriarchs of the East
1. Saint Thomas, the ApostleCtesiphon, 35-37, or 33
2. Mar Addai, St. Thaddeus the Apostle37-65, or 33-45
3. Mar Agai66-87, or 45-48
4. Mar Mari88-120, or 48-81
5. Mar Abris121-137, or 82-98
6. Mar Abraham/Oraham I of Kashkar159-171, or 98-110/120
7. Mar Yacob I172-190, or 120-138
8. Mar Ahha/Akhu d'Aboui/Awu190-220, or 139?-159/62
9. Mar Shahioupa/Shakhlupa of Kashkar220-240, or 162-179/182
Vacant240-317, or 179/82- 247/256
10. Mar Papa bar Gaggai317-329, or 247/256-320
11. Mar Shimun Bar Sabba'e/Sabbai329-341, or 320-330
12. Mar Shalidoste/Shahdost341-345, or 340-343
13. Mar Bar Bashmin345-350, or 343-351
Vacant350-363, or 351-384
14. Mar Toumarsa/Turmarsa363-371, or 384-392
15. Mar Qaioma/Qaiyuma372-399, or 395-399
16. Mar Issac/Iskhaq399-410, or 399-411
17. Mar Ahha/Akhkhi410-415, or 411-415
18. Mar Yab-Alaha/Yoalaha I415-420
19. Maana420
20. Mar Frabokht/Qarabukht420-421, or 421
21. Mar Dadisho/Dadishu I421-456
431 Council III, Ephesus,
Nestorianism condemned
22. Mar Babwahi/Babu/ Bawai457-484/483
23. Mar Aqaq-Acace485/484-496
24. Mar Babai/Bawai I497-503, or 498-502
25. Mar Shila/Sheela503-523, or 503-520
26. Mar Narsai Elisha524-539, or 520-535
27. Mar Paul/Polos I539-540, or 535-536
28. Mar Aba I the Great540-552, or 536-552
29. Mar Joseph/Yosip I552- 566/567
30. Mar Ezecbiel/Khazqiyil566-581, or 567-580
31. Mar Isho-Yab/Eshuyow I d'Arzoun/Arzunaya582-595, or 581-596
32. Mar Sabrisho/Shorishu I Garmaqaya596-604, or 596-604
33. Mar Gregorius/Greghor I Partaya605-609, or 604-607
Vacant609-628, or 607-628
34. Mar Isho-Yab/ Eshuyow II de Guedal/Gdalaya628-645, or 628-644
Missionaries arrive in China, 635
35. Mar Emme/Immeh645-649, or 644-647
36. Mar Isho-Yab/Eshuyow III d'Adiabene/ Kdayawaya649-660, or 647/50- 657/8
37. Mar Guiwarguis/ Georges/Gewargis I661-680, or 661-680
38. Mar Yohanna/Yokhannan I Bar Marta681-683, or 680-682
Vacant683-685
39. Mar Hnan-Isho/ Khnanishu I685-700, or 686-693
Mar Yokhannan II Garba693-694
Vacant700-714, or 694-713
40. Mar Sliwa Zkha/ Silwazkha714-728, or 713-729
Vacant728/9-731
41. Mar Pethion/Peython731-740
42. Mar Aba/Awa II741-751
43. Mar Sorine/Surin754/752
44. Mar Yacob II754-773
Baghdad founded, 763
45. Mar Hnan-Isho/ Khnanishu II774-780, or 774-779
46. Mar Timothee/
Timotheus I
780- 823/820
translates Aristotle's Topica
& other works for the Abbasids
47. Mar Isho Ben Noun/ Ehsu-barnon823-828, or 820-824
48. Mar Guiwarguis/ Gewargis II828-830, or 825-832
49. Mar Sabrisho/Soreshu II831-836, or 832-836
50. Mar Abraham/Oraham II de Marga/Margaya837-850
Vacant850- 853/852
51. Mar Theodossious/ Teadasis I of AthanassiousBaghdad, 853-858, or 852-858
Vacant858-860
52. Mar Sarguis/Sergius/ Sarigs/Suwaya I860-872
Vacant872-877
53. Mar Israel of Kashkar877
54. Mar Anoshel/Annush d'beth Garmay877-884
55. Mar Yohannan/Yokhanan II/III Bar Narsai884-892
56. Mar Yohannan/Yokhannan III/IV893-899, or 893-898
57. Mar Yohannan IV/V Bar Abgare/Ogare900-905
58. Mar Abraham/Oraham III Abraza905-937
59. Mar Emmanuel/ Ammanoel I937-960, or 938-949
60. Mar Israel/Esrail Karkhaya961-962
61. Mar Abdisho/Odishu I Garmaqaya963-986
62. Mar Bar-Tobia II Mari Aturaya987-1000
63. Yohannan V/VI Yoannis Ibn Issa1000-1011, or 1001-1012
64. Yohannan VI/VII bar Nazuk1012-1020
65. Isho-Yab/Eshuyuow IV Bar Ezechiel1020-1025
Vacant1025-1028
66. Mar Eliyya/Elia I Tehran1028-1049
67. Yohannan VII/VIII Bar Targala1049/50- 1057
68. Sabrisho/Soreshu II/III bar Zanbur1057-1071, or 1063-1072
69. Abdisho/Odishu II Ibn Aridh/bar Ars Autraya1072- 1091/90
70. Makkikha I bar Shlemon1092- 1110/1108
71. Mar Eliyya II Bar Maqli1110/1111- 1132
72. Bar Sauma/Soma I1133/1134- 1136
Vacant1136-1139
73. Abdisho/Odishu III Bar Moqli1139-1148, or 1138-1147
74. Isho-Yab/Eshuyow V Albaladi1148- 1176/1174
75. Elie III Abu Khalim1176/1175- 1190
76. Yab-Alaha/Yoalaha II bar Qaiyuma1190-1222
77. Sabrisho/Sorishu IV Bar Qaioma1222-1226
78. Sabrisho/Sorishu V Ibn-Almassihi1226-1256
79. Makkikha II1257-1265
80. Denha/Dinkha I Epiphane Aribilaya1265- 1282/1281
81. Yab-Alaha/Yoalaha III bar TurkayeMaragha,
1283-1317
82. Timothee/Timotheus II ArbilayaErbil,
1318-1332, or 1318-1328
83. Denha/Dinkha IIKaremles,
1332/1329- 1364
Dinkha III1359-1368
84. Mar Shimun IIMosul,
1365-1392
Vacant1392-1403
85. Mar Shimun III1403-1407
Vacant1407-1437
86. Mar Eliyya IV1437, ot 1407-1420
87. Mar Shimun IV Bassidi1437-1497, or 1420-1447
88. Mar Shimun VMar Yohannan, 1497-1501, or 1448-1490
89. Mar Eliyya V1502-1503, to 1491-1504
Mar Shimun VI1505-1538
90. Mar Eshuyow Shimun VI/VIIAlqosh, 1504-1538, or 1538-1551

The Patriarchs have often been called the Patriarchs of "Babylon," but the first seat of the Patriarchate was at the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon. Ctesiphon, however, was on the Tigris River very nearly opposite Babylon on the Euphrates, and also not far up the Tigris from the old Seleucid capital of Seleucia. Not much further up the Tigris is where the Abbasid capital of Baghdad would be built, and in the 9th century the Patriarchate moved there. And there it would stay until the arrival of the Mongols in the 13th century. Many Mongols, including the wife of the conqueror of Baghdad and the first of the Ilkhâns, Hülägü, were Nestorians. Briefly, it looked like the Church of the East might become the state religion of a quarter of the pan-Eurasian Mongol Empire. The Patriarchate moved to Maragha in Azerbaijanistan, not far from Tabrîz, the capital of the Mongols. One Patriarch, Mar Yab-Alaha (or Yoalaha) III, was a Mongol himself. In 1295, however, the Ilkhâns converted to Islâm, and the chance for dominant status had passed.

Before long the Patriarchate had moved back down out of the mountains to Mosul, now the principal city of northern Iraq. There it would stay, nearby at Alqosh (or Alqush), for many centuries. Next would come schism. Patriarch Mar Shimun IV Bassidi ruled (c.1450) that his office would only pass to members of his own family -- in practical terms to a nephew, since the Patriarch was celibate. This formalized nepotism was not accepted by many in the Church, and later a rival Patriarch came to be elected in 1551, Yohanan (or Hanna) Sulaqa (or Soulaqa). At the suggestion of Franciscan missionaries, Sulaqa made his way to Rome, where he was ordained in 1553 as a Catholic Patriarch. Various terms were used by and for the people of this Church. In 1445 Pope Eugenius IV had accepted "Chaldean," and in time this became the offical name of the Catholic version of the Church of the East. Thus, the Chaldean Church was not made up out of whole cloth, like typical Catholic counter-Churches, but was more like the Maronite Church in Lebanon, where an existing Orthodox Church entered into communion with Rome. But the whole Church of the East had not done that, so right down to the present Catholic and "Nestorian" Churches have both existed. But the history has been nowhere near that simple.

Yohanan Sulaqa settled at Diyarbakir, today in Turkey. His successors moved around a bit between there and Urmia in western Iran, but settled at Qochanis (or Qotshani, Kochanes) near Hakâri (Hakkari), south of Lake Van, today in Turkey. The 8th Patriarch renounced Catholicism and reinstated the Eastern theology. This line continues to the present as the Assyrian Church of the East. Meanwhile, two Patriarchs at Alqosh had accepted Catholicism, but their successor didn't. Thus, for a while, both Patriarchs had been Catholic; and then later both Patriarchs were not. When it turned out that neither was Catholic, a Catholic Patriarchate (a true counter-Church) was installed at Diyarbakir again. Then the hereditary line at Alqosh died out in 1804. Soon, a new Patriarch, now at Mosul, accepted Catholicism and continued the Catholic succession. Now at Baghdad, this continues as the Chaldean Church.

Meanwhile, Nestorian missionaries had spread across Asia. They had arrived in T'ang China in 635. Although there never was a Christian Mongol state, the Syriac alphabet carried by the missionaries ended up used to write, for the first time, the Mongol language, and also Uigur and Manchu. Until the last days of the Chinese Empire, Chinese coins displayed the name of their mint in the Syriac characters of Manchurian. As the See of St. Thomas, the Patriarchs of the East were also the primates of the oldest Christian Church in India, where St. Thomas is supposed to have eventually travelled.

Like the Armenians, Chaldean and Assyrian Christians, together with Syrian Orthodox Christians, were massacred and driven out of the mountains by the Turks and Kurds in World War I -- although there had previously been close relations, even intermarriage and conversions, with local Kurds. After Russian troups occupied western Iran, there were also reprisals against Christians there. Many Christians thus fled from Turkey and Iran into the new British Mandate of Iraq, where the Assyrian Patriarch then joined the Chaldean in Mosul. The British were pleased to have local Christian allies, and the community briefly attracted a great deal of attention -- along the lines of "our friends in Iraq." But the British used the local Christians for their own purposes and completely forgot them once it suited their purpose to grant Iraqi independence in 1932. This left the Christians in the lurch, and there were some massacres again in 1933. Many have subsequently immigrated to Europe and the United States. The Assyrian Patriarchate itself is in exile in the United States.

While many people find the history of the Church of the East, and its use of Aramaic (or Syriac), the language of Jesus, fascinating, a nationalistic movement among Assyrians has tended to be less interested in the Church, or even hostile. In its most extreme form, some Assyrian nationalists reject Christianity altogether and suggest that the gods of ancient Assyria, or at least the principal god, Ashur, should be revived. At a time when Middle Eastern Christians are often victims of attacks from radical Islâm, this proposal invites a great deal of trouble, since Muslims are under no obligation to tolerate polytheism or idolatry -- and governments administering Islâmic Law are little inclined to do so. The worship of Ashur (although presumably it would now be monotheistic), would not be Assyrian religion in the ancient sense without images of the god. At the same time, both Christian Assyrians and Chaldeans sometimes have objections to parts of the Old Testament, since both Assyrians and Babylonians are often portrayed negatively there -- the Book of Nahum, which prophecies (or celebrates) the fall of Nineveh, is particularly offensive. Others argue that Christianity actually derives from ancient Assyrian religion, and not from Judaism at all. Both these tendencies seem to involve an anti-Semitic aspect -- perhaps not surprising in the climate of the Arab world -- and are awkward features, not only in a Catholic Church like the Chaldean, but even for the Assyrian Church, where moves towards ecumenicism have involved downplaying doctrinal differences with Catholicism and other Orthodox Churches. It is hard to imagine either Patriarch seriously putting it to the Pope that Christ's role as Savior and Redeemer was based on the Kings of Assyria. While some form of Assyrian nationalism is widely popular in the Assyrian community, and even among some Chaldeans and Syrian Orthdox Christians, other Chaldeans and Syrian Orthodox find it offensive. The histories of these Churches has thus become entangled with political and ethnic issues that exist independently of the Christian histories of the communities. Other information on Assyrians and Chaldeans can be found in the Note on the Modern Assyrians. Since most Westerners are going to be interested and sympathetic with the modern Assyrians for their Christianity, the history of their Church, and their persecution under Islâm, they are bound to be uninterested, or put off, by celebrations of the ancient Assyrians, let alone by complaints about the Jews or the Bible. The nationalists, however, interpret such aversion as hostility to them -- an attitude that would seem to aim to cultivate Christian and Jewish, as well as Islamic, antipathy for the Aramaic speaking communities.

This list of the Patriarchs of the East is an attempt to combine the list that was at the "Chaldeans on Line" website (which has since disappeared) with the list of Patriarchs of the East, published by Qasha Yosip d-Bet Kelaita in 1924, as given and discussed by J.F. Coakley in his "The Patriarchal List of the Church of the East" [Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 89, "Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.D. Drijvers," 1999]. Other information comes from The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East by John Joseph [Brill, Leiden, Boston, Köln, 2000] and from The Church of the East and the Church of England by J.F. Coakley [Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992]. The different sets of dates are usually those given in the Chaldean and Assyrians lists, respectively. The absolute numbering of the Patriarchs is the Chaldean. This skips over some Patriarchs given in the Assyrian list and continues down to the Chaldean Patriarch at present. The alternative Assyrian numbering results in the present Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV being the "120th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East," as John Joseph says.
Chaldean PatriarchsPatriarchs of the East
1. Yohanan Soulaqa/Sulaqa Shimun VIIIDiyarbakr,
1552-1555
91. Mar Dinkha Shimun VII/VIII bar MamaAlqosh, 1538-1551, or 1552-1558
92. Mar Shimun VIII/IX1551-1558
2. Abdisho/Odishu IV MarounSirt,
1555-1567
93. Mar Eliyya VI1558-1576
3. Yab-Alaha/ Yoalaha V1558-1580, or 1578-158094. Mar Eliyya VII1576-1591
4. Mar Shimun IX DenkhaUrmia,
1581/80-1600
95. Mar Eliyya VIII1591-1617
5. Mar Elia Shimun XSalamas,
1600-1638/1653
96. Mar Eliyya IX Shimun1617-1660
6. Mar Eshuyow Shimun XI1638-1656, or 1653-1690Chaldean Patriarchs97. Mar Eliyya X Yohannan Marogin1660-1700
7. Mar Yoalaha Shimun XIIUrmia,
1656-1662, or 1690-1692
Assyrian Patriarchs8. Mar Yusuf IDiyarbakr,
1681-1695
8. Mar Shimun XIII Denha/DinkhaQochanis,
1662-1700, or 1692-1700
9. Mar Yusuf II1696-1713
9. Mar Shimun XIV Shlemon/Sulaiman1700-174010. Mar Yusuf III1713-175798. Mar Eliyya XI Marogin1700-1722
10. Mar Shimun XV Maqdassi Mikhail/Mukhattis1740-1780, or 1740-174111. Mar Yusuf IV1757-178199. Mar Elyya XII Denha1772-1778
11. Mar Shimun XVI Yohanan/Yonan/Yuna1780-1820, or 1740-182012. Mar Yusuf V1804-1828100. Mar Eliyya XIII Isho-Yab1778-1804
12. Mar Shimun XVII Abraham/Oraham1820-1861/1860101. Yohannan VII HormezMosul, 1830-1838
102. Nicolas Zaya1840-1848
13. Mar Shimun XVIII Rouel/Ruwil1860/1861-1903103. Joseph VI Audo1848-1878
104. Elie XIV Abo-Alyonan1879-1894
105. Abdisho V Khayat1894-1899
14. Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin/BinyaminSalamas,
1903-1918,
assassinated
106. Joseph Emmanuel II Toma1900-1947
15. Mar Shimun XX Paulos/PolosMosul,
1918-1920
16. Mar Shimun XXI Ishaya/EshaiSan Francisco,
1920-1975,
assassinated
107. Joseph VII GhanimaBaghdad, 1947-1958
108. Paul II Cheikho1958-1989
17. Mar Dinkha IVChicago,
1976-present
109. Raphael I BeDaweedBeirut, 1989-2003
Mar Shlemon Wardonilocum tenens, 2003
110. Mar Emmanuel III Karim-Delly2003-Present

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