Dr Augustin Sokolovski
On July 15, the Church celebrates the memory of Saint Juvenal of Jerusalem († AD 458). This date follows the calendar of the Holy Fathers, also known as the Julian Calendar or the Old Style.
It marks exactly the middle of summer, which helps believers nremember more easily the feast day of this saint. Moreover, transforming ordinary calendar days into days of remembrance of the saints is a spiritual practice and a virtue for which the Lord grants His grace.
As we know, after the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, revolts took place in Palestine. Several decades later, the Romans finally suppressed the Jewish resistance during the Bar Kokhba Revolt (AD 132–135). They destroyed the city, expelled the Jews from Jerusalem, and renamed it Aelia Capitolina. Palestine became an ordinary Roman province, and idols were erected on the holy places.
The Church of Jerusalem ceased to exist as an organized Church. Christians remained in Palestine, but they were scattered and were led by local bishops. The leading bishop, the primate of Palestine, was not the bishop of Aelia Capitolina, but the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. One of the most famous bishops of Caesarea was Eusebius of Caesarea (c. AD 260–339), the Father of Church History.
At the beginning of the sole rule of Emperor Constantine the Great, after he became the only ruler of the Roman Empire, he immediately began to restore and organize the life of the Church. After the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325), Jerusalem was restored as a Christian city. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was consecrated there. However, this did not give Jerusalem any special hierarchical position. Even the works of the great Father of the Church, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (c. AD 313–386), could not change this situation.
Like Constantinople, Jerusalem was considered a foundation of Emperor Constantine and could not compete with the apostolic sees that had preserved their historical succession, such as Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch.
In the middle of the fifth century, the Church was shaken by the Christological controversies. The Church of Alexandria, except for the city itself, almost all of Egypt, and half of the Church of Antioch—the whole of Syria and the East—fell into what was called Monophysitism, breaking communion with the other Churches because of their Christological teaching.
The same danger threatened Jerusalem. There a monk named Theodosius proclaimed himself bishop.
The greatness of Saint Juvenal of Jerusalem was that, with the support of the great monks, ascetics, and spiritual fathers of Palestine, he overcame this danger, preserved Jerusalem and Palestine in the Orthodox faith, and at the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) obtained special privileges for his see.
From this moment, Jerusalem began to be recognized as one of the principal Orthodox Churches. The importance of the See of Jerusalem that we know today owes its origin to Saint Juvenal.
In Saint Juvenal we see the role of a true primate. He must preserve the unity of the Church and must be extremely wise, avoiding any harsh actions or judgments.
At the Council of Chalcedon, the structure known as the Pentarchy was established—the communion of the five Churches that were recognized as patriarchates.
It is interesting that the title “Patriarch” is a Jewish title that belonged for many centuries to the head of the Jewish people. There is a hypothesis that Saint Cyril of Jerusalem used this title for himself in order to emphasize the authority of the See of Jerusalem. It is not certain, but this interpretation exists among historians. It may also be connected with the idea that Christians are the true Israel, the new People of God. This was especially important because Cyril was probably of Jewish origin and saw the continuity between the people of Israel and the Church.
However, it was Saint Juvenal who became the first Bishop of Jerusalem in history to officially receive the title of Patriarch. With him, this title became an official ecclesiastical dignity of the Jerusalem See.
It is important to remember that many things in the Orthodox Church, and even in Christianity as a whole, appear to us as something self-evident, as if they have always existed in this form. However, we must remember that we, Christians of the postmodern age, are, in a certain sense, dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants. Many of the great structures and traditions that we have inherited were built through the faith, wisdom, and struggle of the great saints of the past. Among them, Saint Juvenal of Jerusalem played an essential role, laying foundations that continue to shape the life of the Church to this day.