Juvenal of Jerusalem

Juvenal
Juvenal
Bishop of Jerusalem
Province	Roman Palestine
See	Jerusalem
Installed	422
Term ended	458
Predecessor	Praulius of Jerusalem
Successor	Anastasius of Jerusalem
Personal details
Denomination	Eastern Christianity
Sainthood
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church

Saint Juvenal (Greek: Άγιος Ιουβενάλιος) was Bishop of Jerusalem from 422. On the See of Jerusalem being recognised as a Metropolitinate by the Council of Chalcedon, he became the first Metropolitan of Jerusalem, an office he occupied until his death in 458. His jurisdictional reach over all three provinces of Roman Palestine would subsequently gain him the recogition as the first Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Background

After the Siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 the city had been left in ruins, and after Hadrian's visit to the site in 135, a new Roman city was built, called Ælia Capitolina (Ælius was Hadrian's family nomen). Ælia was a town of little importance in the empire; the governor of the province resided at Caesarea. Caesarea became the metropolitan see; the Bishop of Ælia (Jerusalem) was merely one of its suffragans.[1]

Life

Little is known about his early life. Juvenal was born in the late 4th century and was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem in 422.[2]^{: 247–249} In 428/9 he consecrated the Laura of Euthymius, located on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, and supplied it with presbyters and deacons.[3][4] Euthymius and the monks of Palestine would go on to play an important role in the Chalcedonian controversy.

In 431, Juvenal sided with Cyril against Nestorius at the First Council of Ephesus.[5] After the council he began to exert jurisdictional oversight across all three provinces of Roman Palestine; Juvenal wanted to make Jerusalem into a Metropolitan See but Cyril of Alexandria and Pope Leo I opposed the separation of Jerusalem from Cæsarea and Antioch.[6]

Juvenal was one of the leaders of the Second Council of Ephesus in 449, being the first to sign it as an ally of Dioscorus. This led to his name being removed from the diptychs of the churches that rejected the council. However he changed his stance at the Council of Chalcedon convened later, condemning the previous council.[7] In 451, the Fourth Ecumenical Council met in the city of Chalcedon and condemned the Monophysite heresy, which taught that the human nature in Christ was totally absorbed by the divine nature. Juvenal was among those who condemned the heresy and affirmed the doctrine of the union of two natures in Jesus Christ, the divine and the human, without separation and without mixture.[5] When Dioscorus of Alexandria was tried for violation of canonical law, Juvenal did not hesitate to withdraw support for the Archbishop.[2]^: 248 Whereas Juvenal had previously hoped to extend Jerusalem's jurisdiction to include Roman Arabia and Phoenicia, negotiations with Archbishop Maximus of Antioch at Chalcedon resulted in approval of oversight over all of Palestine but no further. The attendees of the council, which included the bishops of Palestine, thus consented to the establishment of the Metropolitinate of Jerusalem, but this led to a revolt by a large portion of the monks of Palestine led by Theodosius. When Juvenal tried to return to his throne, the anti-Chaledonians drove him from it and installed Theodosius as the Archbishop. Although he retained the support of Euthymius among many others, Juvenal fled to Constantinople in August of 453.[2]^: 248

Theodosius reportedly filled Jerusalem with blood, then raised a military company to punish other rivals in the region like Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, whom he brutally executed in 452 or 453 AD.[8] Imperial troops restored Juvenal in 453, and he served in peace until his death in 458.[6][9]

Theological contribution

Juvenal likely had monastic roots as he attended a monastery in the Kedron valley and was known for his strong support of Palestinian monasticism; many of the men he ordained to the ranks of the clergy were local monks. He also did much to promote liturgical development in Jerusalem and its environs; it was during his episcopate that the Feast of the Theotokos on 15 August was introduced and churches dedicated to Mary began to be built in the province.[2]^: 248

As bishop, Juvenal's main concern was to protect and extend the rights of his See.[2]^: 247 The extent of the oversight granted to the jurisdiction at Chalcedon was both a significant expansion on the precedent established at Nicea and was supra-Metropolitan in scale.[10] In light of this, a century later Emperor Justinian would recognise Jerusalem as one of five Patriarchates.

Canonisation

Juvenal is regarded as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church with his feast day celebrated on July 2.[11]

References

Fortescue, Adrian. "Jerusalem (A.D. 71-1099)." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 9 Mar. 2014
Berardino, Angelo Di (2006). The Eastern Fathers from the Council of Chalcedon (451) to John of Damascus (750). J. Clarke. pp. 250–251. ISBN 978-0-227-67979-1.
"Venerable Euthymius the Great", Orthodox church in America
Pringle, Denys (1993). The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Corpus: Volume 2, L-Z (excluding Tyre). Cambridge University Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-521-39037-8.
"Saint Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem". www.oca.org. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
Keck, Karen Rae. "St. Juvenal of Jerusalem", The Saint Pachomius Library
Piercy, William C.; Wace, Henry (1911). "Juvenalis, bishop of Jerusalem" . Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century. JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET – via Wikisource.
Levy, Rosalie Marie. (1984). 2nd edition. Heavenly Friends. Boston:St. Paul Editions. p. 90.
John Rufus (2008). Horn, Cornelia B.; Phenix, Robert R. (eds.). John Rufus: The Lives of Peter the Iberian, Theodosius of Jerusalem, and the Monk Romanus. Writings from the Greco-Roman World. Society of Biblical Literature. pp. lxxxviii–lxxxix. ISBN 978-1-58983-200-8. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
Erickson, John H. (1991). The Challenge of Our Past: Studies in Orthodox Canon Law and Church History. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-88141-086-0.
Great Synaxaristes (in Greek): Ὁ Ἅγιος Ἰουβενάλιος Πατριάρχης Ἱεροσολύμων. 2 Ιουλίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.

Bishops and Patriarchs of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
Bishops of Jerusalem (until 451)	James, brother of Jesus Simeon of Jerusalem Justus Zacchaeus Tobias Benjamin John I Matthias Philip Senecas Justus II Levis Ephram Joseph I Judas Marcus Cassianus Poplius Maximus I Julian I Gaius I Symmachus Gaius II Julian II Capion Maximus II Antoninus Valens Dolichianus Narcissus Dius Germanion Gordius Alexander Mazabanis Imeneus Zamudas Ermon Macarius Maximus III Cyril I John II Praulius Juvenal
Patriarchs of Jerusalem (from 451)	Juvenal Anastasius I Martyrius Sallustius Elias I John III Peter Macarius II Eustochius John IV Amos Isaac Zacharias Modestus Sophronius Anastasius II John V Theodore Elias II George Thomas I Basileus John VI Sergius I Solomon Theodosius Elias III Sergius II Leontius I Athanasius I Christodulus I Agathon John VII Christodulus II Thomas II Joseph II Orestes Theophilus I Nicephorus I Joannichius Sophronius II Euthemius Simeon II Savvas^§ John VIII^§ Nicolas^§ John IX^§ Nicephorus II^§ Leontius II^§ Dositheos I Marcus II Euthemius II Athanasius II Sophronius III Gregory I Thaddaeus Athanasius III Gregory II Lazarus Dorotheus I Theophilus II Theophanes I Joachim Theophanes II Athanasius IV Jacob II Abraham I Gregory III Marcus III Dorotheus II Germanus Sophronius IV Theophanes III Paiseus Nectarius I Dositheos II Chrysanthus Meletius Parthenius Ephram II Sophronius V Abraham II Procopius I Anthemus Polycarpus Athanasius V Cyril II Procopius II Hierotheus Nicodemus I Gerasimus I Damian I Timotheus I Benedict I Diodoros I Irenaios I Theophilus III
^§: in exile at Constantinople due to the Latin rule over Jerusalem

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