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THE PATRIARCHATE OF ANTIOCH"The Orthodox Church is not only for one nation, one civilisation, one continent. It is like God Himself, for all and for every place." His Beatitude, Ignatios 1V, Patriarch of Antioch
ANTIOCH
The See of Antioch ranks third in honour among the 15 self governing Orthodox Churches all of whom are in communion with each other. The city of Antioch of Syria was founded in 301 BC on the banks of the Orontes River, about 20 miles inland from the East coast of the Mediterranean and 250 miles north of Jerusalem. Antioch was considered the third most important city of the Roman world after Rome and Alexandria. Christianity came to Antioch from among those converted at Pentecost. St. Paul and St. Barnabas preached there and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. There are references to the Christian community of Antioch throughout the Acts of the Apostles. The first Bishop of Antioch was St. Peter the Apostle, and the third, St. Ignatios, who became Bishop in 67 AD. and whose letters can still be read in the volume: "The Apostolic Fathers." St. John Chrysostom, whose Liturgy is served throughout the Orthodox world, and St. John of Damascus, the scholar and theologian who defended the Faith at the Seventh Ecumenical Council, were also from the Church of Antioch. When the Turks took the city of Antioch in the 15th Century, the See of Antioch was moved to Damascus, the capital of Syria, where it remains to this day. Throughout its history Antioch has remained faithful to Christ and the Orthodox Faith in the face of domination by a multitude of non-Christian rulers with complete political freedom only being enjoyed for a brief few hundred years from the 4th to the 7th Century. Between 1724 and 1899 A.D. the Patriarch as well as all the bishops were Greek prelates and appointed because of the Greek influence which the Phanar (Constantinople) exercised under Turkish rule. In addition the primary liturgical language of the Patriarchate was Greek, which at the turn of the century was replaced by contemporary Arabic. Following a similar pattern, the Patriarchate has championed the use of English in places where this is the language of the people. In the West, Antiochian Christians number in their millions, with Bishops in New York, Paris, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Santiago, Mexico City and Bucharest. |
