Israel.
Israel is home to one of the oldest Orthodox Christian communities in the world, centered on the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem — the Mother Church of Christendom — and its many holy sites across the Holy Land.
Orthodoxy in
Israel.
A living tradition — its history, its faithful, its sacred places.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the land of modern Israel is as old as the Church itself. The Orthodox tradition traces the community in Jerusalem directly to the day of Pentecost and the first apostolic gathering, making the local Church one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world.
Historical roots
The Church of Jerusalem was raised to the rank of a patriarchate at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, establishing it as one of the five ancient sees of the Pentarchy. In the Orthodox ordering of precedence, it is the fourth in honorific seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch. Monasticism flourished in the Judean desert from the fourth century onwards, producing towering figures such as Saints Sabbas the Sanctified, Euthymius the Great, Chariton the Confessor and John of Damascus, whose works shaped Orthodox liturgy and theology across the whole Church.
Jurisdiction today
The principal Orthodox body is the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, an autocephalous church whose ecclesiastical territory covers Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan. It is headquartered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and led by Patriarch Theophilos III, elected in 2005. The patriarchal see is closely bound to the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, a monastic confraternity that maintains the Holy Places. Additional canonical Eastern Orthodox presences in Israel include the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (with houses under both the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) and a Romanian Orthodox pilgrimage mission.
Composition of the faithful
Most Orthodox Christians living permanently in Israel are Arab Christians, concentrated in Galilee — especially in Nazareth, Haifa, Shefa-'Amr, and the villages of the western Galilee — and in Jerusalem. A significant second stream is the Russian-speaking Orthodox: ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians and others who immigrated after 1990 or who serve as clergy, nuns and pilgrims. According to Israeli data, Christians number roughly 1.9% of the population, of whom about three in ten are attached to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Liturgical life
Services in the Patriarchate are celebrated in Koine Greek in many monasteries and at the Holy Sepulchre, and in Arabic in most Arab parishes; Russian, Church Slavonic and Romanian are used in the respective missions. The Patriarchate follows the Julian (Old) Calendar, so Nativity is observed on 7 January and Pascha is calculated by the traditional paschalion.
Current situation
The Christian community in Israel is small but remarkably stable, and has in recent years been reported as one of the few growing Christian populations in the Middle East. Orthodox faithful continue to be present at the central mysteries of the faith — the Holy Fire ceremony on Great and Holy Saturday, the Baptism of the Lord at the Jordan, and the feasts of the Mother of God at her Tomb in Gethsemane — at the very places where they originally occurred.
Famous Orthodox churches and monasteries in Israel
The sacred architecture of Orthodox Israel — cathedrals, parishes, and the mountain monasteries that keep the lamps burning.
- Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Church of the Resurrection), Old City of Jerusalem — Built in the fourth century over Golgotha and the Tomb of Christ, it is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The central katholikon and Calvary chapel belong to the Greek Orthodox, who also tend the Holy Edicule jointly with other confessions under the Status Quo.
- Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation (Church of St. Gabriel), Nazareth — Built over Mary's Well, it marks the place where Orthodox tradition locates the first Annunciation to the Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel. The present church dates from the 18th century on earlier Byzantine and Crusader foundations.
- Monastery of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor — A Greek Orthodox monastery on the mountain identified from the 4th century as the site of Christ's Transfiguration. Mount Tabor was recognized as an archdiocese of the Patriarchate and remains a major pilgrimage destination, especially for the feast on 6 / 19 August.
- Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene, Gethsemane, Jerusalem — A Russian Orthodox convent on the slope of the Mount of Olives, built in 1888 by Tsar Alexander III in memory of his mother. Its golden onion-domes are a landmark of Jerusalem; it houses the relics of the New Martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Nun Barbara, and is administered by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
- Gorny (Moscovia) Convent, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem — Founded in the 19th century by the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission at the traditional site of the Visitation of the Theotokos to Saint Elizabeth. It is today a convent of the Moscow Patriarchate.
- Monastery of the Temptation / Mount of the Forty, Jericho region — A Greek Orthodox cliff-monastery above Jericho, traditionally marking the mountain where Christ fasted for forty days and was tempted by Satan. It is dependent on the Jerusalem Patriarchate.
Orthodoxy
kept here.
The shape of the faith as it is lived and prayed across Israel today.
Orthodoxy in Israel is inseparable from the holy geography of the land. The senior jurisdiction is the ancient Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, an autocephalous church established at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and today led by Patriarch Theophilos III from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Its hierarchy is largely drawn from the Greek-speaking Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, while the majority of its lay faithful are Arabic-speaking Christians whose families have lived in the Holy Land for centuries.
Inside Israel proper, Orthodox life is strongest in the Galilee, with historic parishes in Nazareth, Kafr Kanna (Cana), Reineh, Kafr Yasif, Shefa-'Amr, Ramla, Acre and Haifa, and in Jerusalem itself, where the Patriarchate administers dozens of monasteries, convents and shrines. The Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, founded in 1847, maintains important properties including Gorny Convent in Ein Kerem and (under ROCOR) the Convent of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane and Eleona Convent on the Mount of Olives.
Liturgically, the Patriarchate keeps the Byzantine Rite according to the Julian calendar; services are offered in Greek, Arabic, Russian, Romanian and, in some monasteries, Church Slavonic. Relations with the State of Israel follow the country's longstanding millet-style confessional system: the Greek Orthodox Church is one of the officially recognized religious communities, with its own ecclesiastical courts for personal-status matters.
Although numerically small, the Orthodox presence in Israel carries a significance far beyond its size, because the land is the setting of nearly every event in Scripture. For Orthodox Christians worldwide, Israel is above all the Holy Land, and pilgrimage here — to the Holy Sepulchre, Bethlehem, the Jordan, Mount Tabor and Nazareth — remains a living part of the faith.
Asked
of this land.
Frequently asked questions about Orthodoxy in Israel
Which Orthodox Church has jurisdiction in Israel?
The principal canonical body is the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church whose territory covers Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan. It is headed by Patriarch Theophilos III and headquartered at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
How many Orthodox Christians live in Israel?
Reliable figures are difficult because Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics counts Christians together. Of roughly 185,000 Christians in Israel, about 30% are affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, giving an Eastern Orthodox population of around 55,000 — plus a sizeable Russian-speaking Orthodox community from post-1990 immigration.
Are Orthodox Christians in Israel mostly Arab or Greek?
Most Orthodox laypeople in Israel are Arab Christians, especially in Galilee. The higher hierarchy of the Patriarchate, however, is traditionally Greek, drawn from the monastic Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. Services are typically bilingual in Greek and Arabic.
Is the Russian Orthodox Church also present?
Yes. The Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, founded in 1847, operates monasteries and convents in the Holy Land. Today its properties are divided between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), both in canonical communion with Orthodoxy worldwide.
Which calendar do Orthodox in Israel use?
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem follows the Julian (Old) Calendar for both fixed and movable feasts. This means the Nativity of Christ is celebrated on 7 January (civil date), and Pascha is calculated according to the traditional paschalion.
Can pilgrims attend Orthodox services at the holy sites?
Yes. Orthodox Divine Liturgies are celebrated daily at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, regularly at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and in countless other shrines and monasteries throughout the Holy Land. Pilgrims are especially present for Holy Week, when the Holy Fire ceremony takes place on Great and Holy Saturday.