Christ Church, Jerusalem

Christ Church

Christ Church, Jerusalem
Christ Church
Location in Old Jerusalem
31°46′35.5″N 35°13′39.7″E / 31.776528°N 35.227694°E / 31.776528; 35.227694Coordinates: 31°46′35.5″N 35°13′39.7″E / 31.776528°N 35.227694°E / 31.776528; 35.227694
Location Old City, Jerusalem
Denomination Anglican
Churchmanship Evangelical
Website www.cmj-israel.org/CMJ-Ministries/Christ-Church/Overview
History
Founder(s) London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews
Dedication Jesus Christ
Consecrated 21 January 1849
Architecture
Functional status Active
Completed 1849
Administration
Diocese Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem
Province Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
Clergy
Rector David Pileggi
Altar with Hebrew inscription

Christ Church, Jerusalem, is an Anglican church located inside the Old City of Jerusalem. The building itself is part of a small compound just inside the Jaffa Gate opposite King David's citadel. It is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East. Its congregation is mainly composed of English-speaking Jewish Christians, with both Christian and Jewish festivals being celebrated.[1]

History

Originally named the "Apostolic Anglican Church", it was consecrated as "Christ Church" on 21 January 1849 by Bishop Samuel Gobat.[2] Three architects worked on the church, the first, William Curry Hillier, died in 1840 of typhus,[3] while the second James Wood Johns, was dismissed and replaced by Matthew Habershon in 1843.

The construction of the church was met with considerable local and Ottoman opposition. Lord Shaftesbury and other prominent Restorationists lobbied consecutive Foreign Secretaries in its advocacy. On 18th March 1845 a petition signed by 1,400 clergy and 15,000 laity was presented to Lord Aberdeen in support of the project.[4][5]

Christ Church was the seat of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem until the opening of St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem in 1899.

Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, the Christ Church compound was also the site of the British Consulate.[6] The building survived the Israeli War of Independence and the Six-Day War intact and continues to function as an Anglican church with several English, Arabic and Hebrew speaking congregations.[7] The current rector is David Pileggi.

The London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (now known as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People or CMJ) helped finance the church's construction.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Christ Church Overview". CMJ Israel. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  2. ↑ Crombie, Kelvin (2006). A Jewish Bishop in Jerusalem. Jerusalem: Nicolayson's Ltd. p. 241.
  3. ↑ Johannes Friedrich Alexander de le Roi, Die evangelische Christenheit und die Juden unter dem Gesichtspunkte der Mission geschichtlich betrachtet (11884), Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, 31892, p. 180, (= Schriften des Institutum Judaicum in Berlin; No. 9)
  4. ↑ Lewis, Donald (2 January 2014). The Origins of Christian Zionism: Lord Shaftesbury And Evangelical Support For A Jewish Homeland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 380. ISBN 9781107631960.
  5. ↑ Hyamson, Albert M., The British Consulate in Jerusalem in Relation to the Jews of Palestine, 1838-1914, ISBN 978-0404562786, cited in Lewis, D.
  6. ↑ Crombie, A Jewish Bishop in Jerusalem, 243.
  7. ↑ Crombie, Kelvin (2008). Restoring Israel: 200 Years of the CMJ Story. Jerusalem: Nicolayson's Ltd. p. 188.

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