A Patriarchate of Jerusalem WI

So, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem (the Orthodox one) has the distinction of having its followers largely be Arab-speaking Palestinians and Jordanians while its clergy is dominated by Greek-speaking priests. What if sometime after the conquest of the Holy Land by the Arabs the Patriarchate of Jerusalem had adopted Arabic as its official tongue as opposed to the Greek that it has largely used throughout its history?
 

Deimos

Banned
Well, in doing so they would abandon the Greek liturgy which would not sit well with the rest of Orthodox Christianity, so it is safe to venture they would get less outside help and sympathies.
They might be even deemed heretical if the translation they use can be used to misread holy texts.


Also when does the POD take place? When the Arabs first conquered the area they needed capable administrators and loyal subects and subsequently tolerated the Greek-speaking Christian churches in Syria and Palestine to a great degree. Therefore the POD might be later when the advantages of adopting Arabic might be smaller.


Furthermore, the usage of the word "Allah" by Christians to refer to their god might not sit well with the Muslim clergy (There was a controversy about this in Malaysia some years back but I do not know if the same reasoning, i.e. linguistic specifics, would apply here.)
 
So, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem (the Orthodox one) has the distinction of having its followers largely be Arab-speaking Palestinians and Jordanians while its clergy is dominated by Greek-speaking priests. What if sometime after the conquest of the Holy Land by the Arabs the Patriarchate of Jerusalem had adopted Arabic as its official tongue as opposed to the Greek that it has largely used throughout its history?


Yeah very unlikely. If the Patriarch tried that he would be excommunicated (or whatever the eastern version of excommunication is), declared deposed and a new Patriarch would be appointed. It would no doubt be seen as a betrayal by the other Patriarchates and many of the Greeks under the Jerusalem Patriarchate. So it would be highly unlikely.
 
The POD is just any time after the Arab Conquest. I mean, eventually the local Christian population ceased to be Greek-speaking and with the land under Arab control I doubt an excommunication from Constantinople would matter that much all things considered. The Alexandrine Patriarch opted for Coptic and Arabic eventually so I don't see why the Jerusalemite couldn't follow in similar footsteps somewhere between the conquest and the present.
 
The Antioch Patriarchy is the Arabic-language Orthodox Church. Never really understood the difference, I think the lack of "the Arab state" rends the nominal Orthodox practice of a national language-dominant church rather null. It is interesting though that Arabic-speaking Christians have two patriarchates to chose from. Historically, Orthodox Arabs were founders and militants of Arab Nationalism, unlike, say, Maronites :rolleyes:. Perhaps more successful Arab nationalism could lead to this, along with a unification or merger of Antioch and Jerusalem patriarchates?

Or perhaps because of the historical elite around the time of Jesus, the Orthodox church globally sees it fitting to keep a Greek speaking clerical elite in the special patriarchate of Jerusalem. If that is the case, maybe in a similar 20th century Arab Nationalist timeline, the administration of the Jerusalem Patriarchate remains Greek, but the Mass and services switch to Arabic.
 
I don't think Antioch and Jerusalem would ever "unify" since they are each both 1/5 of the original pentarchy and claim to be successors to different members of the original 12 apostles.
 
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