| Antiochian church |
According to the Holy Tradition, it was founded around the year 37 by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas in Antioch [4]. The bishop of this Church was the apostolic husband, Saint Ignatius the God-bearer (+ II century). Presbyter Lucian (+312) founded the famous Antiochian theological school in Antioch, which contributed to the systematization of Christian dogmatic teaching and left a rich literary heritage. From the Antiochian Church came the holy ascetics and defenders of Orthodoxy: Saint John Chrysostom, who was born in Antioch and was a presbyter there before being called to the Constantinople See; the Monk John Damascene (+ c. 780), theologian who brought into the system the Christian teaching of faith, church writer, defender of veneration of icons; the Monk Hilarion the Great (+ c. 371), the founder of monasticism in Palestine and the first instructor of the Antiochian monks, and many others. At the First Ecumenical Council (in Nicaea, 325) the ancient tradition was confirmed, according to which the Bishop of Antioch was proclaimed the head bishop of his district. Then under the jurisdiction of Antioch were: Syria, Phenicia, Palestine, Arabia, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia. After the III Ecumenical Council (in Ephesus, 431), almost all the Eastern dioceses, which adopted Nestorianism, broke away from it. At the IV Ecumenical Council (in Chalcedon, 451) she received the status of patriarchy, and the Patriarch of Antioch received the advantage of honor after the patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople. By the decision of the same council, 58 of its dioceses were transferred to the Jerusalem Orthodox Church. The condemnation of Monophysitism at the IV Ecumenical Council led to the division of the Antiochian Orthodox Church into two parts: those who remained faithful to Orthodoxy and those inclined to Monophysitism. Those who preserved Orthodoxy received the name Melkites (from the word melk - emperor, i.e. supporters of the Byzantine emperor), who adopted Monophysitism - Jacobites. The Orthodox prevailed in the Hellenized coastal cities, the Monophysites in the smaller towns and countryside of inner Syria. The contradictions that existed between the Greeks and the Semitic population of the Antiochian Patriarchate left their mark on the development of the Monophysite turmoil. Control over the patriarchal see passed alternately from the Melkites to the Jacobites, and from 550 the Antiochian Church was officially divided into two parts: the Orthodox Church and the Jacobite Church (while the Jacobites still call themselves Orthodox). In the period from 702 to 742. The patriarchal throne of Antioch was vacant, the monks who respected the hermit Maron as their patron took advantage of this, and formed their own Maronite patriarchy of Antioch. In 960, Byzantium conquered Syria again, after which the Melkite Patriarchate was restored, which adopted Byzantine rituals and the Orthodox canon. After the conquest of Palestine by the crusaders and the formation of their states there, the throne (from 1199) was in exile in Constantinople. The Antiochian Latin Patriarchate was created by the papists. After the liquidation of the Antiochian kingdom of the crusaders, conquered by the Mamluks, in 1268, the Orthodox patriarchy was restored; the patriarch returned from emigration in 1269. due to the fact that the city of Antioch was almost completely destroyed, the patriarchal throne in 1342 or 1366 was transferred to Damascus, where it is still located. In 1517 Damascus was captured by the Ottoman Empire and the Patriarch of Antioch was again under the rule of Constantinople. A new split occurred in 1724, when the newly elected Patriarch Cyril VI recognized the supremacy of the Pope and became a Uniate. The Orthodox Council removed him from his post and elected a new patriarch, but part of the church finally split off and took the name Melkite Greek Catholic. From 1724 to 1899, the highest clergy of the patriarchate was elected from among the Greeks, but later the Arabs also began to receive the highest clergy, who eventually became the head of the patriarchy.
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