X-Nico

unusual facts about Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem


Niedermunster Abbey, Alsace

Legend has it that, in 799 the future Charlemagne received a large number of relics from Fortunatus the patriarch of Jerusalem, including a fragment of the Holy Cross and the Holy Foreskin.


Johan Basset

This is probably a reference to the convent of Santa Anna at Barcelona, which was originally a house of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre under the guidance of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Patrophilus of Scythopolis

In 354-5 AD he acted together with Acacius of Caesarea to depose the bishop of Jerusalem, Maximus, who supported the Nicene Creed, and replaced him with Cyril, who they thought was also an Arian.

Tomb of the Virgin Mary

A narrative known as the Euthymiaca Historia (written probably by Cyril of Scythopolis in the 5th century) relates how the Emperor Marcian and his wife, Pulcheria, requested the relics of the Virgin Mary from Juvenal, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, while he was attending the Council of Chalcedon (451).

A small upper church on an octagonal footing was built by Patriarch Juvenal (during Marcian's rule) over the location in the 5th century, and was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 614.


see also