Lord Shaftesbury sought to turn his vision of a restored and converted Israel into official government policy. His plan was Jewish resettlement in Palestine and the creation of an Anglican church on Mount Zion. In March 1838, a consulate was opened in Jerusalem and a vice-consul was appointed "to afford protection of the Jews generally" in Palestine. The
Damascus Incident of 1840 provided a motive for more concrete British intervention on behalf of the Jews in
Turkey. Under the influence of Lord Ashley,
Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, called for the Porte to facilitate the settlement of Jews from all Europe and Africa in Palestine in addition to allowing Jews living in the Turkish empire "to transmit to the Porte, through British authorities, any complaints which they might have to prefer against the Turkish authorities." The latter was granted by the
Sultan in February 1841. Equality of treatment to Jewish subjects was guaranteed in April. The British government wanted to prop up the ailing Ottomans, and admitting Jews to Palestine with "the wealth they would bring with them would increase the resources of the Sultan's dominions."
Anglican Bishopric of Jerusalem The establishment of an Anglican bishopric in Jerusalem was one of the goals of the
London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews. The plan also had the support of the Protestant king Frederick William of Prussia; he appointed an envoy to England specifically to aid Lord Ashley in the project. Their joint efforts failed mainly in overcoming opposition from Anglo-Catholic groups in England, under the
Oxford Movement, which was trying to reconcile the English Church with
Rome.
Michael Alexander, a converted Jew and professor of Hebrew and Arabic at
King's College, was chosen by Palmerston (on the advice of Ashley) to be the first Bishop in Jerusalem. The
Bill creating the Bishopric of Jerusalem was passed by parliament and received royal assent on 5 October 1841. For the time being the diocese would be run in joint effort with the united
Evangelical Church in Prussia which rejected the idea of
Apostolic succession, held by Anglicans. Much like the general failure of the Jews' Society to bring about any considerable mass conversion of the Jews, the initial impact the diocese was disappointing.
Elliot Warburton on visiting Bishop Alexander's church in Jerusalem found a total congregation of eight converted Jews and one or two tourists.
Nineteenth century In 1849,
Christ Church, Jerusalem near
Jaffa Gate became the first Anglican/Lutheran church in the city, and in 1871 Christ Church in Nazareth was consecrated. The Anglo-Prussian Union ceased to function in 1881, and no bishop was appointed between 1881 and 1887, and from 1887, the missionary effort continued solely under Anglican auspices. In 1888,
George Blyth established the
Jerusalem and the East Mission which was instrumental in raising funds for projects and missions throughout the Middle East.
Saint George's Cathedral was built in 1898 in Jerusalem as a central focus for the diocese.
Twentieth century Although the diocese began as a foreign missionary organisation, it quickly established itself as part of the Palestinian community. In 1905, the Palestine Native Church Council was established to give local Arabs more say in the running of the church. This led to an increase in the number of Arab clergy serving the diocese. In 1920, the
Diocese of Egypt and the Sudan was formed, separate from the Diocese of Jerusalem, with
Llewelyn Gwynne as its first bishop. In the 1920s the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem founded
St. George's College as a training seminary for local clergy. In 1957, the bishop in Jerusalem was elevated to the rank of an
archbishop, albeit under the primatial authority of the
archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop of Jerusalem had metropolitan oversight of the entire area of the current province with the addition of the Sudan (five dioceses in all). In that same year,
Najib Cubain was consecrated bishop of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, the first Arab bishop, assistant to the archbishop of Jerusalem. During the 1950s, political unrest in Egypt left the diocese in the care of four Egyptian clergy under the oversight of the Archbishop of Jerusalem. In 1976, the structure of the Anglican church in the region was overhauled, with the Diocese of Jerusalem becoming an ordinary bishopric, and one of four dioceses forming the Province of the
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. The archbishop of Canterbury ceased to have metropolitan authority over the diocese, which came to be held by a rotating
presiding bishop of the Province and the
Central Synod, comprising the four dioceses. When a bishop reaches the age of 68, a coadjutor bishop is required to be elected to work alongside the bishop for two years, before the bishop's retirement at age 70. Its only bishop (the area's first Arab bishop) was
Najib Cubain; the diocese was reabsorbed upon the provincial reorganisation of 1976. ==Bishops and Archbishops==