First Christians In Roman times, Antioch was the principal city of
the Roman Province of Syria, and the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire, after Rome,
Ephesus and
Alexandria. The church in Antioch was the first to be called "Christian," according to Acts. According to tradition,
Saint Peter established the church in Antioch which was the first major Christian area before the 4th century and was the city's first bishop, before going to
Rome to found the Church there.
Ignatius of Antioch (died ), counted as the third bishop of the city, was a prominent
apostolic father. By the fourth century, the bishop of Antioch had become the most senior bishop in a region covering modern-day eastern
Turkey,
Lebanon,
Israel,
Palestine,
Syria,
Jordan,
Iraq, and
Iran. His hierarchy served the largest number of Christians in the known world at that time. The
synods of Antioch met at a basilica named for
Julian the Martyr, whose relics it contained. Despite being overshadowed in ecclesiastical authority by the
patriarch of Constantinople in the later years of the
Eastern Roman Empire, the Antiochene Patriarch remained the most independent, powerful, and trusted of the eastern patriarchs. The Antiochene church was a centre of Christian learning, second only to
Alexandria. In contrast to the
Hellenistic-influenced
Christology of
Alexandria,
Rome, and
Constantinople, Antiochene theology was greatly influenced by
Rabbinic Judaism and other modes of
West Asian monotheistic thought—emphasizing the single, transcendent divine substance (), which in turn led to
adoptionism in certain extremes, and to the clear distinction of two natures of Christ (:
dyophysitism): one human, the other divine. Lastly, compared to the
Patriarchates in Constantinople, Rome, and Alexandria which for various reasons became mired in the theology of imperial state religion, many of its Patriarchs managed to straddle the divide between the controversies of Christology and imperial unity through its piety and straightforward grasp of early Christian thought which was rooted in its primitive Church beginnings.
Chalcedonian split The
Christological controversies that followed the
Council of Chalcedon in 451 resulted in a long struggle for the Patriarchate between those who accepted and those who rejected the Council. The issue came to a head in 512, when a synod was convened in Sidon by the non-Chalcedonians, which resulted in
Flavian II (a Chalcedonian) being replaced as Patriarch by
Severus (a non-Chalcedonian). The non-Chalcedonians under Severus eventually came to be called the
Syriac Orthodox Church (which is a part of the
Oriental Orthodox Church), which has continued to appoint its own
patriarchs of Antioch. The Chalcedonians refused to recognise the dismissal and continued to recognise Flavian as Patriarch, forming a
rival church. From 518, on the death of Flavian and the appointment of his successor, the Chalcedonian Church became known as the
Byzantines' (
Rūm)
Church of Antioch. In the
Middle Ages, as the Byzantine Church of Antioch became more and more dependent on
Constantinople, it began to use the
Byzantine rite. The internal schisms among Christians — such as issues with
Christology,
Julianism,
Monothelitism,
Monergism, and others — were followed by the Islamic conquests which began in the late 7th century, resulting in the patriarch's ecclesiastical authority becoming entangled in the politics of imperial authority and later Islamic
hegemony. Being considered independent of both Byzantine and Arab Muslim power but in essence occupied by both, the
de facto power of the Antiochene patriarchs faded. Additionally, the city of Antioch suffered several natural disasters including major earthquakes throughout the 4th and 6th centuries and anti-Christian conquests beginning with the
Zoroastrian Persians in the 6th century, then the Muslim
Arabs in the seventh century before the city could be recovered by the Byzantine Empire in 969.
Maronite split Although some
Syriac-speaking followers of the 4th-century hermit
Saint Maron did accept the terms of
Chalcedon, they adhered to
Monothelitism (due to impossible communication with the wider Chalcedonian church and their attempt to synthesize the works of early
Syriac Fathers with Chalcedonian language) until the 12th century through the establishment of communion with
Rome. Although the Maronites initially fought alongside the Byzantines in their struggle against the Arabs, in 685 AD, they appointed a Patriarch for themselves,
John Maron, who became the first Patriarch of the
Maronite Church; however, the historical existence of John Maron is doubtful and largely relies on recent traditions of the Maronite Church itself.
Great Schism Over the centuries, differences between the Church in the East and West emerged such as the use of unleavened bread for the Eucharist in the West or the addition of the
filioque to the
Nicene Creed by
Pope Sergius IV. The resulting schism, called the
Great Schism, has often been dated to the 1054 mission of
Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople when Humbert excommunicated (invalidly) the Patriach of Constantinople,
Michael I Cerularius, who in turn excommunicated the Pope and removed him from the
diptychs. Consequently, two major Christian bodies broke communion and became two factions: One faction, now identified as the Catholic Church, represented the Latin West under the leadership of the pope; the other faction, now identified as the Eastern Orthodox Church, represented the Greek East under the collegial authority of the patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople and Alexandria. This split, however, was then most likely known only within higher clerics who either gave it little importance or expected it to be overcome soon. After Adhemar's death, the
Norman Bohemond of Taranto established himself as
prince of Antioch and went in opposition to Alexios I in 1099/1100, forcing John to leave the patriarchate due to his suspected loyalty to the Byzantine Emperor. Bohemond selected
a Frankish cleric loyal to him as new patriarch, thus starting the
Latin Patriarchate of Antioch. The Western influence in the area was finally ended by the victories of the
Muslim Mamluks over the
Crusader States in the 13th century. In 1268 the
Principality of Antioch came to an end with the
brutal conquest of the city by Mamluks which left the significance of the patriarchate, together with the ecclesiastical schisms between Rome and Constantinople and between Constantinople and Alexandria and Antioch, isolated, fractured and debased. The Latin Patriarch went into exile in 1268, and the office became titular only. The office fell vacant in 1953 and was finally abolished in 1964.
Syriac Catholic schism In Aleppo, the efforts of Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries led some members of the local Syriac Orthodox community to create a pro-Roman faction within their church. In 1667,
Andrew Akijan was elected as patriarch, resulting in a schism. After Akijan's death in 1677, two rival patriarchs emerged, one of whom was Akijan's uncle. Until 1782,
Syriac Catholics had no patriarch, until the Syriac Orthodox Holy Synod, composed of Catholic-leaning members at the time, appointed Metropolitan
Michael Jarweh of Aleppo as patriarch, who immediately proclaimed his allegiance to the Catholic Church, and brought many members of the
Orthodox faithful into communion with
Rome. This pivotal decision established the leadership of the Syriac Catholic Church, known as the Ignatius Line, which has remained continuous since Jarweh's time.
Melkite split of 1724 In 1724,
Cyril VI was elected Greek patriarch of Antioch. He was viewed as pro-Rome by the
patriarch of Constantinople, who refused to recognize the election and appointed another patriarch in his stead. Many Melkites continued to acknowledge Cyril's claim to the patriarchate. Thus, from 1724, the Greek Church of Antioch divided into the
Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the
Melkite Greek Catholic Church. In 1729,
Pope Benedict XIII recognized Cyril as the Eastern Catholic patriarch of Antioch and welcomed him and his followers into
full communion with the
Catholic Church. == Current patriarchs ==