Bishop of Jerusalem is the Right Rev. Awanis Elias, consecrated in 1896. He is assisted by a Suffragan, and his residence is the convent built around the traditional house of S. Mark in Jerusalem.
The Copts.—The first Coptic Metropolitan of Jerusalem was appointed in the middle of the thirteenth century, since when there has been a regular succession, although at present the Metropolitan spends most of his time in Egypt, being represented in Palestine during his absences by a Vicar-General. The episcopal residence adjoins the eastern end of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and there is a large Coptic Convent at Jaffa, principally intended for the accommodation of Coptic pilgrims from Egypt.
The Abyssinians.—The Abyssinians have preserved, in the heart of Africa and surrounded by Moslem and pagan peoples, the Christianity, to which they were converted in the fourth century. They are Monophysites and in communion with the Copts, from whom they receive their chief Bishop (Abuna). The Abyssinians, in common with the other Christian episcopal churches, are represented in Jerusalem, where they have several convents, including one situated on the roof of S. Helena's Chapel in the Holy Sepulchre.
§ 11. The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem.
The History of the Bishopric.—The Jerusalem Bishopric is the oldest of the twenty-one dioceses throughout the world which do not come within any ecclesiastical province, but are directly under the metropolitical jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Indeed, the 'Jerusalem Bishopric Act,' passed in 1841 to sanction the consecration (in England) of Bishops for places outside the British Dominions, was used not only for the first consecration of an Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, but under its provisions all other such Bishops have since been consecrated, the King giving his Mandate to the Archbishop of Canterbury in each case.
