MODEST OF JERUSALEM

In the first half of the seventh century, Jerusalem experienced truly apocalyptic times. It was captured and destroyed by the armies of the Persian Empire, liberated, but then recaptured by the Arab armies of the new Muslim Caliphate. Patriarch Modestus showed great care and mercy to the Orthodox Christians who suffered from the tragic circumstances of the time.

1 On December 31st the orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Saint Modest of Jerusalem (537–630). The essence of his holiness is inextricably linked to the circumstances of his time.

2 In 614, the armies of the Iranian Shah Khosrau II Parviz (591–628) invaded Palestine. Christians of that time were deeply divided over Christological disputes. The neighboring Church of Antioch had been divided since 519. Two hierarchies and two Patriarchs of Antioch faced each other, one Orthodox, the other an opponent of the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451). Another church near Palestina, the Egyptian Patriarchate of Alexandria, had almost entirely sided with the formal “heretics” since 536. Jerusalem hesitated.

3 The arrival of the Persians therefore caused confusion among the Christians and enthusiasm among the local Jews and Samaritans. The Holy City was plundered, Patriarch Zechariah (609–614), the clergy, and ordinary Christians were taken prisoner, and churches and monasteries were burned. Even the Cross of the Lord Jesus was captured. The remaining Orthodox looked with hope to the Monophysites, as the opponents of the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon were disparagingly called, to whom the Persians were well-disposed, and this was naturally a great temptation. Even if the intentions of the opponents of Chalcedon were sincere, their version of Christianity was not ecumenical and proposed national separatism under the auspices of local Orthodoxy, which ultimately weakened the Church.

4 The great merit of Modest, then abbot of the monastery of Saint Theodosius the Great (434–529), was his ability to independently care for the suffering faithful. He persuaded the Persians to show mercy, as the biblical restorer of the Temple in Jerusalem Zerubbabel once did (Hag. 1:1). Modest did his best to repair the shrines burned by the Persians, especially the Church of the Resurrection. His close friend, Saint John the Merciful, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria (+616/620), assisted him in this endeavor and donated his own funds for this work.

5 At the end of the Persian Roman War (602–628), on March 21, 630, the Cross of the Lord was returned to Jerusalem. This marked the event of the Second Exaltation, which the Church solemnly celebrates as a great feast on September 14 (27). The return of the Byzantine army to the Holy Land truly seemed a great and irreversible triumph.

6 By this time, Patriarch Zacharias (commemorated on February 21) had died in captivity. When a new patriarch had to be elected, Modest was chosen. But the pontificate was short-lived; Apparently, the saint died that same year during a pastoral journey to Palestine.

7 The bloody war between the two largest empires, Byzantium and Persia, had weakened the power of these superpowers. Virtually no one paid any attention when the neighboring Arabs united under the banner of a new religion, Islam, and began their rapid conquests, which simply no one could resist. Soon, the Arab conquest of Palestine began.

8 Modest’s successor, Saint Sophronius, handed over the keys of Jerusalem to the conquerors in 638. He became the first patriarch under Muslim rule. Modest, whose memory is celebrated on the last day of the year, was the last patriarch in the ancient Christian history of the Holy City.