Modern Christianity in the Holy Land

Bishop Michael Solomon Alexander led the Jerusalem Anglican Bishopric in the early years of its foundation, namely, the four years from 1842-1845. He found his way in the midst of difficulties and hardships created by the political and social situation prevailing in Palestine under Ottoman rule. The bishop was sometimes alone, without any aid or friend to help him translate into reality the contents of the principles, recommendations and agreements between Prussia and Britain. So he organized the scattered British and Prussian religious efforts in Palestine through societies and missionaries under an episcopal system, which is the legitimate framework enforced in the Eastern Churches acceptable to the Ottoman authorities. On the political level, the bishopric served the British influence in the East. It also allowed Prussia to have a foothold in the Ottoman arena by joining the bishopric. Michael Solomon Alexander was consecrated on 11 November 1841. He sailed to Palestine on 7 December. On 9 December 1841, an official statement was issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury summing up the developments involving the bishopric project and the laws that were issued on it as well as the Prussian-British agreement. The official statement indicated that the Prussian Crown and the British Crown should alternately appoint the bishop. Perhaps the responsibility assigned to Bishop Alexander by the political and ecclesiastical leaders in Britain and Prussia was beyond his capability. So he fell under the burden of this responsibility while he was at the height of his power. He faced death in the Ras el-Wady Egyptian desert away from his home and bishopric, to which he gave his life. Mrs. Leider who attended his death wrote the following: “The immediate cause of the death was the rupture of one of the largest blood vessels near the heart; but the whole of the lungs, liver and heart were found in an exceedingly diseased state, and had been so for a length of time; the accelerating cause, doubtless, was great and continued anxiety, such as the Bishopric of Jerusalem and its cares can best account for. I hear it said on this occasion that had his lordship not come into the East, he might possibly have lived to a good old age; but the miter of Jerusalem, like the wreath of our blessed Lord, has been to him a crown of thorns.” On 7 November 1845, the bishop started an inspection tour of his bishopric and arrived in Egypt. He wanted to sail from Alexandria to England and he took with him his wife and daughter. Mrs. Alexander described the travel of the caravan in the desert of Ras el-Wady in Egypt: “On setting out through the desert, each day my beloved husband and myself rode our own horses; we generally were in advance of the caravan, and we used regularly to chant some of our Hebrew chants…all out of our hymnbook. And never did his warm and tender heart overflow so fully, as when he spoke of Israel’s future restoration". Death barred the realization of the dream of the bishop. Only one day away from Cairo in the desert, he suddenly died on the night of 22 – 23 November. Prayers were held over his body in Cairo and the body was then transported to Jerusalem on 6 December. The body arrived in Jerusalem on 20 December and was buried in the English cemetery..................................... Within one third of a century (1846-1879), Bishop Samuel Gobat built the structure of the Anglican Church in Palestine actively and energetically and laid down the foundations of the pastoral work through the congregations and schools in the Christian Arab environment. Earlier, the work of the bishopric was restricted to the Jewish environment. Gobat opened the doors of his diocese to the English and German missionary societies. He is very much like the Latin Patriarch Valerga, who is viewed as the man who really gave life to the Catholic presence in Palestine. On 30 December 1871, the multi-national Anglican community celebrated the 25th anniversary of Gobat’s assumption of his episcopal duties in Jerusalem. The English, German, Jewish and Arab congregations participated in the jubilee celebrations. The bishop was then 72 years old. He served as head of his office until 1879. In May 1878, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in Switzerland when he was visiting his sons, grandchildren and friends. He returned to Jerusalem on 10 December 1878, still suffering from the consequences of the hemorrhage. He died on 11 May 1879 at the age of 80, of which he spent 33 years in Palestine. “His end was very peaceful and happy, and his last words, full of power and faith, not only showed his own strong and childlike confidence in his God, but also filled the hearts of those who were with him with gratitude and joy. Thus, when his son reminded him that he, as a child of God, had no need to be afraid of any evil in the dark valley of the shadow of death, the Bishop smiled and whispered: ‘It is not dark’.” These were his last words. He was buried in Christ Church in Jerusalem. Through his strong personality, Bishop Gobat assembled the elements of the Anglican existence in Palestine, which was made of the English, German, Arab and Jewish congregations. He coordinated the work of the various missionary societies. He melted all these elements and ethnic groups into one pot to the extent that the Germans accused him of favoring the English while the English accused him of favoring the Germans. Thus he achieved the unity of the German and English Churches, which was the wish of the King of Prussia. However, this unity did not last for a long time. A few years later, Germany began to complain about its low status in the agreement. The unity which was forged by Bunsen and Howley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in London was shattered, and the one Church split into two: an English Anglican Church and a German Lutheran Church.