Juvenal of Jerusalem

Who was Juvenal of Jerusalem?

Saint Juvenal was a bishop of Jerusalem from about 422. In 451, on the see of Jerusalem being recognised as a Patriarchate by the Council of Chalcedon, he became the first Patriarch of Jerusalem, an office he occupied until his death in 458.

Juvenal wanted to make Jerusalem into a primary see by demotion of the Metropolitan see of Caesarea and the primary see of Antioch. In 431, he sided with Saint Cyril against Nestorius at the First Council of Ephesus. He argued that the bishop of Antioch should have taken his doctrine from the "apostolic see of Jerusalem", and expected Cyril to assist him in raising Jerusalem at the level of an independent patriarchate. Cyril even wrote a letter to Pope Leo I – then archdeacon in Rome – complaining about Juvenal’s opportunism.

Juvenal was one of the leaders of the Second Council of Ephesus. When, later, Dioscorus was tried for violation of canonical law at the Council of Chalcedon, Juvenal voted for his condemnation. Perhaps in exchange for this vote against his old ally, the council gave Juvenal what he had sought: recognition of Jerusalem as a patriarchal see, ruling over all of Palestine. When he returned, however, monks who favored Dioscorus went into open revolt against him, and only the Imperial army allowed him to take his position.