Jerusalem and the East Mission (JEM)

The Diocese of Jerusalem was founded in 1841 under the joint auspices of Queen Victoria and King Frederick William IV of Prussia. The bishops were to be nominated alternately by the English and Prussian sovereigns, to be consecrated by Anglican bishops and to have spiritual jurisdiction over Anglican and Lutheran Christians in Palestine. In 1881, however, a failure to obtain episcopal orders for the Lutherans prepared the way for the withdrawal of Prussia, and the bishopric fell into abeyance for almost six years. It was finally reconstituted on a purely Anglican basis and on 25 March 1887 the Venerable Archdeacon Blyth was consecrated Bishop in Jerusalem with jurisdiction over Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, Cyprus, the region around the Red Sea, and, later, the Sudan and Iran. The Jerusalem Bishopric Fund, later the Jerusalem and East Mission Fund was set up by Bishop Blyth for the maintenance and development of the work of the diocese. In 1920 Egypt and the Sudan were separated from Jerusalem to form a new diocese with Llewellyn Gwynne as bishop. In 1939 the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission came fully under the control of J&EM. The diocese of Jerusalem became the seat of a province in July 1957 and at the same time a new diocese of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria was created. At the time of writing the province is composed of the following dioceses: Jerusalem; Cyprus and the Gulf; Egypt; Iran.

ISAAR (CPF), 2nd Edition, 2004.

Entry prepared on April 2018

Author(s) : Clare Brown and Debbie Usher