Modestus of Jerusalem ( el, Μόδεστος Ιεροσολύμων; died December 16, 630
English Historical Review 25 (1910) pp. 502-517) was a Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is commemorated as a saint by the Catholic Church on December 17th, and by the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

, on May 17, March 29 or December 16 . The Palestinian-Georgian calendar venerates him on December 16 and October 19 in the ''

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...

''.

Life

He was born in Cappadocian Sebasteia. Five months old at his Christian parents' death, he was raised as a Christian. As an adult he was sold as a slave in Egypt, but converted his pagan master to Christianity and was freed by him. Withdrawing to

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

to live as an ascetic, he was later made abbot of the

Monastery of St. Theodosius The Monastery of St. Theodosius, also known as Deir Dosi and Deir Ibn Ubeid in Arabic, is a monastery founded around 476 by Saint Theodosius the Cenobiarch and that today contains his tomb. It is located east of the village of al-Ubeidiya, some ...

in Palestine. In 614 Chosroes II destroyed

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, killed 66,509 Christians and captured the Patriarch of Jerusalem (then Zacharias), other Christians and the

True Cross The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, althoug ...

. Modestus had been on his way to raise Greek troops to oppose this and was surrounded by Persian troops, having a narrow escape. Modestus was then chosen to stand in for Zacharias as Patriarch. He buried the monks killed at the monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified and rebuilt the Holy Sepulchre, the city's churches and monasteries with help from

John the Merciful John the Merciful ( gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Ἐλεήμων, Iōannēs ho Eleēmōn), also known as St John the Almsgiver, John the Almoner, John V of Alexandria, John Eleymon, and Johannes Eleemon, was the Chalcedonian Patriarch of Alexandria in ...

, Patriarch of Alexandria. He became patriarch in his own right after Zacharias died in Persia when Heraclius visited the city to restore the True Cross in March 630. On Modestus's death he was buried in the Church of the Eleona on the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...

.Revue Eleona, April 1961

References

External links

Building projects of ModestusOrthodox Church in America - Modestus of Jerusalem
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Modestus of Jerusalem 7th-century patriarchs of Jerusalem Eastern Orthodox saints 7th-century Christian saints Christian slaves and freedmen 630 deaths Saints from the Holy Land