Dositheus II Notaras of Jerusalem (;

Arachova Arachova (, also Αράχοβα) is a mountain town and a former municipality in the western part of Boeotia. Since the 2011 local government reform it is a municipal unit, part of the municipality Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra. It is a tourist de ...

31 May 1641 –

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

8 February 1707) was the Patriarch of Jerusalem between 1669 and 1707 and a theologian of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

. He was known for standing against influences of the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

churches. He convened the Synod of Jerusalem to counter the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

confessions of

Cyril Lucaris Cyril I of Constantinople (''Cyril Lucaris'' or ''Kyrillos Loukaris'' (; 13 November 1572 – 27 June 1638) was a Greek prelate and theologian, and a native of Heraklion, Crete (then under the Republic of Venice). He later became the Greek Pa ...

. Dositheus was born in Arachova (today the village of Exochi,

Aigialeia Aigialeia (, ) is a municipality and a former Provinces of Greece, province (επαρχία) in the eastern part of the Achaea regional unit, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Aigio. The municipality has an area of 723.063 km2. ...

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

) on 31 May 1641. Little of his early life is known. He was ordained a deacon in 1652 and elevated to archdeacon of Jerusalem in 1661. In 1666, he was consecrated archbishop of Caesarea Palestinae (now

Caesarea Maritima Caesarea () also Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Palaestinae or Caesarea Stratonis, was an ancient and medieval port city on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and later a small fishing village. It was the capital of Judaea (Roman province), ...

). In 1669, he was elected patriarch of Jerusalem. He became very involved in the state of the Orthodox Church in the Balkans, Georgia, and southern Russia, particularly after Patriarch Cyril Lucaris of Constantinople set forth in his ''Confession of Faith'' (1629) his agreement in the doctrines of

predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...

and justification by faith alone. In 1672, Patriarch Dositheus convened the Synod of Jerusalem which rejected all the Calvinist doctrines and reformulated Orthodox teachings in a manner that distinguished them from Roman Catholicism as well as Protestantism. In correspondence with

Peter I of Russia Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. From this year, ...

, he objected to Peter's reforms that subjected the church to the state, particularly with his abolition of the

Patriarchate of Moscow The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The primate of the ROC is the patriarch of Moscow and all R ...

. Dositheus failed in his attempt to get Peter to intercede for the Eastern Orthodox Church in the

peace treaty A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...

with the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1700. Dositheus was an "instancabile editore di cose non sue" ("indefatiguable editor of other people's works"), "theologorum Graecorum opera non pauca prelo mandavit ... fuit enim potius compilator et alienorum editor quam novorum auctor" ("he printed not few works of Greek theologicians ... he was a compiler and editor of other people's works, rather than author of original works"). The main works published during his life were a three-volumes collection of anti-Latin works: Τόμος καταλλαγῆς he tome of the Reconciliation Τόμος ἀγάπης he tome of Love Τόμος χαρᾶς he tome of Joy all printed in Jaşi, 1692–1705. Dositheus died in Constantinople on 8 February 1707. In 1715, his twelve-volume ''History of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem'' was published.

Notes

Bibliography

* Vassa Kontouma,
Vestiges de la bibliothèque de Dosithée II de Jérusalem au Métochion du Saint-Sépulcre à Constantinople
�, in A. Binggeli, M. Cassin, M. Detoraki, A. Lampadaridi, ''Bibliothèques grecques dans l’Empire ottoman'', Brepols 2020, pp.259-289. * Vassa Kontouma, «Londres ou Paris? Les affinités électives de Dosithée II de Jérusalem dans ses premiers projets éditoriaux», in A. Girard, B. Heyberger, V. Kontouma, ''Livres et confessions chrétiennes orientales. Une histoire connectée entre l'Empire ottoman, le monde slave et l'Occident (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles), ''Brepols 2023, pp.271-312.'' * Klaus-Peter Todt, «Dositheos II. von Jerusalem», in C.G. Conticello, V. Conticello, ''La Théologie byzantine et sa tradition'', II, Brepols 2002, pp.659-720.

External links

Dositheos (patriarch of Jerusalem) (Encyclopædia Britannica)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dositheus 02, Patriarch Of Jerusalem 1641 births 1707 deaths People from Aigialeia 17th-century Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Jerusalem 17th-century Greek clergy Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece Eastern Orthodox theologians 17th-century Greek writers 17th-century Greek educators 18th-century Greek writers 18th-century Greek educators