Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem

Who was Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem?

Dositheos II Notarius of Jerusalem was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem between the years 1669-1707 and a theologian of the Orthodox Church. He was known for standing against influences of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches. He convened the Synod of Jerusalem to counter the Calvinist confessions of Cyril Lucaris.

Dositheus was born in Arachova, Greece on May 31, 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. 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 his agreement in the doctrines of predestination and justification by faith alone. In 1672, Patriarch Dositheos convened the Synod of Jerusalem that rejected all the Calvinist doctrines and reformulated Orthodox teachings in a manner that distinguished them from Roman Catholicism as well as Protestantism.