Hierarch
Hierarch Juvenal Of Jerusalem
† 458
Hierarch Juvenal, the first Patriarch of Jerusalem (r. c. 422–458) — at the Council of Ephesus in 431 he defended Orthodoxy against Nestorius alongside St. Cyril of Alexandria, but at the "Robber Council" of 449 he was the first to sign in support of the Monophysitism of Dioscorus and Eutyches; at the Fourth Ecumenical (Chalcedonian) Council of 451 he reversed his position, upheld the Orthodox teaching of Christ's two natures, and secured the elevation of the See of Jerusalem to Patriarchal rank.
Hierarch Juvenal occupied the episcopal see of Jerusalem from 421/422 and governed it until his death in 458 — about 36 years, one of the longest episcopates of the patristic era, spanning three of the first four Ecumenical Councils.
At the Third Ecumenical (Ephesus) Council of 431 he stood firmly with St. Cyril of Alexandria against Nestorius, who rejected the title Theotokos for the Most Holy Virgin; using the standing gained at this council, he began to press for expanded jurisdiction over the three provinces of Palestine.
However, at the notorious "Robber Council" of Ephesus in 449, Juvenal initially sided with the party of Dioscorus of Alexandria and Eutyches, supporting the Monophysite teaching of a single nature in Christ — according to testimony, he was among the first to sign the council's acts on Dioscorus's side.
At the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon (451) he reversed his position, joining the fathers who condemned Monophysitism and affirmed the Orthodox definition of the union in Christ of two natures — divine and human — "unconfused, unchanged, undivided, and inseparable." Largely through Juvenal's own efforts and negotiations at this same council, the See of Jerusalem was elevated to Patriarchal rank (the fifth in the order of the Pentarchy, after Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch), though his jurisdiction remained limited to the three provinces of Palestine.
Juvenal's reversal provoked sharp rejection among the Palestinian monks, who regarded the Chalcedonian definition as a betrayal of Cyrilline Christology. The monk Theodosius, backed by the dowager Empress Eudocia, raised a revolt and forcibly seized the patriarchal throne while Juvenal was still returning from the council; the hierarch was forced into exile in Constantinople for about 20 months. He was restored to his see in 453 by Emperor Marcian with the aid of troops. After his return he worked to reconcile his opponents, including Empress Eudocia herself, who returned to Orthodoxy not least under the influence of St. Simeon the Stylite.
He reposed in 458, peacefully, among his flock.
His feast is kept on July 2/15.
IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS: category righteous→hierarch — Juvenal was a ruling bishop and Patriarch, not a layman. life_years_display has been corrected from the nonsensical "1st–15th century" (a millennium and a half) to the correct "† 458." The previously empty feast_days array has been filled with the dates July 2/15, which were already present in the stub's text. The biography has been expanded with the historically significant and previously omitted episode of his temporary support for Monophysitism at the 449 council and his subsequent conflict with the monk Theodosius and exile.