Diodoros I; Led Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem

Diodoros I, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem who presided for nearly two decades over his church’s sometimes turbulent presence in the Holy Land, has died from complications of diabetes, his office said Wednesday. He was 77.

The patriarch died late Tuesday at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. He had been suffering from liver ailments related to his diabetes, said Father Dimitrios, secretary of the Greek Orthodox holy senate in Jerusalem.

Diodoros was born on the Greek island of Chios in 1923. After traveling to what was then British mandate Palestine in 1938 and completing his education in 1943, he got a job in the mail room of the patriarchate in Jerusalem.

He became a monk in 1944 and was renamed Diodoros Kalrivalis. Three years later he became a priest, then an archbishop in 1962, and was named patriarch in 1981.

Jerusalem is the fourth in rank of the ancient patriarchates that make the Orthodox Christian faith’s complex patchwork of 16 separate churches. First in rank is the ecumenical patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey--followed by Alexandria, Egypt, and Antioch, Syria.

Like other Christian sects represented in Jerusalem, the Greek Orthodox church under Diodoros was embroiled in some complex disputes over land jurisdiction and control over holy sites.

Earlier this year, Diodoros met with Pope John Paul II during the pontiff’s visit to the Holy Land. The pope said then he hoped the Vatican and the Greek Orthodox church could overcome theological differences, such as disagreements over the nature of Christ and the extent of the papacy’s authority.

A successor will be chosen by the Jerusalem Patriarchate’s Holy Synod, but no date has been set for the succession vote.

Funeral arrangements had not yet been announced.