Orthodoxy in Qatar

In 1997, the patriarch of Jerusalem, Diodorus, appointed Archimandrite Theophilus (Yannopoulos) to feed the Orthodox flock in Qatar. In November 1999, Patriarch Diodorus made a pastoral trip to Qatar.

In 2001, Archimandrite Theophilos was replaced by Archimandrite Makarios (Mavroyannakis) , who laid the foundation for the construction of a church in Doha in the name of St. Isaac the Syrian and Great Martyr George the Victorious ^[2] . The completion of the temple is scheduled for the end of 2018 ^[3] .

In March 2013, Archimandrite Makarios was ordained Archbishop of Qatar, which provoked a protest from the Patriarchate of Antioch, who considered Qatar, along with other Arab countries of the Persian Gulf , to be within its jurisdiction ^[4] . Further attempts at negotiations did not lead to results, and on April 29, 2014, at a meeting of the Synod of the Antioch Church, chaired by the Patriarch of Antioch, John X, a decision was made to break the canonical communication with the hierarchs of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, which the primates of all local churches were notified about ^[5] . In July 2014, the Synod of the Antiochian Patriarchate established the Exarchate of Qatar ^[6] . On April 18, 2019, the Patriarchs of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodore, Antioch and the whole East, John X and Jerusalem Theophilus III, visited the island of Cyprus, where the Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem were able to reach a compromise on the jurisdiction of Qatar. According to unofficial data, the Jerusalem Patriarchate is seriously considering the withdrawal of the archbishop Makarius posed by him from Qatar ^[7] .