The Holy Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the “Hagiotaphite Brotherhood”, was founded in the 4th Century AD as the “Order of the Spoudaeoi” – which can be translated into English as the “studious”, “zealous”, “industrious” or “serious”. Members comprise a 1,700-year fraternity of Orthodox clerics and monks of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, who have assumed the revered task of guarding and maintaining Holy places in the Holy Land for centuries, and keeping the indelible flame of Orthodoxy shining brightly in the Holy Land.
Tbe Hagiotaphite Brotherhood, with constant and arduous struggles, has effectively defended the privilege granted upon the Greek Orthodox fraternity to protect the Holy Pilgrimage Sites since time of Constantine the Great. Greek Orthodox hierarchs have been elected as the Patriarch of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem since that time, while all relevant documents related to the Patriarchate are written in Greek.
Conquerors of the Holy City over the centuries have, in official pronouncements, always recognized the guardianship of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem of the Holy Pilgrimage Sites.
An interview by the Fr. Cherubim, an Hagiotaphite Elder, has been posted today on the Orthodoxia news agency, where he details the daily struggle by members of the Order to protect the sacred buildings, sites and relics in the Holy Land from challengers and usurpers.