Institutional Forms of British Colonial Policy towards Christian Communities in the Holy Land in the Mandate Period, 1920s — 1930s

In this article, the author seeks to delineate the fundamental tenets of British policy towards the Christian communities of Palestine and to elucidate the mandate administration's role in facilitating their autonomous development. He provides a concise yet insightful overview of this policy, demonstrating the British aspiration to maintain a semblance of continuity with the socio-religious policies of the Ottoman authorities on the one hand, and to transform them by extending the autonomous rights of the millets on the other. The author provides a concise analysis of the circumstances surrounding four religious establishments within the specified jurisdiction, namely, the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, the Latin and Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Jerusalem, and the Orthodox communities of the Russian tradition. He emphasises that the British administration had reservations about the majority of Christian communities in the area, perceiving them as conduits for external political influences in the Holy Land. The Greek and Russian Orthodox communities were subjected to financial control by the Mandate administration for reasons pertaining to both economics and politics. The Mandate authorities sought to prevent foreign governments, namely those of Greece and the atheist Bolshevik regime, from interfering in the internal affairs of these communities. The Appendix contains the first Russian translation of the 1921 Orthodox Patriarchate Ordinance

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Colonial period · Colonialism · Economic history · Mandate · Period (music · Political science · African history and culture analysis · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law

• Between Empire and Mandate

  Open Access•Dmitry Sanoyan, Ivan Fadeyev•Christianity in the Middle East•2025

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