Caesarea in Palaestina (diocese)

The archiepiscopal see of Caesarea in Palaestina, also known as Caesarea Maritima, is now a metropolitan see of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and also a titular see of the Catholic Church. It was one of the earliest Christian bishoprics, and was a metropolitan see at the time of the First Council of Nicaea, but was later subjected to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The city remained largely Christian until the Crusades, its bishop maintaining close ties to the Byzantine Empire. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, the see was transformed into a Latin archdiocese, subordinate to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The diocese was an ancient one, established in one of the first Christian communities ever created: it was due to the work of St Peter and St Paul. Records of the community are dated as far back as the 2nd century. According to the Apostolic Constitutions (7.46), the first Bishop of Caesarea was Zacchaeus the Publican. Caesarea Maritima was the capital of Roman Iudaea province and after the Bar Kokhba revolt it was the metropolis of the diocese of Palaestina Prima. Until the establishment of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, it was subject to the Patriarch of Antioch. The most notable Bishop of Caesarea was Eusebius of Caesarea, also known as Eusebius Pamphili. The notable theological library established by Pamphilus of Caesarea remained in existence until the Arabs invaded Palestine in the 7th century.