The Armenian Apostolic Church is officially recognised under Israel's confessional system, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce.

Manougian succeeded Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, who died on October 12, 2012, after serving 22 years in the office.

The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem recognizes the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin as having pre-eminent supremacy in all spiritual matters.

After the end of the Crusader period, the Armenian Patriarchs sought to establish good relations with the Muslim rulers.

The Armenian Patriarch Sarkis I (1281–1313) met the Mamluk governor in Egypt and subsequently returned to his community in Jerusalem, hoping to usher in a period of peace for his people after the Crusades.

The Armenian quarter in this period kept creating "facts on the ground" by the constant small expansions and consolidations.

In the 1380s Patriarch Krikor IV built a priests' dining room across from St. James' Cathedral.

At the same time the Armenian Patriarch Hovhannes VII purchased a large parcel of land south of the St. James Cathedral, called Cham Tagh.

In 1908, the Armenian community built two large buildings on the north-western side of the Old City, along Jaffa Street.

The oil magnate and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian came to endow the Gulbenkian Library in the Armenian quarter that was named in gratitude in his name, today holding one of the great collection of ancient Armenian manuscripts including endless copies of the various firmans, Ottoman edicts that granted the quarter protection and rights under Muslim rule.

The end of World War II brought also the division of Mandate Palestine and the establishment in 1948 of Israel.

The Armenian community was further reduced after the 1967 Six-Day War, Naksa, occupation, with many emigrating to Jordan and some to Europe and the United States, leaving around 2,000–3,000 in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The students in the seminary also publish their own official organ: Hay Yerusaghem (Հայ Երուսաղէմ, lit.

Free meals to aged and invalid pensioners and indigent members of the community are also provided.