The Patriarch Michael the Syrian (died 1199) implies that the church torn down by Harun al-Rashid in 806/807 predated the Islamic conquest.

The bishops were only able again to occupy it again briefly when the city was in Christian hands between the Sixth Crusade (1229) and the Khwarazmian conquest (1244).

Thereafter the Syriac Orthodox used the small church of Saint Thomas of the Germans until it was handed over to the Muslim authorities by the incumbent monk, who converted to Islam in 1451/1452.

[4] There was a deputy metropolitan bishop of Jerusalem from the early 18th century to the office's abolition in 1858, who resided at the Monastery of Saint Mark, whilst the metropolitan bishop resided at the Mor Hananyo Monastery in Tur Abdin.

Michael the Syrian appended to his Chronicle a list of bishops of Jerusalem from James, brother of Jesus, down to his own time.