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GREEK ORTHODOX LEADER BLAMES ARMENIANS FOR JERUSALEM INCIDENT
Agence France Presse -- English
November 10, 2008 Monday 10:02 AM GMT
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III blamed
Armenian clerics Monday for weekend violence between Greek and Armenian
Orthodox faithful in Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre church.
"The Armenians are constantly provoking us. They claim additional
rights and seek to equate their privileges to ours which date back
centuries," Theophilos told Greek state television NET.
"They are causing trouble in Bethlehem and Gethsemane," the garden
at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus Christ prayed with
his disciples before his crucifixion, he added.
Israeli police were called in Sunday as the free-for-all left several
people with black eyes, bruises and bloody cuts.
A number of the faithful hit out with religious artifacts as priests
tried to tear each others' robes off in the brawl.
Custody of the Holy Sepulchre is shared by Greeks, Armenians and
Roman Catholics, all of whom jealously guard their responsibilities
under a fragile network of agreements hammered out over the centuries.
Rivalries between the various denominations is such that the keys
to the church have been entrusted for centuries to two Palestinian
Muslim families.
The church is built on the site most Christians revere as the place
where Jesus Christ was crucified, and also where he was buried and
rose again.
Theophilos added that since his election in 2005 he has sought to
improve relations with all the Christian denominations which share
use of the Holy Lands' pilgrimage sites, but the Armenians "remain
obdurate".
Theophilos was elected to the throne after his predecessor Irineos I
was ousted over an alleged multi-million-dollar sale of church land
to Jewish investors.
Agence France Presse -- English
November 10, 2008 Monday 10:02 AM GMT
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III blamed
Armenian clerics Monday for weekend violence between Greek and Armenian
Orthodox faithful in Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre church.
"The Armenians are constantly provoking us. They claim additional
rights and seek to equate their privileges to ours which date back
centuries," Theophilos told Greek state television NET.
"They are causing trouble in Bethlehem and Gethsemane," the garden
at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus Christ prayed with
his disciples before his crucifixion, he added.
Israeli police were called in Sunday as the free-for-all left several
people with black eyes, bruises and bloody cuts.
A number of the faithful hit out with religious artifacts as priests
tried to tear each others' robes off in the brawl.
Custody of the Holy Sepulchre is shared by Greeks, Armenians and
Roman Catholics, all of whom jealously guard their responsibilities
under a fragile network of agreements hammered out over the centuries.
Rivalries between the various denominations is such that the keys
to the church have been entrusted for centuries to two Palestinian
Muslim families.
The church is built on the site most Christians revere as the place
where Jesus Christ was crucified, and also where he was buried and
rose again.
Theophilos added that since his election in 2005 he has sought to
improve relations with all the Christian denominations which share
use of the Holy Lands' pilgrimage sites, but the Armenians "remain
obdurate".
Theophilos was elected to the throne after his predecessor Irineos I
was ousted over an alleged multi-million-dollar sale of church land
to Jewish investors.