Priests fought in Jeruselem, Israli mata arrested 1 from each side

[tun_dr_m]

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28704

First Published 2008-11-09


Fights are not uncommon in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre


Christian clergymen clash in Holy Sepulchre church

Israeli police detain two monks as rival clergymen trade kicks and punches at one of Christianity's holiest sites.


JERUSALEM — Rival monks brawled at one of Christianity's holiest sites, and Israeli police have detained two clergymen for questioning.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says fighting erupted Sunday between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Jerusalem. The church marks the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

Police detained one monk from each side.

Rosenfeld says fighting flared over preparations for the annual ceremony held by the Armenians to commemorate the 4th century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus.

Six Christian sects control the ancient church. They regularly fight over turf and influence, and Israeli police must occasionally intervene.

Israeli police were called 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 church itself is shared by the Greeks, Armenians and Roman Catholics, all of whom jealously guard their responsibilities under a fragile network of agreements hammered out over the centuries.

Worshippers traded kicks and punches, knocking down tapestries and toppling decorations at the site.

Fights are not uncommon in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre among the representatives of Christian denominations who are responsible for maintaining its different chambers.

 

[tun_dr_m]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4944164.ece

From The Times
October 15, 2008
Warring monks threaten destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

(Reinhard Krause/Reuters)

Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Deir al-Sultan monastery on its roof is judged to be in an "emergency state" of degeneration
Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem

A long-running row over the rights to a rooftop section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre could bring the entire structure tumbling down, destroying Christendom’s holiest site.

While renovations are needed across the church, the small Deir al-Sultan monastery on its roof has reached an “emergency state”, according to engineers who completed an evaluation this month.

The Times has learnt that in 2004 the two chapels and twenty-six tiny rooms that comprise the monastery were pronounced in dire need of reinforcement. They have since deteriorated to the point where engineers now fear that they will crash through the roof and into the church, venerated by millions of Christians as the site of the Crucifixion and burial of Jesus.

Yigal Bergman, the engineer who led the investigation, reported that the church, situated in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, was in a dangerous state of construction. “The structures are full of serious engineering damage that creates safety hazards and endangers the lives of the monks and the visitors. This is an emergency”.

Local officials are pressing the church to begin repairs before the heavy autumn rains begin but have stopped short of interfering directly in its notoriously acrimonious affairs.

The church has been vigilantly managed by six competing and often fractious Christian denominations — Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian — since an agreement reached under Ottoman law in 1757.

Rival denominations often battle for access or space and the congregation at the annual Easter service sometimes resembles the terraces of a boisterous football match. The keys to the main entrance of the church have been held by a Muslim family since the 12th century because the Christians do not trust one another.

The dispute over the Deir al-Sultan monastery is a more recent phenomenon dating back to Easter 1970. When the Coptic monks, who had controlled the area, went to pray in the main church and left the rooftop unattended, Ethiopian monks seized the opportunity to change the locks at the entrances before the Copts returned.

Relations between the two groups have remained tense ever since, with the Coptic Church refusing to relinquish its claim to the monastery and posting a single monk there at all times. In the midst of a blistering heatwave in the summer of 2002, the Coptic monk on duty moved his chair from its agreed spot to a shadier corner. The move was taken as a hostile manoeuvre by the Ethiopians and 11 monks needed hospital treatment after the ensuing fracas.

The rest of the church factions have been unable to mediate between the two groups, even in the case of minor repairs or renovations to the rooftop. Archbishop Matthias, head of the Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem, wrote a letter to the Israeli Interior Ministry and the Bureau of Jerusalem Affairs this month describing the dire state of the buildings.

The Archbishop stated in the letter that he did not recognise the right of the Coptic Church in any part of the disputed area. He said, according to the Haaretz Hebrew daily, that it was “inconceivable that the implementation of emergency repairs at the holy site would be conditioned on the consent of the Coptic Church”. The Archbishop added that he was turning to the Israeli authorities, as a neutral party, to carry out the repairs.

Israel has offered to shoulder part of the cost of repairs but will do so only if the Christian factions first come to an agreement among themselves.

The Copts, who are mainly of Egyptian origin, received preferential treatment during Ottoman, British and Jordanian rule. That changed after Israel took control of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, fought against a combined Arab force, including Egypt. The Copts accused Israel of using its position in Jerusalem to aid the Ethiopians in 1970 in their takeover of Deir al-Sultan.

Nine years later, when Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David peace accords, Coptic officials hoped that the rooftop monastery would be restored to them. Israel, however, is mindful of its sensitive relations with Ethiopia, where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian Jews lived and were brought to the Jewish state in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III said: “There is a greater issue here, something that has to be addressed sooner or later. To be honest, so far the [Israeli] Government has tried to keep out of the dispute. But now it seems that the Government is under pressure to demonstrate concern in helping resolve the issue.”

Bible bashiing

— In the 19th century a ladder was placed on a ledge above the main entrance to the church. A priest from another denomination accused the man of trespassing and a row began that has yet to be resolved. The ladder is still there

— In 1995 the church announced it had reached a decision on how to paint a part of the dome in the central part of the structure — but only after 17 years’ debate

— In 2004 during Greek Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Greek Orthodox faction and a fight broke out. There were several arrests

— Another fight broke out on Palm Sunday this year when a Greek monk was ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were attacked by the feuding monks and several people were taken to hospital .

 

[tun_dr_m]

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/081110/1/19772.html


為了十字架 神父打架
中廣 更新日期:2008/11/10 19:05

東正教兩派神父在耶路撒冷「聖墓教堂」大打出手，後來遭到以色列警方逮捕。

「聖墓教堂」據說是耶穌被釘在十字架上，後來埋葬又復活的地方。有個十字架據說是當年耶穌被釘的那一個。昨天，一批亞美尼亞東正教神父去朝聖。希臘的東正教神父不讓他們過。雙方一言不合，打了起來。幾個神父打得頭破血流。以色列當局派了好幾十個警察去勸架，才把雙方人馬拉開。為了公平，希臘和亞美尼亞籍的神父，警方各逮捕了一個。

「聖墓教堂」是基督教的聖地，各派基督教都想爭到，到目前為止，各方還僵持不下。

 

[tun_dr_m]

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?ei=UTF-8&p=Holy+Sepulchre&fr=&c=images

 

[tun_dr_m]

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20081110/world-news/fist-fight-at-holy-sepulchre

Monday, 10th November 2008
Fist fight at Holy Sepulchre
Orthodox and Armenian clerics trade punches

An Israeli police officer holds back a member of the Armenian clergy (left) in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, yesterday.

Greek Orthodox and Armenian worshippers traded blows yesterday in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christian denominations jealously protect their hold over areas of the traditional site of Jesus's crucifixion, Reuters reported.

Israeli police and troops moved into the shrine, which the faithful also believe contains the tomb of Jesus, to bring the brawl under control. They said they arrested two clerics - one from each side.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incident flared during the Feast of the Cross, a ceremony in which the Armenian community commemorates what it believes was the fourth century discovery of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.

The police said the clerics were arrested after a fist-fight erupted during a procession of worshippers in the church, the traditional site of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection.

In the scuffle that took place, dozens of worshippers, dressed in the vestments of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations, traded kicks and punches, knocking down tapestries and toppling decorations at the site in Arab East Jerusalem.

At some point they literally kicked, punched and lashed out at each other with candles at the revered spots.

Skynews said several followers were left with black eyes, bruises and cuts as priests tried to tear their rivals' robes off in the brawl.

Fights are not uncommon in the church of the Holy Sepulchre between Christian denominations who are responsible for maintaining its different chambers. Such are the rivalries that the church keys have been entrusted for centuries to two Muslim families.

Six Christian groups control the ancient church, which serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.

They regularly fight over turf and influence, and police are occasionally forced to intervene.

The site is venerated by most Christians as Golgotha, (the Hill of Calvary) while the church has been an important pilgrimage destination since at least the fourth century.

The early Christian community of Jerusalem appears to have held liturgical celebrations at Christ's tomb from the time of the resurrection until the city was taken by the Romans in 66 AD. Less than a century later, in 135 AD, Emperor Hadrian filled in the quarry to provide a level foundation for a pagan temple. The site remained buried beneath the pagan temple until Emperor Constantin the Great converted to Christianity in 312 AD.

 

[sand_ban]

It is a shame! Christians will fight in Jerusalem like that. While Muslims are not fighting like that in Mecca. Which one is the more warring religion now?

 

[TeeKee]

It is a shame! Christians will fight in Jerusalem like that. While Muslims are not fighting like that in Mecca. Which one is the more warring religion now?

huh? may i remind you of the following news story...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1203108.stm