Catholic News Service
Oct 21 2004

Franciscan voices concern about violence spurred by Greek patriarch

By Judith Sudilovsky
Catholic News Service

JERUSALEM (CNS) — The Franciscan monk in charge of monitoring an
agreement among Jerusalem’s Christian communities said he is very
concerned by increased violence involving the Greek Orthodox
patriarch.

“It has become a very difficult situation,” said Franciscan Father
Athanasius Macora, who monitors Jerusalem’s Status Quo agreement. “I
really think someone, sooner or later, will be killed.”

The violence, he said, can be linked directly to the arrival of Greek
Orthodox Patriarch Irineos two years ago.

Observers from other churches say the patriarch’s attitude seems to
be one of ownership of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, with the
other denominations being “uninvited guests.”

The Greek Orthodox Church dates to James, the first bishop of
Jerusalem, and, except for the years of the Crusades, it has had a
patriarchate in Jerusalem since 451. The patriarch has the status of
“first” when Jerusalem church leaders meet.

However, Patriarch Irineos possesses none of the ecumenical spirit of
his predecessor, Patriarch Diodoros, said Father Macora. The priest
said Patriarch Irineos brought personal guards and a group of loyal
monks with him when he came from Greece.

“He is living in a historical fantasy that all this was theirs, and
he wants to restore it,” said Father Macora. “He is a profoundly
limited man.”

Catholic News Service was unsuccessful in repeated attempts to reach
the Greek Orthodox patriarch for comment.

The Status Quo is a 19th-century agreement that regulates
jurisdiction of and access to key Christian sites in Jerusalem for
Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian communities. Among those sites
is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where tradition holds
Jesus was buried.

However, the few pages of the decree do not properly define the
rights of each community, said Father Macora, and this vagueness is
the cause for friction at times.

In the latest confrontation, Greek Orthodox monks attacked Franciscan
monks, egged on by Patriarch Irineos, who demanded that the bronze
door to the Franciscan Chapel of the Apparition adjacent to the main
Church of the Holy Sepulcher be closed during the Sept. 27 procession
of the holy cross.

A videotape of the incident shows a handful of Franciscan monks and
Israeli police holding off a large, angry mob of shouting and pushing
Greek Orthodox monks and pilgrims trying to reach the door.

A Greek Orthodox nun is seen clutching a cross in her waving hands
and shouting frantically that the door be closed. One Israeli
policeman can be heard shouting, “This is a holy place!” While the
monks in front pushed and shouted, pilgrims and monks in the back
continued to sing and pray.

Eventually, police reinforcements reached the chapel and forced the
Orthodox monks away from the Franciscan chapel.

A few days earlier, Israeli government representatives had asked the
Franciscans to allow the Greek Orthodox procession to pass through
the northern section of the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, which is
adjacent to the main basilica where the Holy Sepulcher is. The
Franciscans granted the request although it was contrary to the
Status Quo, said Father Macora, who was injured in the September
fracas. He said the Greek Orthodox patriarch was not satisfied and
demanded that the door be closed as he passed the chapel.

“Because I refused to close the door (the patriarch) incited his
monks to violence. There are other ways of making a protest. There
was so much violence that it is very disturbing and shocking,” said
Father Macora. “We sent letters of protests to the consuls of
Jerusalem. We are very concerned that this is getting out of hand.”

In all such incidents, the Israeli police have performed well, he
said, but they cannot set policy. The priest blames Israeli
government officials for their “lackadaisical approach” and for not
trying to alleviate the problem.

“They want to present themselves as mediators, but sometimes (in
order to maintain the peace) they have to impose solutions,” he said.
“There is no one in the government who understands the issues.”

Father Macora also expressed frustration with the Palestinian
National Authority, which did not step in last year when the Greek
Orthodox changed the lock of the main door of the Church of the
Nativity or when the patriarch’s bodyguards physically assaulted the
mayor and governor of Bethlehem, West Bank.

“We wrote a protest to the Palestinian Authority to either provide
security for the personnel or eliminate the (patriarch’s) guards,”
said Father Macora.

In a statement, the Israeli Department of Christian Affairs said its
policy was to encourage settling disputes among the denominations to
“avoid unnecessary governmental interventions.”

“It has also been made clear that violence will not be tolerated and
that all necessary measures will be taken by the government to ensure
public safety,” the statement said.

Choosing his words carefully, Armenian Bishop Aris Shirvanian,
ecumenical and foreign relations director for the Armenian Orthodox
Patriarchate, noted that each denomination has had its “own
experiences” with Patriarch Irineos.

Two years ago during the ceremony of the holy fire during Holy Week,
Patriarch Irineos attempted to go into the tomb of the Holy Sepulcher
to bring out the holy fire alone, contrary to the Status Quo, which
stipulates that the Greek Orthodox and Armenian patriarchs, or their
representatives, are to go into the tomb together to get the fire,
said Bishop Aris.

“This we rejected, and we expect the Israeli Ministry of Interior to
arbitrate in this dispute. We are still waiting for a response,” said
Bishop Aris. “We would like to see it resolved before Holy Week. It
is an unpleasant situation.”

Though there have been unofficial discussions among the various other
churches concerning the new situation, there have been no official
meetings, he said.

“It is not like the U.N. Security Council where they make a
resolution,” he said. “Each denomination has to resolve their own
issues with the other party.”

The Greek Orthodox patriarch has had similar confrontations with the
Coptic and Syrian Orthodox churches.

In one incident last year, Patriarch Irineos refused to allow the
Syrian Orthodox bishop to enter Golgotha carrying his pastoral staff,
and eventually the staff was broken by the Greek bodyguards. On
Orthodox Easter last year, the patriarch knocked six burning candles
from the wrought-iron door of the small Coptic chapel behind the tomb
of the Holy Sepulcher.

“He was coming through in the Easter procession and saw our candles.
With his hands he pulled down the candles,” said a representative of
the Coptic Orthodox Church. “This is our church, our chapel; we (can)
do anything inside here. (He) could’ve told (the priest) to take the
candles down and (the priest) would have in order to avoid a
confrontation … but with everybody here (the patriarch) makes a
conflict. Of course, he is a patriarch, and as a patriarch we respect
him, but he shouldn’t do that.”

One local member of the Greek Orthodox Church, the largest Christian
church in the Holy Land, said that the previous patriarch was always
available to local community representatives, but now it is
impossible to reach the patriarch, and the community feels cut off
from the patriarchate.

The relations with parish priests remain the same, but the larger
picture is more difficult, he said.

“The community needs help, but nobody is helping, not even the
patriarchate. Now I am looking toward my community, not the
patriarch,” he said. “When he became patriarch he … exiled all the
good priests and many priests left to (return to) Greece.”