ARMENIANS WANT ISRAELI HELP IN CHURCH FEUD
by Matti Friedman
The Jerusalem Report
May 16, 2005
Representatives of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem are
decrying a failure on the part of Israeli authorities to intervene to
protect their rights in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the face
of what they say is a concerted attempt by the Greek Orthodox patriarch
to show that Armenian Christians are subservient to his authority.
“The Israeli government is the legal sovereign at the Holy Sepulcher,
and it is bound by its own laws to make sure that the rights of
all sects there are not violated,” says Eytan Epstein, the attorney
representing the Armenian Patriarchate. “When the Turks were in charge,
or the Jordanians, they didn’t hesitate to intervene in conflicts
between the groups. But unfortunately, the Israeli authorities take
the approach that it isn’t nice for Jews to get involved in a conflict
between Christians, and they keep their distance.”
The result, Epstein says, is that the Armenians’ rights in the church
are being eroded by the Greeks, led by their patriarch, Irenaeus,
elected to the position in 2001. (Irenaeus is also under fire within
his own church, for alleged involvement in the sale of Greek-owned
real estate in the Old City to Jewish groups, and because of charges
of impropriety in his election.)
The focal point of the conflict between the two groups is a ritual
called the Ceremony of the Holy Fire, held every year on the Saturday
before Easter Sunday. (Orthodox Christians mark Easter this year on
May 1.) On that day – according to a belief thought to date at least
to the ninth century – divine fire miraculously lights a torch in
the inner chamber of the Edicule, the small chapel built on the site
of Jesus’s tomb in the center of the rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher.
Traditionally, both the Greek Orthodox Patriarch and a representative
of the Armenian church light candles from the divine flame and
pass it to their followers outside. Since 2001, however, Irenaeus
has insisted that the Armenians light their candle from his flame,
rather than directly from the divine fire inside the tomb.
“There’s more than the ceremony involved,” Epstein says. “Irenaeus
is trying to make the point that the Armenians answer to him. The
Armenians feel that the police have been leaning toward the Greeks
on this issue and are doing nothing to stop Irenaeus from eroding the
status quo.” Historically, the Armenian church is entirely independent
of the Greek Orthodox Church.
The conflict over the Holy Fire – only one of countless tensions
and intrigues among the Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Catholics, Copts
and Ethiopians who jealously guard their turf in the ancient church –
threatens to erupt into violence every Easter. In 2002, in a brawl that
broke out during the ceremony, the fire carried by Armenian Patriarch
Turkum Manoogian was extinguished, and the police had to restore order.
But Epstein demands that the police go farther than merely jumping in
after violence erupts, and wants the Israeli authorities to actively
make sure that the rights of all sects are respected all year round.
The Armenians filed a petition to the Supreme Court in February
demanding that Israel actively uphold the Status Quo, the 19th-century
accord between European powers on relations in Christian holy places
in the Holy Land. The court gave the state until the summer to respond
because of the complex diplomatic issues involved – thereby putting
off resolution until after this year’s ceremony.
No comment was available from the Greek Patriarchate. Shmuel Ben-Ruby,
a spokesman for the Jerusalem police, rejected out of hand any
allegation of bias on the part of police. “The Israel Police takes
no side in internal conflicts in the church,” he said in a statement,
“and does its best to enforce the law and keep public order.”