Arizona Daily Star, AZ
Rival monks keep constant watch in enduring feud over sacred site
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.26.2008
JERUSALEM – Two rival monks are posted at all times in a rooftop
courtyard at the site of what is believed to be Jesus’ crucifixion: a
bearded Copt in a black robe and an Ethiopian sunning himself on a
wooden chair, studiously ignoring each other as they fight over the
same sliver of sacred space.
For decades, Coptic and Ethiopian Christians have been fighting over
the Deir el-Sultan monastery, which sits atop a chapel at the ancient
Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The monastery is little more than a
cluster of dilapidated rooms and a passageway divided into two
incense-filled chapels, an architectural afterthought alongside the
Holy Sepulcher’s better-known features.
And yet Deir el-Sultan has become the subject of a feud that has gone
far beyond the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. The Ethiopians control
the site, but the Egypt-based Copts say they own it and see the
Ethiopians as illegal squatters.
The quarrel has erupted into brawls ‘ in 2002, when the Coptic monk
moved his chair into the shade and too close to the Ethiopians, a
dozen people were hurt in the ensuing melee. And nowadays, the
Ethiopians claim the fight could result in the monastery’s collapse
and even in damage to other parts of the church, one of the holiest
sites in Christendom.
Since the 1970s, the Israeli government has refused to allow
renovations or significant repairs at the disputed monastery until the
Ethiopians and the Copts come to terms. That hasn’t happened, and the
Ethiopian Church says the years of neglect have put the structure in
danger. The Copts suggest the Ethiopians are merely trying to further
cement their hold.
The Ethiopian Church commissioned a report from an Israeli engineer
backing up its claim, and in early October the Ethiopian patriarch,
Archbishop Matthias, asked the Israeli government to carry out urgent
repairs. The archbishop attached the engineer’s assessment that the
humble monastery structure could collapse ‘ and possibly damage the
chapel below ‘ if steps are not taken to repair it.
The report, compiled by Yigal Berman of the Milav engineering firm,
cited "safety hazards" that "endanger the lives of the monks and the
visitors," according to a report in the daily Haaretz
newspaper. Yifredew Getnet, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Embassy to
Israel, confirmed the report. A committee made up of embassy
representatives, churchmen and lay leaders has been appointed to
oversee the monastery, he said.
Outside the monastery, Coptic monk Antonious El-Orshlemy said his
church owns Deir el-Sultan, and that the Ethiopian claim that the
monastery is about to collapse is false. "The building is very fine
and not dangerous to someone," he said.
The most recent round of the feud began in 1970 when Ethiopian monks
changed the locks while the Copts were at services on the eve of
Easter and moved in.
The Ethiopian Church has six monasteries and 70 monks in the Holy
Land, according to the office of the patriarch. A handful are
stationed at Deir el-Sultan. The main parts of the Holy Sepulcher are
divided between the Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox.
Three years before the Easter takeover, Israel captured the Old City
from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War and found itself in charge of the
Holy Sepulcher.
The Copts appealed to an Israeli court, which ruled that the
Ethiopians should not have altered the fragile status quo at the
church but said it was the government’s job to decide what to do. The
government decided not to take action, according to Daniel Rossing,
director of the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations and an
expert on the city’s fractious religious mosaic.
International politics likely played a role in the decision: At the
time, Israel had warm ties with Ethiopia and was at war with
Egypt. Later that was reversed: Communists came to power in Ethiopia
and cut ties with Israel, and Egypt and Israel signed a peace
agreement. But Israel still did not act.
Israel’s interior minister, Meir Sheetrit, now plans to mediate the
dispute, and the government will help renovate the site as soon as the
sides can agree on a course of action, said spokesman Ilan
Marciano. But with each side entirely rejecting the other’s claim to
the monastery, it is unclear if an agreement is possible.