THE PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM NOT GUARANTEED FROM NEW CLASHES
Naira Khachatryan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
25 Nov 08
Armenia

Member of RPA Council Artak Grigoryan is one of the eyewitnesses
of the scuffle provoked by the Greek clergymen, during the ceremony
devoted to the Discovery of the Cross, in the temple of Resurrection
in Jerusalem on November 9. "It must be difficult for us the laymen to
perceive this incident, but what I understood is that it is the same
as to show a rude interference in the internal policy of a state,"
he said in "Hayatsk" club yesterday.

According to A. Grigoryan that day the Greeks tried to demonstrate
that they are the only owners of the Lord’s grave and they have
full right to be present in the holy mass of the Armenian Apostolic
Church. Whereas according to the church contract signed in 1852 six
Christian churches: orthodox, catholic, the Armenians, the Syrians,
Ethiopians, and the copts have divided the territory of the Lord’s
grave and none of the before mentioned directions has the right to
control the actions of the others.

"Despite that similar clashes are of regular character. To avoid
similar clashes our clergymen used to surrender. But as far as I
understood after each concession the Greeks put forward new and new
demands. Which means the problem is not new. It is recurrent. From
the moment the Greeks started to lay obstacles in the path of our
clergymen to the territory of the Lord’s grave our clergymen had to
make the second round around the Lord’s tomb. But the Greek clergymen
simply attacked and closed the entrance to the tomb.

As a witness I ask myself "Couldn’t they avoid this clash?" but I
must repeat that similar incidents are not new and I don’t think by
compromise Armenian Church could have been represented in Jerusalem
by similar size. Either they had to become weaker by always yielding
or protect themselves even by fist. And on November 9 there was no
other option except for protecting self-dignity by fists.