THE MAD MONKS
By Stephen White
The Mirror
November 10, 2008
London, England
RIOT police broke up a brawl between monks at one of Christianity’s
holiest churches yesterday.
Two clerics were arrested after the brawl next to the alleged siteof
Jesus’ tomb.
The clash broke out between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks in
Jersualem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered as the site of Jesus’
burial and resurrection.
The fight began as Armenian clerics held a procession commemorating
the fourthcentury discovery of the cross believed to have been usedto
crucify Christ.
It ended with the arrival of dozens of policemen who arrested a bearded
Armenian monk in a red-and-pink robe and a black-clad Greek Orthodox
monk with a bloody gash on his forehead.
Six Christian sects share control of the church and there are regular
disputes over who is in charge of which area.
A ladder put on a ledge over the entrance in the 19th century is
still there because of a row over who has the right to take it down.