ATHENS, Nov 10 AFP - The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is blaming Armenian clerics for weekend violence between Greek and Armenian worshippers in Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre church.
The Armenians are constantly provoking us. They claim additional rights and seek to equate their privileges to ours which date back centuries,'' Theophilos told Greek state television NET. They are causing trouble in Bethlehem and Gethsemane,’’ the garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus Christ prayed with his disciples before his crucifixion, he added.
Israeli police were called in yesterday as the free-for-all left several people with black eyes, bruises and bloody cuts.
A number of the faithful lashed out with religious artifacts as priests tried to tear each others’ robes off in the brawl.
Custody of the Holy Sepulchre is shared by Greeks, Armenians and Roman Catholics, all of whom jealously guard their responsibilities under a fragile network of agreements hammered out over the centuries.
Rivalries between the various denominations is such that the keys to the church have been entrusted for centuries to two Palestinian Muslim families.
The church is built on the site most Christians revere as the place where Jesus Christ was crucified, and also where he was buried and rose again.
Theophilos added that since his election in 2005 he has sought to improve relations with all the Christian denominations which share use of the Holy Lands’ pilgrimage sites, but the Armenians ``remain obdurate’’.
Theophilos was elected to the throne after his predecessor Irineos I was ousted over an alleged multi-million-dollar sale of church land to Jewish investors.
Just saw the video of the riot. Perhaps Monty Python’s Life of Brian was a documentary.