Mid-East Realitieswww.middleeast.org

THE POLITICAL PROSTITUTION OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN PALESTINE

May 10, 2001

MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 5/09: We're talking here about political prostitution; for it too is an age-old profession and it too leads to many other vices.

Furthermore, in a sense, this kind of prostitution more than the other kind needs to be exposed and understood. This is especially true if one is interested in the eventual real independence of the Palestinian people, something which to be fulfilled in a serious way requires their liberation from the regimes, class interests, and old church political and financial arrangements that are now so interwoven into the very bowels of today's complex Israeli-Palestinian-Hashemite conflict.

We don't know if the rumor is true that the Orthodox church sold or leased the land to the Israelis on which today's Knesset stands. We do believe that the outline of facts and intrigue in the article below is accurate, though of course there is nearly always a subtle Zionist twist to the choice of subjects and analysis published in Israel's most interesting and sophisticated newspaper, Ha'aretz.

SEX IN THE SEPULCHRE

Charges of bribery and even lechery are the outcome of bitter rivalry over the top job of Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.

By Danny Rubinstein

[Ha'aretz - 8 May 2001: The struggle over the post of Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is now at its peak. The leaders of the Jerusalem patriarchate are currently involved in an intense rivalry, enhanced by political pressure, rumors of corruption, bribes and mudslinging.

"It seems that the corruption of the medieval church we read about in Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' is revisiting the churches in the Holy Land, and lechery, one of the seven cardinal sins, is feeding the souls of many clergy," wrote Sammy Kirreh, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, on April 20 in the Palestinian English-language weekly, Jerusalem Times.

In his commentary, he relates that he saw a couple "kissing and touching each other shamelessly" in a dark corner of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; that a friar was seen "in the act with a young boy," of another seen in a church "on top of a nun in the Holy Sepulchre"; and of yet a third "found with another friar."

Kirreh says a friend showed him a photograph of a cleric "who has recently nominated himself to a top senior position with the church, atop a little boy." As a punishment, the sinner was banished for some months to the Mount of Temptation in Jericho.

It has been over four months since the death of the previous patriarch, Diodoros I, and as time goes by, rumors and slander about the various candidates grow apace. A newspaper in Greece recently published an apparently fabricated picture of one of the candidates for the position of patriarch in bed with a boy and the candidate sued the paper for libel.

Stories about another candidate tell that he is involved in huge financial dealings with Israelis and Palestinians and that he has already paid millions of dollars to clerics involved in the election process of the new patriarch to convince them to vote for him.

The governments of Jordan and Israel, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, and to some extent the Greek government - all have fingers in the pie.

The post of Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem is a highly coveted one because of the considerable power it embodies. The patriarch is the virtually absolute ruler of the Orthodox Patriarchate, the oldest and strongest in Israel. It is a small, virtually independent realm with untold assets and treasures. The Jerusalem patriarchate is responsible for the areas that include Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The patriarch is all-powerful, and has no authority - pope or council - above him. At his disposal are thousands of acres, hundreds of buildings, churches, convents, monasteries, entire streets with shops and businesses. The patriarchate's properties are scattered throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Galilee, Jaffa, Lod, Ramle, Gaza, Amman, the Jericho Valley and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The election process has a number of stages. At the first stage, a locum temens is elected to temporarily replace the deceased patriarch. Metropolitan Cornelius, one of the candidates currently vying for the post of patriarch, was chosen to fill that position. He is about 65 years old and in recent years served in the important post of trustee of the partriarchate's courts, which rule in matters of marriage and divorce for the members of the Greek Orthodox community in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.

At the second stage, 17 Greek priests, members of the synod known as the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, meet with 12 local Arab clerics, representatives of the various areas of the patriarchate (Nablus, Irbid, Jaffa, Nazareth, Amman, etc.).

Most of the 17 Greek members of the synod arrived in Jerusalem as 15-year-old boys to study and do sacred service for the patriarchate. The have since served in various positions in the church and are appointed by the patriarch. The 12 local Arab clerics are also appointed by the patriarch and subject to his authority.

Ethnic-national and political tensions have divided the members of the Greed synod and the Arab clerics for centuries. The Arabs complain that the Greeks only look out for themselves and are unwilling to allocate funds for the welfare of their Arab co-religionists.

The patriarch is elected from among the members of the synod and the body of local clerics, 26 in all. They assembled after the death of Diodoros and each wrote down the name of the person he supported, one name - his own or someone else's. After the completion of this stage, they ended up with a list containing the names of 15 candidates. Only one was an Arab. The reason for the dearth of Arab names on the list is that an Arab has no chance of ultimately being elected because the body that actually elects the patriarch is the synod, all of whose members are Greek.

During the third and current stage of the election process, the list of 15 candidates must be approved by the authorities. In the past, the candidates only needed to be approved by the Ottoman ruler, later by the British High Commissioner and since 1948 by the Jordanian government.

In the current political situation, the candidates need the approval of the governments of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Last week, newspapers in East Jerusalem reported that the Jordanian authorities had not approved Metropolitan Timotheus (Father Timothy) because he is suspected of connections with Israel and selling church land to Jews. Father Timothy serves as director-general of the patriarchate, and in recent years, when Patriarch Diodoros was bedridden, Timotheus was viewed as the strong man in the church. Caused an uproar The news from Jordan caused an uproar in the patriarchate. Timotheus and his supporters rushed to Jordan to see what could be done. The result was that last Friday, the patriarchate in Jerusalem received an official letter signed by Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu-Ragheb stating that Jordan had reversed its previous decision and now approved all 15 candidates, including Father Timothy.

Israeli Minister of Religious Affairs Asher Ohana must also officially approve the 15 candidates on behalf of the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority's unofficial approval is also required (unofficial because the Palestinian Authority is not a country).

Sources in the patriarchate expressed the hope last week that the Israeli and Palestinian approvals would be given immediately, making it possible to begin the fourth stage of the election as early as next week. At this stage, a short list of three finalists is chosen from the list of 15 by a body of 50 clerics: the 17 members of the synod, the 12 local Arab clerics and another 21 Greek clerics that serve the patriarchate but are not members of the synod.

Immediately after choosing the three finalists, the 17 members of the synod will meet to elect the new patriarch. The meeting is held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem and is conducted in accordance with strict traditional protocol and by secret ballot.

Meanwhile, no one knows for sure who the top contenders are. The guesses for the top three are Metropolitan Cornelius, the current locum temens, the oldest of the candidates and viewed as lacking personal charisma; Father Timothy, the director-general of the patriarchate, accused of having ties with Israel; and Archbishop Irineos, the current Exarch of the Holy Sepulchre in Athens, considered to be very close to the PLO. Rumors in the patriarchate have it that Archbishop Irineos also has personal ties with Israelis who desire to do business in Greece, and that they are now trying to recruit support for him in the Israeli government.

With all the importance of the Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian political involvement in the election process, it would appear that political considerations do not take first priority among the church officials involved in the process. Each of the top patriarchate officials has his own camp of supporters, Many, however, switch camps, exchange loyalties, buy and sell each other, make empty promises, form alliances, spread rumors, slander, issue huge bribes, grab any help they can get - from politicians, businesspeople, journalists and other movers and shakers in Israel, the territories, Jordan and Greece.

The competition between the candidates has caused tensions and suspicions to soar, creating a foul atmosphere in the patriarchate. Many would prefer to hasten the process, which could end next week. The final decision on the next Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, however, could still be a long way off
Mid-East Realitieswww.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/5/196.htm