WARRING MONKS THREATEN DESTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
Sheera Frankel in Jerusalem
Times Online, UK
October 15, 2008
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Deir al-Sultan monastery on its
roof is judged to be in an "emergency state" of degeneration
A long-running row over the rights to a rooftop section of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre could bring the entire structure tumbling down,
destroying Christendom’s holiest site.
While renovations are needed across the church, the small Deir
al-Sultan monastery on its roof has reached an "emergency state",
according to engineers who completed an evaluation this month.
The Times has learnt that in 2004 the two chapels and twenty-six
tiny rooms that comprise the monastery were pronounced in dire need
of reinforcement. They have since deteriorated to the point where
engineers now fear that they will crash through the roof and into
the church, venerated by millions of Christians as the site of the
Crucifixion and burial of Jesus.
Yigal Bergman, the engineer who led the investigation, reported that
the church, situated in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of
Jerusalem, was in a dangerous state of construction. "The structures
are full of serious engineering damage that creates safety hazards
and endangers the lives of the monks and the visitors. This is an
emergency".
Local officials are pressing the church to begin repairs before
the heavy autumn rains begin but have stopped short of interfering
directly in its notoriously acrimonious affairs.
The church has been vigilantly managed by six competing and often
fractious Christian denominations — Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox,
Armenian Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian — since an
agreement reached under Ottoman law in 1757.
Rival denominations often battle for access or space and the
congregation at the annual Easter service sometimes resembles the
terraces of a boisterous football match. The keys to the main entrance
of the church have been held by a Muslim family since the 12th century
because the Christians do not trust one another.
The dispute over the Deir al-Sultan monastery is a more recent
phenomenon dating back to Easter 1970. When the Coptic monks, who
had controlled the area, went to pray in the main church and left the
rooftop unattended, Ethiopian monks seized the opportunity to change
the locks at the entrances before the Copts returned.
Relations between the two groups have remained tense ever since,
with the Coptic Church refusing to relinquish its claim to the
monastery and posting a single monk there at all times. In the midst
of a blistering heatwave in the summer of 2002, the Coptic monk on
duty moved his chair from its agreed spot to a shadier corner. The
move was taken as a hostile manoeuvre by the Ethiopians and 11 monks
needed hospital treatment after the ensuing fracas.
The rest of the church factions have been unable to mediate between
the two groups, even in the case of minor repairs or renovations to
the rooftop. Archbishop Matthias, head of the Ethiopian Church in
Jerusalem, wrote a letter to the Israeli Interior Ministry and the
Bureau of Jerusalem Affairs this month describing the dire state of
the buildings.
The Archbishop stated in the letter that he did not recognise the
right of the Coptic Church in any part of the disputed area. He said,
according to the Haaretz Hebrew daily, that it was "inconceivable
that the implementation of emergency repairs at the holy site would
be conditioned on the consent of the Coptic Church". The Archbishop
added that he was turning to the Israeli authorities, as a neutral
party, to carry out the repairs.
Israel has offered to shoulder part of the cost of repairs but will
do so only if the Christian factions first come to an agreement
among themselves.
The Copts, who are mainly of Egyptian origin, received preferential
treatment during Ottoman, British and Jordanian rule. That changed
after Israel took control of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, fought
against a combined Arab force, including Egypt. The Copts accused
Israel of using its position in Jerusalem to aid the Ethiopians in
1970 in their takeover of Deir al-Sultan.
Nine years later, when Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David peace
accords, Coptic officials hoped that the rooftop monastery would
be restored to them. Israel, however, is mindful of its sensitive
relations with Ethiopia, where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian
Jews lived and were brought to the Jewish state in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III said: "There is a greater
issue here, something that has to be addressed sooner or later. To
be honest, so far the [Israeli] Government has tried to keep out of
the dispute. But now it seems that the Government is under pressure
to demonstrate concern in helping resolve the issue."
Bible bashiing
— In the 19th century a ladder was placed on a ledge above the main
entrance to the church. A priest from another denomination accused the
man of trespassing and a row began that has yet to be resolved. The
ladder is still there
— In 1995 the church announced it had reached a decision on how
to paint a part of the dome in the central part of the structure —
but only after 17 years’ debate
— In 2004 during Greek Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This
was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Greek Orthodox faction and
a fight broke out. There were several arrests
— Another fight broke out on Palm Sunday this year when a Greek
monk was ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were
attacked by the feuding monks and several people were taken to hospital