In Israel, Christians Feud Over Holy Site

Coptic And Ethiopian Christians Fight Over Monastery Near Purported Site Of Jesus' Crucifixion

(AP)  Two rival monks are posted at all times in a rooftop courtyard at the site where tradition holds Jesus was crucified: a bearded Copt in a black robe and an Ethiopian sunning himself on a wooden chair, studiously ignoring each other as they fight over the same sliver of sacred space.

For decades, Coptic and Ethiopian Christians have been fighting over the Deir el-Sultan monastery, which sits atop a chapel at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The monastery is little more than a cluster of dilapidated rooms and a passageway divided into two incense-filled chapels, an architectural afterthought alongside the Holy Sepulcher's better-known features.

And yet Deir el-Sultan has become the subject of a feud that has gone far beyond the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. The Ethiopians control the site, but the Egypt-based Copts say they own it and see the Ethiopians as illegal squatters.

The quarrel has erupted into brawls - in 2002, when the Coptic monk moved his chair into the shade and too close to the Ethiopians, a dozen people were hurt in the ensuing melee. And today, the Ethiopians claim the battle for control could result in the monastery's collapse and even in damage to other parts of the church, one of the holiest sites in Christendom.

Since the 1970s, the Israeli government has refused to allow renovations or significant repairs at the disputed monastery until the Ethiopians and the Copts come to terms. That hasn't happened, and the Ethiopian Church says the years of neglect have put the structure in danger. The Copts suggest the Ethiopians are merely trying to further cement their hold.

The Ethiopian Church commissioned a report from an Israeli engineer backing up its claim, and in early October the Ethiopian patriarch, Archbishop Matthias, asked the Israeli government to carry out urgent repairs. The archbishop attached the engineer's assessment that the humble monastery structure could collapse - and possibly damage the chapel below - if steps are not taken to repair it.

The report, compiled by Yigal Berman of the Milav engineering firm, cited "safety hazards" that "endanger the lives of the monks and the visitors," according to a report in the daily Haaretz newspaper. Yifredew Getnet, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Embassy to Israel, confirmed the report. A committee made up of embassy representatives, churchmen and lay leaders has been appointed to oversee the monastery, he said.

Outside the monastery, Coptic monk Antonious El-Orshlemy said his church owns Deir el-Sultan and the Ethiopian claim that the monastery is about to collapse is false.

"The building is very fine, and not dangerous to someone," he said.

The most recent round of the feud over Deir el-Sultan began in 1970, when Ethiopian monks changed the locks while the Copts were at services on the eve of Easter and moved in.

The Ethiopian Church has six monasteries and 70 monks in the Holy Land, according to the office of the patriarch. A handful are stationed at Deir el-Sultan. The main parts of the Holy Sepulcher are divided between the Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox.

Three years before the Easter takeover, Israel captured the Old City from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War and found itself in charge of the Holy Sepulcher.

The Copts appealed to an Israeli court, which ruled that the Ethiopians should not have altered the fragile status quo at the church but said it was the government's job to decide what to do. The government decided not to take action, according to Daniel Rossing, director of the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations and an expert on the city's fractious religious mosaic.

International politics likely played a role in the decision: At the time, Israel had warm ties with Ethiopia and was at war with Egypt. Later that was reversed: Communists came to power in Ethiopia and cut ties with Israel, and Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement. But Israel still did not act, possibly because of concerns that angering Ethiopia could hamper the emigration of the country's Jewish community.

Feuds like the one over Deir el-Sultan "don't have a solution, period," Rossing said. "The trick, then, is to do the very best job to make things as livable as possible, within the limitations of never being able to solve these issues."

Israel's interior minister, Meir Sheetrit, now plans to mediate the dispute, and the government will help renovate the site when the sides can agree on a course of action, said spokesman Ilan Marciano. But with each side entirely rejecting the other's claim to the monastery, it is unclear if an agreement is possible.

The feud is only one of a bewildering array of rivalries among churchmen in the Holy Sepulcher, where each group remains on guard against any encroachment onto their turf. Fights have flared over issues such as who is allowed to sweep which steps, and Israeli police occasionally intervene.

The Israeli government has long wanted to build a fire exit in the church, which regularly fills with thousands of pilgrims and has only one main door, but the plan is on hold because the sects cannot agree where the exit will be built. In another example, a ladder placed on a ledge over the entrance sometime in the 19th century has remained there ever since because of a dispute over who has the authority to take it down.

[drpruner]

I went through the posts and found no Bible citations, just a few paraphrases. Since the word "Chrisitan" is in the story head, here''s a quotation that some may consider appropriate:
"I am giving YOU a new commandment, that YOU love one another; just as I have loved YOU, that YOU also love one another. By this all will know that YOU are my disciples, if YOU have love among yourselves.%u201D John 13:34,35
So the sign of a Christian is ... what?

[sigotratando]

Christ would be so proud.

[edintex]

newster:
You poor person. You talk like YOU were one of the people that were molested. I really feel bad for you man. Go have another toke. It will help calm you down.

[ocasanas]

Could they put a couch for both monks to sit together? Some chips and drinks might help too and a TV so that they can watch a soccer game perhaps playing each other''s teams? Definitely, the chairs need to go out. Does anybody have any other decorative ideas?

[hobiedan]

Religion is the opiate of the massess

[patriotic9]

Its so pathetically transparent its laughable
Posted by newster1 at 06:55 PM : Oct 26, 2008

Not for the religious people as religion and reasonings are mortal enemies!

[nothappyatall]

its all about the MONEY AND CONTROL.
Posted by newster1"

"I agree! Sodomizing young boys in the churches is one example.

If there was no religious involvement, Palestinians who

We need to conduct a new scientific study to figure out whether RELIGIOUS PEOPLE become PSYCHOTICS or PSYCHOTIC PEOPLE become RELIGIOUS!

Posted by patriotic9 "

Yeah the pedo scandal is a ripe one, the priks denied it for decades and just shuffled them around, now they are paying thru the nose, some going bankrupt.
Belief in an invisible man in the sky and all the krap taught about this stuff is a symptom of a mental or emotional disorder, a 6 year old KID believes in Santa and flying reindeer coming down the chimney on Dec 24 to bring toys, somehow that part of some kids doesnt grow up and mature beyond that stage, so they just transfer it from invisible magical Santa in the chimney to a different invisible magical Santa- but in the sky who like the chimney Santa- keeps a "book" on everything you think and do and rewards or punishes you.
Its so pathetically transparent its laughable. Maybe someday science will find which part of the brain has this disorder and fix it, so- like the 6 year old who finally GROWS UP and matures mentally to drop the belief in a fantasy invisible chimney slider- the right wing nut finally matures and dumps this thing the same way the 6 Year old dumps the chimney Santa before they turn 10 or 11

[nothappyatall]

So you are outraged when "Christians," Catholics, and "Republican Christians" commit these crimes but not outraged when others of similar stature commit these crimes?
Posted by gscotth"

Thats right! because the non xtians are not the ones claiming to be holier than thou "family values" freaks whilst they push to enact legislation against g@ys and anything else THEY dont like, and elect a moron president based on his anti g@y and anti abortion stance all due to their ''beliefs.''

I dont CARE what people do in private in their own lives, I dont have a problem with that or consential ADULT incest/adultry/ multiple marriages, bestiality, drugs or alcohol used in private behind closed doors(within moderation)

I DO have a problem with religious reich trying to take over the Govt, Judicial, Criminal courts, elections, civil rights, women''s uterii and more!

I also have a problem with these tax EXEMPT churches using MY tax dollars to foist religion off on us OR to attempt to alter the eelections processes in violation of IRS rules.

[nothappyatall]

What morality are you talking about?
Sodomizing young boys in the same churches where homosexuals right of marriage is opposed on not daily but hourly basis! Republican Christian Mark Foley sexually harrasing a 14 years old boy on internet!
Republican Christian Larry Criag tapping foot in Airport bathroom.
Christian conservative Bill Orielly sexually harassing a female at work place and then giving her $10 million to keep her mouth shut.

Posted by patriotic9 "

Yeah, that''s the republican "Family values" at work!
See republicanoffenders.com

This just in up there;

October 14, 2008

20 year Republican Assembly member and State Parole
Board Commissioner George Chris Ortloff was arrested in a federal child s3x sting.
Agents found it suspicious when Ortloff arrived in an
Albany-area hotel with condom.s, lubricant, vibrators
and a camera expecting to find a 12 year old girl and her 11 year old sister, but the nail in
the coffin was when he answered the door naked.

Don%u2019t get Bill Allen confused with Bob Allen. In November 2007, Bob was the Allen arrested
for offering an undercover male cop $20 for oral s3x in a public restroom.
We all cried ourselves to sleep when it was revealed that he was a Floridian State Representative and co-Chairman of %u201CMcCain for President.%u201D

[nothappyatall]

Religion is not the problem. It''''s religious followers (people). They take it, twist it to suit their views, and then spew it out like their words are THE WORD.

Posted by robert7562"

Like Ive said before as well- religion KILLS people and the x-tian''s system comes from the book, the very same one that demands DEATH by stoning for cursing one''s parents, DEATH of innocent young animals to sprinkle their BLOOD all over an altar for "sin atonement", condones slavery, death death death and more death! that''s ALL the dam thing is about!

"If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been its precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity, man is sinful and

Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation.
George H Smith
Posted by jMcGilvray"

Exactly right, that also shows why they go after S3X and why priests were to be celebate- not supposed to have pleasure, just supposed to worship, pray, eat sleep and think gezus 16/7 till you die, some life THAT is! No wonder the bunch of them are such fruitcakes.