Christian Priests Fight in Christianity’s Holiest Church
Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the holiest sites in Christianity. Many Christians believe that the church marks the spot where Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected.
Several Christian communities – Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Egyptian Copt and Ethiopian Orthodox – have defended their rights over various parts of the complex for as long as we can remember. They all believe that they are ‘the’ Church, and have ‘the’ rights, which rather frequently leads to fights inside Christianity’s holiest church.
It happened again this week. Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox priests had a go at each other. They fought with crucifixes and staves over control over a specific part of the church.
The six Christian communities despise each other so much that they cannot even agree on who carries the key to the site’s main door. As a result, two Muslim families have been the guardians of the key since 1178, which was when Muslim conqueror Saladin (Salahudin) had taken over control of the city, claiming it for Islam.
One Muslim family is responsible for unlocking the door of the church every morning and every night. The other family guards the key at all other times.
Because the Christian sects cannot deal with this responsibility themselves.
Back in 2004, members of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches had a go at each other: a door to the Roman Catholic chapel was left open during a Greek Orthodox ceremony. The Greek Orthodox consider it a sign of disrespect and, in true Christian fashion (sarcasm) went after the Catholics. A fierce fight broke out resulting in several arrests.
This week it were Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox priests who were insulted by the other side and who decided that “turning the other cheek” is a great motto to live by for the other side.
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The whole place and it’s management is insane. There’s even a small foot ladder just above the door of the church that is still there because the different sects can’t even agree to who has the authority to remove it. The ladder has been there for over 100 years. It’s a perfect representation to how non-functional the place is.
To me the most blatant example of nastiness within the church is what’s done with the Abyssinian monks. They are of Ethiopian descent and have been there for a lot longer than either the Greek Orthodox or the Catholic Franciscans have even existed. Yet they are relegated to the roof of the church and not recognized by the others. They are forced to go in and out of the church through a filthy hole in the wall, one that the other sects won’t even let them fix.
I happen to believe that Christians are equally capable of immorality arrogance and pride as any non-Christian, but I’ll admit that even I find it somewhat shocking to see such obvious “un-Christian” behavior at what is supposed to be Christianity’s most holy site.