O Little Town of Bethlehem…
Posted in Current Events by John E. Pannell on December 28th, 2007 at 5:00 am Seven people were injured yesterday (December 27th) when a fight erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests within the Church of the Nativity in Jerusalem.
The Greek Orthodox priests had erected ladders to clean the ceiling and walls of their part of this church. The ladders encroached onto the part of the church controlled by the Armenians and angry words ensued. A dozen Palestinian police officers were called in to restore order but were to no avail. A fist fight erupted between the two groups of priests. It lasted for about 15 minutes and was captured on camera.
Priests brawl at Bethlehem birthplace of Jesus
I have one word to describe this: Disgusting.
What is wrong with asking:
- “May I set up these ladders here, please, so I can clean up our portion of this ancient and glorious church?” or
- “Can you move your ladders please? They’re encroaching on space we need at this present time.”
Most young children know how to act better than this! But ordained priests, grown men calling themselves Christians, cannot put aside their differences and act in a civilized manner within one of Christianity’s most holy sites. This is not an isolated incident either. It’s just the most recent act of violence within this church’s precints betwen members of the various Christian denominations controlling portions of this church.
What’s left out is that all the denominations there didn’t just finish their church’s Christmas festivities! In Jersusalem, Christmas comes three time per year! This is a result of the different calendars used by various denominations. Western protestant churches and the Roman Catholic church celebrates Christmas on December 25th, according to the Gregorian calendar. Various Orthodox churches will celebrate Christmas on January 7, 2008. The Greek Orthodox church has adopted the Revised Julian Calendar and celebrate Christmas on December 25th, contrary to what the Jerusalem Post says. The Armenians won’t celebrate it until January 19th!
Reasonable Christians, or even just people of nearly any faith, would have been able to resolve this without a fight.
“…And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on Earth…”
John,
Your analysis is correct as well as your comment; however, the split regarding the “operation” of the Church of the Nativity is a result of thousands of years of compromise, bickering, and war. I have been in the church and witnessed first hand how the different denominations of priests work together in “managing” this sacred Christian shrine. It was quite educational. As with most of the Christian holy sites in Israel, the Church of the Nativity is fairly typical in that the operation of the physical church is shared by the Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Armenians. At some of the sites (water to wine miricale) there are literally three different church structures each operated by the respective denominations. I am surprised that these disputes do not happen more frequently or are not publicized more frequently. By the way, I looked high and low but could not find any boy scout patches.
I am always looking to trade for TN and KY OA. Zap me for a dupe list. Happy New Year.