Jerusalem Troubled Past

Published by The National Herald, November 11, 2005

Jerusalem: Troubled Past, Threatening Present, Uncertain Future

On November 22nd, Theophilos III, heir to the See of the Apostle Iakovos (James), the "Brother of God," will formally ascend to the Patriarchal Throne of Jerusalem. He comes to the Patriarchal Throne at a time of perhaps the most serious crisis to face the Patriarchate. It is no exaggeration to say that the problems facing the new Patriarch concern the very survival of the Church in the homeland of Jesus Christ.

I should point out that I have been associated with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem since 1970 and have acted as its pro-bono representative in the United States since 1999. The late Patriarch Diodoros, who passed away three years ago, was a close family friend from Chios.

Patriarch Theophilos replaces Patriarch Eirineos, whom the Jerusalem Holy Synod deposed this last May in disgrace over the illegal leasing of land to what appears to be Israeli interests. The Patriarchate faces other challenges which threaten to bring down the structure of the Church, however.

LAND-RICH, CASH-POOR
The Church is land-rich, but cash-poor. It faces the steady deterioration of the Orthodox population of Palestine from perhaps 10 percent of the population to less than 4 percent today. In Jerusalem, the Orthodox have declined from a quarter of the City to less than 5 percent. Bethlehem is no longer a majority Christian town; in 1948, it was majority Orthodox. Inevitably, the question of an almost exclusively ethnic Greek hierarchy in Arab community continues to vex both sides. Israeli policies, which appear designed to reduce the Christian presence in the Holy Land to a bunch of religious museums, exacerbate the outward flow of all Christians, and not just the Orthodox. The Patriarchate’s properties and its ancient privileges are also under assault from the Vatican. Finally, an ancient Orthodox Church, whose ties to Hellenism are almost as strong as those which link us to Constantinople, has all but been forgotten by Orthodox in America.

A bit of history would be appropriate. Orthodox Tradition holds that the Church of Jerusalem was established by Saint James the Apostle. But as one Arab Christian of my acquaintance noted, its antecedents are more fundamental. When asked by a newly arrived American Protestant missionary, "Who converted you," my friend replied, "Jesus Christ." This is the original Christian Church.

The new Patriarch faces enormous problems. At the top of the list ranks the unabated efforts by the Israeli State and Jewish colonists to take over the Patriarchate’s properties. Thanks to generous donations by Orthodox faithful, and especially pilgrims, as well as a huge infusion of Imperial Russian cash in the 19th Century, the Patriarchate today owns more land than the Israeli Government or any other entity. It is no exaggeration to say that more than half of the Old City of Jerusalem is Patriarchal property.

Israel, through a combination of force and questionable legal practices, confiscated most of the land belonging to Palestinians, both Muslim and Christian. Confiscating Church land has been much tougher. The Israelis are particularly frustrated by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, whose political and ethnic ties bring European protection. For that and other reasons, the Catholic Church has reduced the so-called Latin Patriarch, an ethnic Palestinian, to a figurehead and manages the its Holy Places through Franciscan monks. The ranking Franciscan monk, and not the Arab Patriarch, bears the title of "Custodian" of Jerusalem. Similarly, the presence of Greek hierarchy has enormously complicated Israeli efforts to grab land.

The Israelis have also found other ways to pressure the sale of land. Israeli imposes Ottoman-era rent control on non-Israeli landlords. If the tenant pays his rent on time, the tenant can not be expelled, nor can the rent be raised until the original tenant’s sons die. This is so onerous that the rent of major buildings in Jerusalem is often as little as four or five dollars a month. The Israelis, for example, pay about a dollar a month rent for the land on which the Israeli Parliament is situated.

One way around outright confiscation has been to find corrupt clergy (who are always with us, unfortunately) willing to sell or lease land under the table. This has been particularly disastrous for some of the smaller Eastern Christian Churches. It can not be denied that this practice also sullied the reputation of Greek clergymen as well.

DEBUNKED
Patriarch Diodoros, upon assuming authority in 1981, declared a policy of allowing long-term leases (but not sale) of land within pre-1967 Israel, for which he was roundly denounced by some Palestinian nationalists. Accusations that Diodoros sold land to Israelis have been debunked by an international audit under the auspices of Greek courts. Diodoros, a consummate politician, if not the most spiritual of Churchmen, played off Israeli and Arab interests and stopped determined efforts by the Vatican to upset the status quo in its favor. Unfortunately, Diodoros died in 2000 and was succeeded by (now former) Patriarch Eirineos, whose candidacy was pushed by then Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou. Eirineos, a much less clever diplomat than Diodoros, had difficulty maintaining the same balance as his predecessor, and soon earned the enmity of both sides.

Five years later, the land issue took an ugly turn. Patriarch Eirineos gave his newly appointed accountant, Nikos Papadimas, an unauthorized power-of-attorney, which Papadimas used to give 198 year leases covering four extremely important and valuable Jerusalem properties to Cayman Islands companies. Those companies have now been shown to be at least partly under control of an extremist Zionist settler organization, Ateret Cohanim. Papadimas has also been linked to Apostolos Vavilis a fugitive Greek drug dealer arrested in Italy this past April.

In the ensuing uproar, the Holy Synod deposed Eirineos, an action approved by a pan-Orthodox Patriarchal Council convened by the Ecumenical Patriarch, and elected Theophilos, Archbishop of Tabor, as Patriarch Theophilos III. Theophilos has undertaken to undo the illegal transactions in court. The governments of Jordan and Qatar and the Palestinian Authority (where the see of Jerusalem has parishes) quickly recognized the new Patriarch. But the Israeli Government continues to refuse to accord official recognition, without which Theophilos is unable to manage Church properties. The Israelis even deny him access to Church bank accounts. This has plunged the Church into a crisis, as it can not sustain its 400 Churches and monasteries and, most importantly, its schools for 7,500 students in Palestine and Israel.

Theophilos recently filed a lawsuit against the Israeli Government, in which the complaint accuses the Sharon Government of trying to blackmail the Patriarch into abandoning his litigation before it will grant recognition. The Israeli High Court, in turn, has issued a "show cause" order demanding that the Government justify its refusal.

PURELY MODERN PHENOMENON
The controversy over land has temporarily obfuscated another issue: the question of an ethnic Greek hierarchy with an ethnic Arab flock. This is a purely modern phenomenon. Prior to the rise of modern nationalism, the Ottomans and other regional rulers defined their subjects by religion, not ethnicity. The Ottomans described their Orthodox subjects as "Rum" from the Eastern Roman Empire, from which derives the Greek term "Romios." The term, "Rum," covered Arab and Greek without distinction. For almost a thousand years, Christian education was almost exclusively Greek. The idea of an ethnic "Greek" or "Arab" was submerged in the near identity of Greek Orthodoxy and Hellenic culture throughout the region. Patriarchs and Bishops could be Greek or Arab in origin but were exclusively "Greek" in culture and education. Perhaps because their "Greek" education exposed them to the newly revived Greek nationalism of the 19th Century, Arab Orthodox almost single-handedly invented Arab nationalism and pioneered modern Arab education.

Both the Palestinian and Jordanian Governments have made it clear that they do not want to raise the issue of Greek higher clergy in Jerusalem at this time. For them, the tradeoff is simple: Arab clergy are vulnerable to the Israelis in ways that the Greeks are not. Many Orthodox laity are also uncomfortable with this dispute. As militant Islam replaces the older leftist ideologies, Arab nationalism increasingly identifies itself with Islam. For many Orthodox Christians, linking themselves to the Greek Orthodox Church seems to provide a social and cultural safety net. However, a relatively small but vociferous and generally well-educated minority, located mostly in Jordan, continues to campaign against the Greek higher clergy. In any event, there is little likelihood that this issue will be seriously addressed until there is a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

In the meantime, the new Patriarch must cope with a myriad of pressing problems. Fortunately, he is young; educated in Greece, Israel and Great Britain; speaks Greek, Arabic, Hebrew and English fluently; and has proven that he can work with Arab Christians. Early in his career, he took over the parish of Kafr Kana in Galilee, the location where tradition locates the first miracle of Christ, when He turned water into wine. Inheriting an impoverished and hostile community, Theophilos effectively built trust to the point where these Arab Christians are today his strongest supporters. Hopefully, he will be able to use these talents to replicate his accomplishments in Kafr Kana on a larger scale.

Orthodox Christians in the United States must recognize that the actions of the Israeli Government damage the Patriarchate of Jerusalem at least as much as those of the Turkish Government damage the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Both Patriarchates sit on the edge of disaster because of hostile Governmental action. The flock in Constantinople has almost disappeared. If nothing is done, we can expect to see Orthodoxy disappear from the Holy Land, as well. Abandoning Jerusalem will be a harbinger of abandoning Constantinople.

The Hon. Ambassador Theros served in the U.S. Foreign Service for 36 years, mostly in the Middle East, and was American Ambassador to Qatar from 1995 to 1998. He also directed the State Department’s counter-terrorism office and holds numerous U.S. Government decorations.



Volume 7 Number 45 - Tuesday, November 15, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY