BBC---Jerusalem clergy dump patriarch

[Fr_Ambrose]

Irenicist:

those Russians who will be willing to formally identify themselves as Christian may represent our best hope for keeping Chrisitanity alive in the land of its birth.

Their impact is being felt. Some kibbutzim have Orthodox churches, but they say it is a dreadful struggle to get building permits. The “refusenik” movement in the Israeli army takes some of its strength from the young Russian Orthodox Christians in both the enlisted ranks and among the officers. It goes against the grain for Christians to shoot Palestinian women and children, and more so when they may be Arab Orthodox brothers and sisters.

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

Irenicist:

This is indeed an interesting problem. We will have to see how many of these “non Jewish” ethnic Russians ultimately register themselves as Christian.

" The Russians Are Coming

“Just as remarkable is Lustick’s observation that a significant number of the newcomers had registered themselves either as Christians or persons of no religion at all. As a result of this situation, the Russians, or to put it another way, non-Arab Christians are the fastest growing Israeli religious community and now constitute 8-9 per cent of the non-Arab population of the state.”

weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/494/op1.htm

 

[Irenicist]

Fr Ambrose:

Are you saying that the Jordanian Government has control of not only the Christian and Muslim holy places in Jerusalem but of ALL the real estate which is owned by the Church and by the Muslim religion in Jerusalem?

No, Jordan doesn’t control the real estate. The legal and financial status of the Orthodox Patriarchate in Israel-Palestine, its governing structure, along with its rights and obligations are all defined by Jordanian law, however, and Israel hasn’t seen fit to meddle. I believe the same applies to the communal holding society that owns Muslim religious property, but I am less sure.

If Jordan withdraws recognition from Irenios and Israel doesn’t change the law, my undersanding is that Church property comes under some form of trusteeship by the Jordanian Ministry of Religious Affairs or the like until a successor is recognized. This is why the Jordanian government’s recommendation to the king that the decisions of the synod be recognized is so significant. Persumably the Jordanian government would appoint trustees acceptable to the synod.

Irenicist

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

Irenicist:

I would be surprised if this turns out to be as high as 400,000. … The majority of these Russians…

As someone once said to Thomas: “Be not unbelieving but believing.”

As other Christians leave the Holy Land in greater numbers, the Church of the Tattered Rag is witnessing an influx of tens of thousands of Orthodox Christians from Russia -who are Jewish genetically and Orthodox Christians religiously. With these people, together with the Arabs, the Lord may well bring a new and effective Christian presence to the Holy Land and strengthen the most ancient of the Patriarchates, the Mother Church of Christendom.

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

A decision to call an All-Orthodox Council regarding Jerusalem

Istanbul. May 17th. INTERFAX - The crisis in the Jerusalem church will be considered at a Great Council which is to take place in Istanbul on May 23.

This decision was adopted on Tuesday at a session of Holy Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate states an official communiqué of the Constantinople Patriarchate, its text transmitted to “Interfax”.

Leaders of all Local Orthodox Churches are invited to the Council; each may be accompanied by two hierarchs.

In the meantime the commission of three metropolitans which is administering the Jerusalem Patriarchate, has addressed a request to the leaders of the Orthodox Churches to stop commemorating the name of Patriarch Irineos when serving the liturgy as he, in opinion of the majority of members of the Synod, is no longer Patriarch of Jerusalem.

However, thus far nothing is known about the official promulgation of the decision by Jordan’s King Abdullah confirming Irineos’ dismissal from his post (Irineos being a citizen of Jordan). According to Greek mass-media reports published on Sunday, the publication of this decision it was expected no later than Monday.

The last Council of the leaders and hierarchs of all Local Orthodox Churches took place in Sofia in the autumn of 1998 at the initiative of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church led by Patriarch Maxim. The Council was connected with the schism in the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria. The hierarchs of local churches confirmed the full authority of Patriarch Maxim adopted measures directed to confirm the unity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Russia was represented at the Sofia Council by Patriarch Alexy, by Metropolitan Kirill, head of the Department of External Relations, and by his assistant at the time Archbishop Kliment.

interfax-religion.ru/print.php?act=news&id=3614