A crisis that began building in March appears to have come to a head in Jerusalem today as Mahmoud Abbas officially dismissed Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos (Eirineos) I and revoked all of his rights and privileges as religious leader. Abbas' action confirms a non-binding ruling along the same lines by the Church's Jerusalem Synod back in May. Since then, Irineos has continued to fight to maintain control of his office, consistently claiming that the charges against him are false.
The charges, the grave crime of which the Patriarch is accused, involve a long term lease of land to (wait for it) Jews. Irineos, whose hostility toward Israel and recorded antisemitic remarks sparked considerable opposition to his election by the Israeli government, is in no way asserting that the lease of Church land to Jews is not an offense that would merit his dismissal. He's just saying he was set up. And, in fact, he was cleared of the charges back in April by a palestinian cabinet committee, which found that he was "the victim of a conspiracy by leading clerics and Israeli extremists."
But it seems that the very suggestion, whether true or false, that a Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church might exercise his authority over Church lands to lease property to Jews is enough, in and of itself, to warrant his dismissal.
Is it peace yet?
(Cross-posted at The Jewish View)
