Sold land to Jews
צילום: רויטרס
Patriarch returns, excommunicated
Greek Orthodox Patriach Irineos I disappears after being deposed; he returns but is still excommunicated
JERUSALEM - Greek Orthodox Patriach Irineos I of Jerusalem returned, under police protection, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Friday night. A church council had deposed him on Thursday over a scandal involving land sales to Jews.
Irineos I managed to enter the church, but most bishops have excommunicated him, taking their orders instead from his temporary replacement Bishop Baselios. The Church said that it would choose a permanent replacement this week.
Irineous I disappeared after being deposed Thursday by the Holy Synod, the same council that had first elected him patriarch.
Twenty-five archimandrites of The Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, and 13 bishops of the Holy Synod decided to excommunicate Irineos and fire him from his position.
Other persons not involved in the decision were called upon to treat the patriarch as persona non grata. The 38 signatories blamed Irineos I for corruption in the Church and by treating its properties in an irresponsible manner.
Greek Orthodox clergy and laymen said they would open a court case against the sale in order to return “all the stolen properties and monies” to the Church.
Church sources said that the patriarch made a last-ditch effort to avoid his dismissal by trying to change the composition of the Synod.
However, it did not work when another three bishops threw their weight behind the effort to remove Irineos I – giving opponents the necessary two-thirds majority under Jordanian law to carry through with the firing.
His fate sealed, Irinieos called his fellow clergy “traitors” and disappeared from the church. The upper council then elected a temporary replacement, Biship Baselios. In a move laden with symbolism, Baselious took the keys of the church and locked the doors.
“Ever since the election of the patriarch in 2001, we’ve waged a campaign against his election and recognition. It’s because during the election, other candidates were slandered and pressured to drop out …” Ghiath Nasser, a church layman in Samia, told Ynetnews.
The Jerusalem district court ruled on March 3 that there had to be new elections.
