Haaretz
Cheshvan 26, 5766
The new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Holy
Land, Theofilos III, has lambasted Israel for refusing to recognize him
and continuing to safeguard his ousted predecessor, Irenios
I.
Theofilos was sworn in last Thursday at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in a ceremony attended by representatives of Jordan, the
Palestinian Authority, Russia and the rest of the Orthodox
world.
In an exclusive interview with Haaretz this past Friday,
Theofilos said Israel's attitude was reminiscent of the Ottoman era, when
the patriarchate was subject to the arbitrary discretion of the ruling
sultans.
Theofilos decried the Israeli government's refusal to
recognize his authority, saying that Israel had violated the
patriarchate's autonomy by deploying Jerusalem police officers to guard
the ousted Irenios in an isolated ward in the patriarchate compound in the
capital's Old City.
The full interview will appear at
Haaretz.com.
Theofilos, 53, was born in a village in the Messinia
regions, in the south of Greece. His church career began in 1964 in
Jerusalem, where he served as archdeacon to Patriarch Benedictus, whose
tenure spanned from 1957-1980. In his own tenure, Theofilos intends to
overcome the disorder, intrigue and scandals that plagued the terms of his
predecessors, Irenios and Diodorus, and restore to the patriarchate the
stability that he says characterized it under Benedictus.
Theofilos
says the Israeli government is exercising a type of "blackmail" in making
its recognition of him conditional upon validation of real estate deals
conducted by Irenios, in which church-owned property was leased for
hundreds of years to companies owned by Jews living in East Jerusalem.
These include the Petra and Imperial hotels at Jaffa Gate, the St. John's
Hostel in the Old City and another valuable piece of land in the Old
City.
The understated Theofilos refrained from saying what his
position would be on those deals, but he pledged that the patriarchate
under his leadership would maintain the status quo and strive for
coexistence within the Old City. He declined to go into detail because of
a still pending petition to the High Court of Justice.
Theofilos
said he discussed the matter with the minister for Jerusalem affairs,
Tzachi Hanegbi, but that the meeting ended without an agreement. He bears
no grudge against anyone, he said, but added that the patriarchate
believes it is being subjected to indirect threats on this
matter.
Theofilos said he is still obtaining all the information on
the real estate deals that were conducted under Irenios.