God is love, my arse!

JERUSALEM’S  Church of the Holy Hooligans  – better known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher – is back in the news today as a result of the latest punch-up in what is regarded as one of Christianity’s holiest of places. It is said to be the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection, but a less peaceful place is hard to imagine.

Israeli riot police try to quell the riot

According to this report, which features a video of the incident, Israeli riot police rushed into the church in an attempt to quell a brawl that kicked off after an argument between monks escalated into a full-on fest of fisticuffs and yelling. Two monks were handcuffed were arrested.

The clash took place between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks during a procession of Armenian clergymen commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the very same cross believed to which Jesus was affixed

The Greeks objected to the march without one of their monks present, fearing that the procession would subvert their own claim to the Edicule – the ancient structure built on what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus – and give the Armenians a claim to the site.

The Armenians refused, and when they tried to march the Greek Orthodox monks blocked their way, sparking the brawl.

One of the casualties of the brawl

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were forced to intervene after fighting was reported. They arrested two monks, one from each side, he said.

A bearded Armenian monk in a red-and-pink robe and a black-clad Greek Orthodox monk with a bloody gash on his forehead were both taken away in handcuffs after scuffling with dozens of riot police.

Six Christian sects divide control of the ancient church. They regularly fight over turf and influence, and Israeli police are occasionally forced to intervene.

The monk, who gave his name as Serafim, said he was wounded when an Armenian punched him from behind and broke his glasses.

Father Pakrat of the Armenian Patriarchate said the Greek demand was “against the status quo arrangement and against the internal arrangement of the Holy Sepulcher.” He said the Greeks attacked first.

Archbishop Aristarchos, the chief secretary of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate, denied his monks initiated the violence.

After the brawl, the church was crowded with Israeli riot police holding assault rifles, standing beside Golgotha, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, and the long smooth stone marking the place where tradition holds his body was laid out.

The feud is only one of a bewildering array of rivalries among churchmen in the Holy Sepulcher.

The Israeli government has long wanted to build a fire exit in the church, which regularly fills with thousands of pilgrims and has only one main door, but the sects cannot agree where the exit will be built.

Three large denominations have control of the church: the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. Smaller denominations with rights in the church include the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Copts, as well as the Syriac Orthodox.

One of the bitterest disputes between the communities centres on the question of which denomination has the right to remove a ladder that was placed on a ledge outside an upper-floor window in the 19th century. Because no agreement has been forthcoming, the ladder stands there to this day, above the main entrance to the church.

More recently, a spat between Ethiopian and Coptic Christians delayed badly-needed renovations to a rooftop monastery at the site that engineers say could collapse.