Aug. 30, 2005
August 30, 2005
A week or three ago, I wrote a column about various kinds of scandals in faith communities, mentioning at the start of it the disputes that have particularly torn apart the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land.
Word came last week that the church now has elected a new patriarch to replace Patriarch Irineos, who was, in effect, fired because of allegations of misconduct that had to do with real estate dealings. The new leader is Metropolitan Theofilos, a Greek-born cleric.
It's not yet clear how all this will resolve itself, however, because Irineos has denied any wrongdoing and refused to be deposed.
Some of these developments have implications for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because most of the Greek church's members in the Holy Land are Palestinians and the church is one of the largest landholders in Jerusalem, according to a recent report from Ecumenical News International.
Remember that wonderful old hymn that says, "They'll know we are Christians by our love"? Some days it seems we should remove the word love and insert "fights."
What a witness.
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