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Holy Nativity! Clergy brawl at Bethlehem church cleanup

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  • Holy Nativity! Clergy brawl at Bethlehem church cleanup

    Ottawa Citizen, Canada
    Dec 29 2011

    Holy Nativity! Clergy brawl at Bethlehem church cleanup

    Police break up rival monks with brooms

    By Mark Weiss



    The annual Christmas cleanup at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity
    turned into a mass brawl Wednesday as rival clergy from the Greek
    Orthodox and Armenian denominations attacked each other with brooms.

    Club-wielding Palestinian police stormed into the church to break up
    the fight which involved about 100 priests and monks.

    Bethlehem police Lt.-Col. Khaled al-Tamimi said order was quickly restored.

    "No one was arrested because all those involved were men of God," he said.

    The Church of the Nativity is jointly administered by the Latin,
    Orthodox and Armenian churches, each of which controls and jealously
    guards a part of the holy site.

    No changes, however minor, can be made to the 6thcentury holy site
    made without the approval of all three denominations.

    The result has been that the Church of the Nativity has fallen into a
    dangerous state of disrepair.

    Last month, after years of arguments, the sects finally reached
    agreement to replace the church's leaking roof. The renovations,
    planned for next year, will mark the first major repairs in 150 years.

    Every year the different denominations co-operate in the annual
    Christmas cleaning operation which occurs between the Latin Christmas
    and early January, when the Orthodox sects celebrate Christmas.

    Scuffles often erupt between Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests
    during joint religious or cleaning ceremonies. In 2007, seven priests
    were injured in a post-Christmas cleaning fight in the church.

    The Church of the Nativity is built on the site where Christians
    believe Jesus was born in a stable more than 2,000 years ago after
    Mary and Joseph were turned away at an inn.



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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