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Clergymen in a Broom Fight at the Birthplace of Jesus

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  • Clergymen in a Broom Fight at the Birthplace of Jesus

    International Business Times
    Dec 29 2011

    Clergymen in a Broom Fight at the Birthplace of Jesus

    By Amrutha Gayathri: Subscribe to Amrutha's RSS feed

    December 29, 2011 2:09 AM EST

    An annual cleaning ritual at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem,
    one of the most sacred and oldest continuously operating churches in
    the world, ended up in a broom fight between the rival clergy
    belonging to three separate monastic communities.

    The church built over a cave, which is traditionally regarded as the
    birthplace of Jesus, is jointly administered by Roman Catholic, Greek
    Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities. According to convention,
    the right to own a portion or structure of the Church lies with the
    monastic community which cleans it up. This accepted practice may have
    led to the clash between clergymen who accused each other of
    encroachment by tidying up portions which didn't belong to the
    community.

    The ritualistic cleaning up of the church was part of the preparations
    leading to Orthodox Christmas celebrations in January, the Associated
    Press reported. Unlike the Western Christians who celebrate Christmas
    on Dec. 25, Eastern Christians, who follow the Julian calendar (which
    has a 13 day difference with the modern Gregorian calendar) celebrate
    Christmas on Jan. 6, which translates as Jan. 7 for the rest of the
    world. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Armenian
    Apostolic Church follow the Julian calendar, while the Roman Catholic
    Church follows the Gregorian calendar.

    The fight erupted between clerics tidying up the borders of their
    respective portions, and the agitated monks were reportedly shouting
    and hurling brooms at each other. Palestinian security men rushed to
    break up the fight, which did not cause any serious human injury.

    Clashes between Christian religious sects over the ownership of the
    Church of the Nativity aren't new. The structure, which currently
    occupies about 12,000 square meters, was one of the key causes that
    led to French involvement in the Crimean war against Russia. The
    dispute between Roman Catholic monks supported by France and the
    Orthodox clergy supported by Russia, over the possession of keys of
    the main door of the church, led to the Crimean war in the 1850s.

    The preservation of the Church has been a major concern since 2008,
    after it was placed in the watchlist of 100 most endangered sites by
    the World Monument Fund. The Palestinian authorities announced a
    restoration program in 2010.


    http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/273856/20111229/clergymen-broom-fight-birthplace-jesus.htm

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