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This week marks the holiest week in Christianity – Holy Week. We recall the events that led to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour and we remember His glorious resurrection.

The celebration of the Holy Light Ceremony, is a great moment that ties the faithful to the light of Jesus Christ. This ceremony has been faithfully taking place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for nearly 2,000 years, attracting Christians from around the world.

Each year, the Churches coordinate with the authorities to ensure this ceremony can take place without issue. Notably, last year barriers were imposed by the Israel Authority throughout the Old City that made impossible the access of our local Christian Communities pilgrims from attending the Holy Light Ceremony in the Holy Sepulchre, impeding their freedom to worship and witness the miracle of the resurrection.

This year, after many attempts made in good will, we are not able to coordinate with the Israeli authorities, as they are enforcing unreasonable, and unprecedented restrictions on access to the Holy Sepulchre – more so than last year. These heavy-handed restrictions will limit access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Light Ceremony.

Police are unfairly and inappropriately placing the burden on the churches to issue invitations, while tying the Churches’ hands with unreasonable restrictions that will prevent worshippers from attending particularly our local community. This make difficult our coordination with the police.

As we the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Custody of the Holy Land and the Armenian Patriarchate clearly stated in our various statements, we shall continue to uphold the Status Quo customs, and the ceremony will be held as customary for two millennia and all who wish to worship with us are invited to attend. With that made clear, we leave the authorities to act as they will. The Churches will freely worship and do so in peace.

-The Armenian, Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in Jerusalem

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)

We, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, convey our Easter Greetings from the Holy City of the Resurrection to faithful Christians around the world, both far and near.

It was from here in Jerusalem that the angel first greeted the women at the empty tomb, proclaiming, “Do not be afraid . . . He is not here; for He has been raised (Matt 28:5-6). It was from here that Jesus himself saluted these same women with the words, “Do not be afraid” (Matt 28:10). And it was from here that the Risen Lord calmed the fears of his disciples as they hid behind closed doors, saying to them, “Peace be with you,” and breathing upon them the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-22).

From those first encounters until today, the fulfillment of God’s promise in the Risen Christ has remained the Easter message. For just as Christ has been raised, so too have we been raised with him to a new life in the hope of that same resurrection (Romans 6:4-5).

As the Apostle Peter would later write, Christ’s resurrection offers us “a new birth into a living hope.” That hope would sustain the Apostles and early Christians through many trials and tribulations, giving them the strength to endure with joy, dignity, and grace. “In this you rejoice,” continued St. Peter, “even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith . . . may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

These words both encourage and empower us during these tumultuous times, when our own faith continues to be tested. As we have all seen in recent months, escalating violence has engulfed the Holy Land. Local Christians in particular have increasingly suffered adversities similar to the ones about which St. Peter wrote.

For over the past year, some of our churches, funeral processions, and places of public gathering have become targets of attack; some of our holy sites and cemeteries have been desecrated; and some of our ancient liturgies, such as the Palm Sunday Procession and the Holy Fire Ceremony, have been closed off to thousands of worshipers. This is in spite of our agreements to cooperate with the governing authorities, and to accommodate any reasonable requests that they might present.

While we will persevere in these good-faith efforts, we ask the overseeing officials to work cooperatively and collaboratively with us, even as we call upon international community and local residents of goodwill to advocate on our behalf, in order to help secure the safety, access, and religious freedom of the resident Christian community and the millions of Christian pilgrims annually visiting the Holy Land—as well as the maintenance of the religious Status Quo.

Yet in welcoming this support, we do not finally place our hope in the hands of any human source. We place our ultimate hope only in God. For through Christ’s resurrection, we have the blessed assurance of the Almighty’s gracious providence through the Holy Spirit, a source of divine power that is able to sustain us today, just as it sustained Jerusalem’s first Christians those many centuries ago.

And so it is in the hope offered in Christ’s resurrection that we exchange with our fellow believers around the world that ancient Christian greeting that continues to resound so powerfully today: “Christ is Risen! (Al Maseeh Qam! Christos Anesti! Christos harjav i merelotz! Pikhirstos aftonf! Christ est Ressuscité! Cristo è risorto! Christus resurrexit! Meshiha qam! Christos t’ensah em’ muhtan! Christus ist auferstanden!) He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!”

We, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, are saddened by the latest escalation

of violence in the Holy Land. On Sunday night, February 26th, dozens of Israeli settlers

rampaged through the Palestinian town of Huwara near Nablus, killing a man, injuring dozens of

people with metal rods and tear gas, and torching scores of buildings and cars.

This took place as a retaliation after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli settlers near the same

town—an act itself in response to the killing of eleven Palestinians in Nablus the week before.

This recent escalation came during and following the conclusion of a rare meeting between Israeli

and Palestinian leaders in Aqaba, Jordan, in which Israel promised to halt settlement expansion

in the Palestinian areas, and to stop, along with the Palestinians, a spiraling and senseless

escalation.

These painful developments make it ever more necessary not only to immediately de-escalate

tensions in words and deeds, but also to find a more lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict, in accordance with international resolutions and legitimacy.

With all people of good will, we pray to the Lord for peace and justice in our beloved Holy Land,

where all have been tormented by this painful, long-term conflict.

—The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the storming of its land today, Tuesday, December 27, by an Israeli radical group in Wadi Hilweh in Silwan, south of the Old City of Jerusalem.

This radical group has no right or judicial backing in their favour to allow them to enter or occupy the land. The Patriarchate also condemns the fact that the raid took place with the protection of armed Israeli police and border guards.

The Patriarchate affirms that this piece of land, known as ‘the red land’, is five dunums in size (around 1.2 acres) and has been leased to the Sumrin family by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem since the beginning of the last century.

The Sumrin family is still cultivating it to this day, and this intrusion is a clear encroachment on the Patriarchate’s properties in Jerusalem.

This incident represents a direct reaction of the radical Israeli groups to the Patriarchate’s criticism of their expansionist practices that are being deliberately targeted against the Christian churches in Jerusalem, as His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, made it clear in his speech during the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Jaffa Gate on Friday, December 16th.

The Patriarchate of Jerusalem clarifies that an attempt was made to attack this land previously in 2008 when the municipality tried to use it. The Patriarchte went to court, fighting a judicial proceeding against the municipality, only to be surprised that an Israeli radical organization possessed documents linking this plot of land to the suspected forgery deal in 2004, which included the properties of Jaffa Gate.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem stresses its commitment to all its rights, properties, and endowments, and that it will spare no effort to protect and defend its rights, and that it will not retreat from defending the Orthodox rights, which the Church and its people have adopted unanimously since His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III assumed his position as Patriarch of Jerusalem in 2005.

ENDS

Detailed background on the situation is available here: https://t-j.org.il/2022/12/27/update-an-important-breaking-development-in-silwan/

Jerusalem 08 June 2022

Today, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision rejecting the Patriarchate’s latest attempts to annul the ruling issued against it in July 2017, through which the radical Israeli organisation, Ateret Cohanim, succeeded in expropriating the properties of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem at Jaffa Gate (Bab Al-Khalil) in Jerusalem, and this decision comes despite the legal battle waged by the Patriarchate for the past seventeen years.

The Patriarchate considered the court’s decision as unfair and not following to any legal or logical basis, as the radical organisation and its backers and supporters have followed crooked and illegal methods to acquire Christian real estate in one of the most important sites of Arab Islamic and Christian presence in Jerusalem.

Over the past years, the Patriarchate launched a legal, media and diplomatic campaign in which it incurred very high costs, in the judicial and diplomatic field, in order to pressure the Israeli authorities to prevent radical organisations from seizing these properties, but these attempts did not succeed under the pressure of these radical organisations and their agents who support them in the decision-making circles.

The Patriarchate affirmed that it will continue to support the Palestinian tenants in their steadfastness in these Christian properties, and that it is unwavering in its battle to curb the racist policy and the agenda of the extremist right-wing in Israel, aimed at eroding the multiple identity of the city of Jerusalem and imposing a new reality within it.

The Heads of Churches in the Holy Land are united on these issues, and they share my views when I say the following:

The deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, is grossly dismissive of the scale of the diminishing indigenous Christian presence in our City (Sunday Telegraph 24th April 2022).

Indigenous Christians make up 1% of the population of the Holy Land, down from 12% a century ago, (2021 report by Birmingham University).

Christians are leaving their ancestral homes for a safer life and the freedom to worship as a direct consequence of discrimination and unpunished hate crimes carried out against their communities. In Jerusalem they face an increasingly hostile environment from Israeli radicals, with frequent harassment, vandalism and attacks.

Ms Nahoum’s claim that the Christian population has increased by 1.5% in the past year, quoting figures from the Israel Democratic Institute, is misleading and inaccurate.  We have the first-hand knowledge of our indigenous Christians numbers, and we are amiss as to which community she’s looking at.

Radical groups, such as Ateret Cohanim, are squeezing Christians out of their physical environment. In addition to facing insidious erosion of their spiritual space – as seen during harsh authority restrictions over Orthodox Easter.

Our community urgently needs a political solution where the law is upheld consistently.  Peace, love and tolerance must be our guiding principles and we call on Ms. Nahoum to engage with this problem, not brush it under the carpet.

His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III – convenor of the Council of Churches in Jerusalem

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem officially informed the Israeli police yesterday through a letter addressed to its District Commander it’s rejection of any restrictions on the number of celebrants on Holy Fire Saturday inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, its courtyard, its surroundings, its roof, or the entrances leading to it. The letter was signed by the Secretary General of the Patriarchate, Archbishop Aristarchus, in which he refuted the police’s arguments for placing restrictions on the number of worshipers and limiting them to 1,700. The Patriarchate rejected this offer on principled grounds that it doesn’t accept any infringement to the right to freedom of worship.

The letter stated that the number of worshippers in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre annually on Holy Fire Saturday ranges between ten thousand and eleven thousand people, which is the normal capacity of the church. The letter argued that over the past years there has not been any incident that endangered the safety of worshipers, so the police’s argument that restricting the number of worshippers due to “public safety” concerns lacks any logical basis. The Patriarchate asked in its letter: If the pretext of public safety is a reason for reducing the number of worshipers inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, then why are there restrictions on in its courtyard, rooftop, adjacent neighborhoods, or even the entrances to the Old City? Especially at the main entrances to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Christian Quarter.

The patriarch made it clear that it will proceed as usual with its normal procedures related to Holy Fire Saturday and that it will issue invitations as it deems appropriate and without any limits. It also confirmed that all priests will in the Patriarch’s procession will not carry any badges, as the patriarchate affirmed the right of all worshipers to access The Church of the sepulcher, especially the participants in the morning prayer at the adjacent Church of St. Jacob, without any obstacles.

In the letter, the Patriarchate demanded the police not to put up barriers in the alleys of the Old City, as they impede the access of worshipers and priests from different monasteries to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Furthermore the Patriarchate demanded the police facilitation to freely transfer the Holy Light to the airport in order to transport it to different parts of the world, as is the custom on this important holiday, which is at the heart of the Christian faith.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.’” (Psalm 122:6–7)

The seizure of the Little Petra Hotel by the radical extremist group Ateret Cohanim is a threat to the continued existence of a Christian Quarter in Jerusalem, and ultimately to peaceful coexistence of the communities of this city.

The Heads of Churches have repeatedly warned of the illegitimate actions of extremists, who have followed a pattern of intimidation and violence. In occupying the Greek Orthodox Church’s property, the Little Petra Hotel, Ateret Cohanim has committed criminal acts of break-in and trespass. They act as if they are above the law, with no fear of consequences.

This issue is not about the individual properties, but about the whole character of Jerusalem, including the Christian Quarter. The Little Petra Hotel stands on the pilgrim route for the millions of Christians who visit Jerusalem each year.

It represents Christian heritage, and speaks of our very existence in this place. Israeli radical extremist groups like Ateret Cohanim are already targeting and hijacking our beloved Old City of Jerusalem and imposing their illegitimate and dangerous agenda on all sides.

We refuse this and we say: this will lead to instability and tension at the time when all are trying to de-escalate and build trust, to build towards justice and peace. Acts of coercion and violence cannot lead to peace.

The seizure of the Little Petra Hotel by the radical extremist group Ateret Cohanim is a threat to the continued existence of a Christian Quarter in Jerusalem, and ultimately to peaceful coexistence of the communities of this city. The Heads of Churches have repeatedly warned of the illegitimate actions of extremists, who have followed a pattern of intimidation, violence, and lawless action to drive Christians and Muslims from the city that we share.

The Patriarchate of Jerusalem engaged in good faith negotiations with the Israeli government to settle the status of these Christian heritage properties that sit on the Christian pilgrim route, and through the committee headed by Minister Elazer Stern. We were assured that there would be no changes to the facts on the ground in the Christian Quarter while these negotiations are ongoing. The actions of Ateret Cohanim this week violate that assurance.

In occupying the Greek Orthodox Church’s property, the Little Petra Hotel, Ateret Cohanim has committed criminal acts of break-in and trespass. They act as if they are above the law, with no fear of consequences.

This issue is not about the individual properties, but about the whole character of Jerusalem, including the Christian Quarter. The Little Petra Hotel stands on the pilgrim route for the millions of Christians who visit Jerusalem each year. It is our heritage, and speaks of our very existence in this place.

Israeli radical extremist groups like Ateret Cohanim are already targeting and hijacking our beloved old city of Jerusalem and imposing their illegitimate and dangerous agenda on all sides. We refuse this and we say: this will lead to instability and tension at the time when all are trying to de-escalate and build trust, to build towards justice and peace. Acts of coercion and violence cannot lead to peace.

We demand that this criminal group immediately cease their tresspass and get out of our heritage property. We demand that they halt their criminal activities on the Christian pilgrim route and in our beloved Old City.

With heartfelt regard, we follow the distressing crisis in Ukraine in the last days and we stand deeply concerned for the human suffering of all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The strongest power of the Christian is prayer. With other Christian leaders around the world, we therefore call upon all Christian people to join in prayer for our world and for the people of Ukraine.

Here in Jerusalem, we raise our prayers in the place of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ that God would grant wisdom and courage to all Leaders and parties concerned. May He enlighten their minds so that dialogue and unity would be sought, and lasting peace would prevail.