Posted on 10/28/2018 5:19:49 AM PDT by daniel1212
An incident between police and Coptic clerics that occurred outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has drawn accusations of police violence against the monks, after officers tried to break up the group of protesters who would not let Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) maintenance workers into the church...
Police said they initially spoke with protesters and warned them that if they did not leave the area and allow the workers to enter, they would have to be evacuated. According to police, the protesters ignored these warnings, leading one who refused to move to be arrested...
Anba Angaelos, the Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London...criticized the unprecedented and unacceptable violence used by Israeli police on Coptic monks, arising from the execution of an order that contravenes a standing Israeli court property ruling in favor of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem...
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasem stated on Wednesday evening that the incident is "another crime" committed by Israeli against the Palestinians and "reflects the racist and brutal demeanor of the Israeli occupation."..
The dispute is between the Coptic and Ethiopian monasteries over the ownership of Deir El-Sultan, located on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
It's the holiest of Christian sites - the place where Jesus was buried. But the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has become a battleground where priests fight and monks stone each other. Victoria Clark reports on an ungodly turf war
Father Athanasius's Texan drawl sounds as steady as ever down the phone from Jerusalem but the tale he's recounting is hair-raising: "... I refused to close the door to our chapel and then the Greeks, priests and deacons and acolytes attacked the Israeli police standing by the door and I was pushed away and fell down, and someone was kicking me, and more police arrived..."
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre - the sanctified home to the site of Christ's crucifixion, as well the tomb he vacated three days later - is no stranger to violent bloodshed. Christian denominations have been violently contesting each others' rights to occupy every last inch of this holiest of holy places since shortly after the the first church was built on the site around AD330.
Soon it will be Easter, and the vast 12th-century Crusader church will host more services, processions and ceremonies than at any other time of the year. That means more friction and more occasions for violence. "From Catholic Palm Sunday on 20 March to the Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony on 23 April is a five-week danger period for us," Father Athanasius says. "I'm really scared someone's going to get killed."
Christian Monks Square Off at One of Jerusalem's Holiest Sites [2013]
1,000 years of rivalry -- and a little bit of harmony -- at the Church of ...
What would Jesus do?
Maybe he would say something about being the cornerstone that was rejected.
Does Jesus, the Father or the Holy Spirit need a holy site?
Do we?
What is It, Exactly,
That is the Problem?
A Door Knob,
The Ladder outside or
some arrangement of dried flowers?
That Place is an Absolute Circus.
And in contrast to Peter, that the LORD Jesus is the Rock (petra) or "stone" (lithos, and which denotes a large rock in Mk. 16:4) upon which the church is built is one of the most abundantly confirmed doctrines in the Bible (petra: Rm. 9:33; 1Cor. 10:4; 1Pet. 2:8; cf. Lk. 6:48; 1Cor. 3:11; lithos: Mat. 21:42; Mk.12:10-11; Lk. 20:17-18; Act. 4:11; Rm. 9:33; Eph. 2:20; cf. Dt. 32:4, Is. 28:16) including by Peter himself. (1Pt. 2:4-8) Rome's current catechism attempts to have Peter himself as the rock as well, but also affirms: On the rock of this faith confessed by St Peter, Christ build his Church, (pt. 1, sec. 2, cp. 2, para. 424) which understanding some of the so-called church fathers concur with.)
Meanwhile, we are told by Catholics that holding to Scripture as the the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed is the cause of division, and thus is to be rejected, yet Catholicism abounds in division as well, some of which is due to her magisterium, or implicit sanction of diverse beliefs.
What if Jesus appeared to all of the squabbling monks at this church and said, “Actually, I was not crucified, buried or resurrected here, and I’m not telling you where.”
Act 17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Obviously a case of Christophobia and intolerance.
We need to contact a billion dollar organization in charge of “handling” complaints of Christophobia.
Oh wait, that’s right, it doesn’t exist.
Then they could squabble about that for a few centuries.
Thanks for your commentary.
What about holy sites? (No capitals is intentional.)
American Fundamentalist Protestantism is a completely different religion from historical chrstianity--it's far superior, even though both are wrong.
Interesting. That has been almost a weekly occurence for over a thousand years.
I find it strange that you have posted an article about Israeli police getting into a fight with Coptic monks to beat up on Catholicism.
“What would Jesus do”?
Turn over all their furniture and give them all a good whipping as he drives them out.
I think it strange that you do not see that an article about Israeli police getting into a fight with Coptic monks is strange, as is Roman Catholics beating on others in Catholicism!
Hezekiah destroyed the pole with the serpent on it that Moses had made because it became an object of worship. If Christians are fighting over such a “holy” place, one has to wonder what is the purpose.
Biblical archeology has confirmed the Holy Sepulchre to be the true site.
It is irrelevant. The tomb is empty. Jesus has left the building.
But He’ll be back!
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