An Unorthodox Deal?

Sunday, May. 29, 2005 By MATT REES | JERUSALEM
LOSING FAITH: Arab Christian protestors with a picture of Greek Orthodox Patriarch Eirinaios I, who is accused of leasing parts of Old Jerusalem to Israeli investors
EMILIO MORENATTI / AP
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Eirinaios blames the alleged Old City property deal on Nikolaos Papadimas, 32, who was appointed as a Patriarchate accountant in 2002. According to a Greek government report obtained by Time, Eirinaios gave Papadimas several powers of attorney to administer the lease of a property in Jerusalem. Eirinaios told Greek investigators he believes Papadimas altered the documents "to afford himself greater powers and to contract long-term leases," the report says. Eirinaios denies knowledge of Papadimas' dealings, and issued a statement in March renouncing the powers of attorney he gave his former adviser. On March 27, Papadimas — speaking from an undisclosed location — told Athens daily Eleftherotypia that he acted with Eirinaios' permission. Greek investigators say they can't confirm Eirinaios' version;

The patriarchate has never endured a crisis of this magnitude. The flock has lost faith in [eirinaios]
— GEORGE MOUSTAKIS,
theology professor
they found no copies of the powers of attorney in the Patriarchate's files, according to the government report. And no one is even sure that a lease was actually given. "There is no new lease on any of the Omar Ibn al-Khattab Square properties," says one Patriarchate official. Israeli property deals in Palestinian neighborhoods are often kept secret to avoid Arab protests and retribution against locals who sell to Jews.

Nevertheless, Palestinian Orthodox Christians have seized on the scandal to push for greater representation in the Patriarchate's hierarchy. There are some 120,000 Greek Orthodox Palestinians, the largest Christian group in the Holy Land, but only one of the 18-member Holy Synod is an Arab. Local members want control of the Church so that one of their own can tend to the community's spiritual needs, but also to prevent what they see as the sale of their patrimony to the Israeli enemy. "The Greek Orthodox Church is led by foreigners," says Dimitri Diliani, a Palestinian Orthodox Christian leading the campaign against Eirinaios. "They make personal profit and don't work in the best interests of the Christian community."

This week, senior clerics in Jerusalem are expected to elect a provisional leader to administer the Patriarchate until elections for a new Orthodox prelate are held. Even if Eirinaios fights to keep his job, the embattled Patriarch is likely to remain under pressure from his own congregation. Israeli security officials tell Time there is another secret Jerusalem land deal in progress for a parcel of land — also owned by the Church — next to the famous King David Hotel overlooking the walls of the Old City. Deals like that will only fuel distrust between the Church's Greek priesthood and its Palestinian lay members.

With reporting by Anthee Carassava/Athens and Matthew Kalman and Aharon Klein/Jerusalem