Christian Israelis

Taken at
Israel Museum
 in
Jerusalem.

To the left is the Shrine of the Book or the Dead Sea Scroll viewing room in Jerusalem.

To the right is the Children's Museum at the Israel Museum.

To the left is the Knesset building in Jerusalem.

What do these pictures all have in common?

The lands upon which all these objects and buildings sit belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. The Israeli government buildings are sitting on leased land.

     The Greek Orthodox Church via the Patriarchate seems to own a lot of land in Israel, most likely because it claims its dynasty from 451 C.E. The Crusaders of Roman Catholic origin, tried to claim everything. After the Crusaders were kicked out, Mamluks tried destroying all things Christian. Armenian Patriarchate arrived in the 13th century and the Franciscan monks in the 14th century, with both trying to claim “pilgrimages.”

     The idea of a church owning the rights of pilgrimages does seem strange. In 1856, and again in 1871, there was a Status Quo of the Pilgrimages in the Paris Council. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate claims the 1856 council gave them the rights to the pilgrimages. It seems the Christian religions have been fighting over the rights of pilgrimages for centuries. Not finding the reason for this squabble, I can think of two reasons – money from tourist and compensation for upkeep of their sites and maybe a convert or two to join their specific Christian religion.

 

     Back to the question of the Greek Orthodox Church owning the land which the Knesset and other Israeli government buildings stand, they were in the right place and time when the Ottoman Empire was registering land. Okay, so they currently own this land. Why is not the land the land expropriated? When the United States (U.S.) government wants land or other countries, those governments pay a paltry amount and take the land for use. Then again, the U.S. is not surrounded by hostile Moslem countries as is Israel. It is probably a good idea not to alienate the Christian world as well by taking the land. Negotiations for leasing will come up again in about ten years. It will be interesting to see what happens.