Jerusalem municipality “freezes” Greek Orthodox Patriarchate accounts
The complaint was made in a statement by Protecting Holy Land Christians. The “reasoning” behind the decision is said to be linked to “the Arnona issue”. The Patriarchate “is currently unable to pay the salaries of clergy, teachers and staff”. In his homily on the Assumption, Cardinal Pizzaballa affirms that the blood of every ‘innocent’ in Gaza and around the world ‘is not forgotten.’
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - In a phase of deep tension over the war in Gaza and the violence of Jewish settlers that has also affected the Palestinian Christian community, a new front of conflict is opening up in the Holy Land: in recent days, but the news has only emerged in the last few hours, the Jerusalem municipality has “frozen” all bank accounts belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.
This was revealed in an official statement by the community led by Primate Theophilos III: “On Wednesday 6 August, the Jerusalem municipality unilaterally decided to freeze the bank account of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. We believe that the reasoning behind this decision is linked to the issue of the Arnona”, the controversial property tax that municipalities collect on real estate.
The dispute between the municipality and several churches that own property in Jerusalem has been going on for several years. A ten-year agreement between the Churches and the State of Israel had prevented the Jerusalem municipality from collecting property tax from Christian institutions.
However, in 2018, the city decided that the exemption for Christian congregations and communities would only apply to properties used “for prayer, religious instruction or related purposes”. This led to the exclusion of activities serving pilgrims, such as guesthouses and cafés, and the collection of tens of millions of shekels in bills and taxes.
The clash was marked by periods of deep tension, culminating on 25 February 2018 in the historic decision by Armenian Patriarch Manougian, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Custos of the Holy Land Fra Francesco Patton to close the sanctuary of the Holy Sepulchre.
The target was a draft law on the expropriation of land belonging to churches and the request by the then mayor Nir Barkat to pay years of taxes, in contravention of agreements linked to the status quo.
The municipality only backed down after the intervention of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but since then tensions have repeatedly resurfaced between the municipality and the ecclesiastical authorities over specific properties or activities.
‘As religious institutions, churches play vital roles in maintaining educational, welfare and charitable institutions that serve the local population, Christian or otherwise,’ explains the statement by Theophilos' group, Protecting Holy Land Christians, which collaborates with leaders of other churches.
For this reason, historically, churches ‘have never paid municipal or government taxes on their properties’ during periods of Ottoman, British, Jordanian or Israeli rule.
According to Protecting Holy Land Christians, which is also linked to the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate ‘is now unable to pay the salaries of clergy, teachers and staff.’ However, other churches face similar disputes: a case has been filed against the Armenian Patriarchate by the Jerusalem municipality and will be heard in September.
Yesterday, meanwhile, in his homily during the Assumption Mass celebrated in the Benedictine monastery of Abu Gosh, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, emphasised that the blood of every “innocent” in Gaza and around the world “is not forgotten”. Looking back on the last terrible months of war, so ‘fraught with pain,’ the cardinal said that they do not allow for ‘sweetened and abstract’ talk of peace, which is therefore ‘not credible.’
On the contrary, the Latin primate returns to emphasise the value of realism, recalling that the task of Christians is - even amid death and destruction - to continue to “sow life” so that “the dragon” does not have the last word.
“We must always learn anew to live together,” said Cardinal Pizzaballa, 'with the painful awareness that the power of evil will continue to be present in the life of the world and in our own [and] that we cannot defeat the enormous power of that dragon with our human strength alone. [...] On the contrary, it is an awareness of the dynamics of life in the world, without escape of any kind, but also without fear, without sharing them but also without hiding them'.
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07/02/2023 12:01
