WTF? Priests Start Scrapping In Church, Hit Each Other With Brooms! [Video]
Video After The Jump
BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.
The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations — Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox.
Wednesday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.
The monks were tidying up the church ahead of Orthodox Christmas celebrations in early January, following celebrations by Western Christians on Dec. 25. The fight erupted between monks along the border of their respective areas. Some shouted and hurled brooms.
Palestinian security forces rushed in to break up the melee, and no serious injuries were reported. A Palestinian police spokesman would not immediately comment.
A fragile status quo governs relations among the denominations at the ancient church, and to repair or clean a part of the structure is to own it, according to accepted practice. That means that letting other sects clean part of the church could allow one to gain ground at another's expense. Similar fights have taken place during the same late-December cleaning effort in the past.
Tensions between rival clergy at the church have been a fact of life there for centuries and have often been caught up in international politics.
In the 1800s, friction between the denominations at the church — each backed by foreign powers — became so fraught that Russian Czar Nicholas I deployed troops along the Danube to threaten a Turkish sultan who had been favoring the Catholics over the Orthodox.
Those disagreements threaten the integrity of the church itself, which was originally built 1,500 years ago and parts of which have fallen into disrepair. Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, a renovation has been delayed all these years by disagreements among the denominations over who would pay.
Only recently, the Palestinian Authority brokered an agreement to move ahead with replacing the roof, and officials hope work will begin in 2012.
Source: New York Daily News
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Comment by Deetrix on December 30, 2011 at 7:28am -
Abdoul Aziz if thats the case why do u get sunnis blowing up shiites and vice versa
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Comment by marvin on December 29, 2011 at 1:18pm -
Major music executives looking for Rappers/MCs for an upcoming project
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Comment by Jacuzzi on December 29, 2011 at 12:46pm -
Yeah thats real Holy right there!
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Comment by Ksirrah on December 29, 2011 at 12:40pm -
PRAY!!!
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Comment by Abdoul Aziz on December 29, 2011 at 10:18am -
ISLAM IS THE TRUTH LEFT FOR RELIGION! BEFORE U SAY SOMETHING WRONG ABOUT IT READ THE QURAN AND JUDGE YOURSELF! DONT LISTEN TO THE HATERS , THE WRONG DOERS READ AND LEARN GOD WORDS! ASALAM ALEIKUM!
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Comment by T- Make it rain €€€€€€€ on December 29, 2011 at 8:45am -
there is so much yall dont know about the situation in Palestine, the christians are having problems in that area..
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Comment by WESTSIDE PHOENIX on December 29, 2011 at 5:09am -
monk gang foo na priest gang dude lol
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Comment by tone-100cent on December 29, 2011 at 3:46am -
holy sheeeet lol
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Comment by Ms.Unaware Book "UnAware" Coming on December 29, 2011 at 2:09am -
Uh-oh...Goodness!!!!
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