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Row over water bill: Christianity's holiest
site threatens closure
Saturday November 03, 2012 07:54:32 PM,
RIA Novosti
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Jerusalem: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has threatened to
close its doors to pilgrims and tourists as its bank account has
been frozen over an accumulated debt for water supplies.
The church, which has been for centuries one of the most important
pilgrimage destinations for millions of Christians as the
purported site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, is now unable to pay salaries to its expansive staff of
priests, monks and teachers.
"If nothing changes we intend to announce within a few days, for
the first time in centuries, that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
is closed," Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III
said Friday.
The church was exempt from water charges in a tacit agreement with
Jerusalem authorities for decades but the Hagihon company, which
took over water supply to Jerusalem in the late 1990s, has
recently demanded payment of a $2.3 mln bill dating back 15 years,
including interest.
The company insists that the Israeli laws do not exempt any party
from water charges and other religious institutions in Jerusalem
pay their bills on a regular basis.
The church says it is willing to pay for future utilities but has
asked Hagihon to write off the accumulated debt as it was the
result of an original misunderstanding.
Theophilos III wrote letters to the leaders of Israel, Russia, the
US, Greece, Cyprus and Jordan with an appeal to intervene with the
standoff and put a stop "to this flagrant act against the church".
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem shares control of the
church with the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate and the Roman
Catholic Franciscan Order through complicated arrangements
essentially unchanged for centuries.
The site, located within the Christian Quarter of the walled Old
City of Jerusalem, attracts more than 1 million pilgrims annually.
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