The Battle of Bethlehem: 100 rival priests clash at church built to mark birth of Jesus



An extraordinary brawl between clergymen broke out yesterday at the very site where Jesus is said to have been born.

The annual cleaning of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem descended into a battle between the rival Christian denominations that share it.

Brooms, fists and vicious insults flew in all directions between 100 priests and monks dressed in their traditional robes.

Clash: Riot police are forced to defend themselves from broom-wielding holy men at the traditionally accepted birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem

FIST FIGHTS ON HOLY GROUND: A TURBULENT HISTORY DATING BACK CENTURIES

The Church of Nativity is a basilica built over the grotto where it is believed that the Virgin Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus. In 333 A.D. the Emperor Constantine completed the basilica, which still attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the world every year. Although it was destroyed during a Samaritan riot in 529 A.D. it was rebuilt and reconfigured under Emperor Justinian.

After the Holy Land was taken over by Muslims in the 7th Century, the Muslim caliph guaranteed the integrity of the church to the Byzantines.

This meant the building survived a Persian invasion in 614 and an order by the Fatamid caliph in 1000 to destroy all Christian shrines. Crusaders took over the church without a fight when Jerusalem was captured away from the Muslims in 1099.

After this Franciscan monks backed by the Pope took over the church, creating a rivalry that lasted for centuries between them and the Greek Orthodox church, which can trace its early origins back to the 2nd Century, who were the successors of the Byzantine, over who would control of the church.

The Church of Nativity has now been divided into Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian sections for several centuries.

Each group is very possessive about the parts of the church and objects under its control. Decisions about who takes care of what is based on Ottoman Empire status system, dating back to 1299, which mandates that things be done as they have always been.



The fight ended only after Palestinian police, bending their heads to squeeze through the church’s low ‘door of humility’, rushed in with batons to restore order.

The row is believed to have begun after a clergyman of one order – either Greek Orthodox or Armenian Apostolic – accidentally pushed his broom into space ‘controlled’ by the other group.

Conflict is easily sparked by any perceived encroachment of jurisdictional boundaries within the church, where control is split between the two denominations along with Roman Catholics. All three groups were cleaning the church for annual Orthodox Christmas celebrations, which will be held next week.

Palestinian police lieutenant-colonel Khaled al-Tamimi tried to play down the incident, saying there had been a ‘trivial problem’.

He added: ‘Everything is all right and things have returned to normal. No one was arrested because all those involved were men of God.’

The 6th century church is the oldest in the Holy Land and a very fragile status quo governs relations among the three denominations. 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. Tensions between rival clergy at the church have been a fact of life for centuries and the site has often been caught up in international politics.

In the 19th century, tensions over the church – and the wider issue of Orthodox Christians in Ottoman lands – was a factor in the outbreak of the Crimean War.

Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, renovation has been delayed for years by disagreements among the denominations over who would foot the bill.

'Guarding their denominational turf': Clerics were said to be defending their areas of the Church when the 100-strong scuffle broke out

Skirmish: A member from the Armenian clergy raises his arms as Palestinian police officers try to restore order at the Church of Nativity

Officials hope work will begin next year under a deal brokered by the Palestinian Authority.

In the annual clean-up session, the entire church is swept, dusted and cleaned with kerosene to remove the grime of the past 12 months in preparation for the onslaught of more pilgrims, clergy and tourists.

Several hundred clergy take part with help from worshippers. In the 1980s, monks battled each other with chains and broomsticks over who had the right to clean a particular section of wall and beams.

Keep back: The clashing denominations each control sections of the church and fiercely guard their turf, which spilled over into violence in the holy building

At one point a ladder was yanked out from under a cleric, who was working 16ft overhead.

A fight over the dusting of chandeliers at Christmas 2006 landed several men in the hospital after the Greek Orthodox contingent placed a ladder in Armenian territory.

Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is built on the traditional site of the crucifixion, has seen similar incidents.