1

ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING MONK IRINEOS.

On April 23d / May 6th of the year 2005 the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in accordance with the canons of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Law of the Patriarchate, proclaimed Patriarch Irineos as having been demoted from the Office of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.  However, due to the continuing uncanonical [irregular] actions of the demoted Patriarch Irineos, the Holy and Sacred Synod, conforming to the dictates of the Canonical Law of the Orthodox Church, formed and convened a twelve member Prelatic Court on the 16th of June of the same year (2005) which removed former Patriarch Irineos from the priorate of His Beatitude and restored him to the rank of the monks. Monk Irineos is not being held prisoner but has chosen, of his own free volition, to enclose himself within the building compound of the Patriarchate.  Furthermore, the Patriarchate is also a monastic site and, as with other Holy Churches of the world, has laws and canons to which all priests that belong to the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre have to adhere without exception.  Monk Irineos does not comply with the canons of the Church and insists on projecting himself as the Patriarch, usurping the title and the office of the legal Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Theophilos III, whilst refusing to recognize the jurisdiction of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the spiritual authority of the power of the current and present Patriarch, Theophilos III.

Even though the aforementioned monk, former Patriarch of Jerusalem Irineos, insistently refuses to recognize the legal Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, the Patriarchate, via the guidance of His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, has made every endeavour to include monk Irineos in the distribution of food/meals which it provides to all members of the Patriarchate.  Monk Irineos dismisses it and continues to refuse the meals which are provided by the Patriarchate.  He insists on taking care of his own nutritional matters and to choose for himself the means by which he eats.

From the Press Office of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Greece.