ISRAELI POLICE EVACUATES PILGRIMS FROM HOLY SEPULCHER AEDICULA
On the morning of Tuesday, the 4th/17th of February 2015, the Israeli Police of Jerusalem evacuated ministers and pilgrims from the Aedicula of the Holy Sepulcher, without any forewarning, claiming that they were in danger because of the instability of the structure, on the façade of which the inscription “Possession of and dedication to Christ by Orthodox Greeks, 1810” is carved.
To deal with this incident, His Beatitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem arrived at the Church of the Resurrection accompanied by the Patriarchal Commissioner, Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, the Elder Sacristan, Archbishop Isidoros of Hierapolis, the Assistant Dragoman, Archimandrite Bartholomew, and other Hagiotaphite Fathers, as well as representatives of the Franciscan Custodians and the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem.
After necessary deliberation and strong protest, order was restored in terms of the operation of the Aedicula and veneration at the Holy Sepulcher.
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Custodians of the Holy Land and the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem strongly protested against this intervention which violates the status quo of the Church of the Resurrection. In English, the letter of protest reads as follows: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2015/02/22/12339
From the Secretariat-General