Конец истории.

	От	Александр
	К	Александр
	Дата	25.05.2005 09:58:43
	Рубрики	Современность; Униформа;

В Константинополе Иренея поддержали только грузины (несмотря на то, что еще несколько месяцев назад он отказался отдать им бывший когда-то грузинским мионастырь Креста - там еще Шота Руставели игуменом был). Поляки и Антиохийский патриархат воздержались. Остальные (в том числе МП) поддержали решение о смещении Иренея с Патриаршего престола.
ISTANBUL (AFP) - Orthodox Church leaders gathered here for a governing council meeting decided to dismiss Jerusalem's beleaguered Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos I from office over his alleged involvement in a damaging land-sale scandal.

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"The (Jerusalem) patriarch has been dismissed," Kesarios Vasilios, the Metropolitan of Jerusalem, told reporters after the meeting of the pan-Orthodox synod, or governing council, here.

"He will not be recited as part of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. He has been dismissed by all Orthodox Churches," said Vasilios, who is ranked the first metropolitan in the hierarchy of the Jerusalem Patriarchate.

The head of the Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who chaired the synod meeting, announced that Orthodox leaders decided to back Irineos' dismissal after he refused to resign.

"We had to take a very sad decision about the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Sad things happened there and the metropolitans (of Jerusalem) decided not to recognize him," Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the 250 million Orthodox faithful, told reporters.

"Since this morning, after having prayed, we decided to accept the decision of the metropolitans there," he added.

The Greek government called on the patriarch to accept his dismissal.

"The decision of the synod of the leaders of the Orthodox Church, taken in accordance with the canon law, must be accepted by everybody," said foreign secretary, Panagiotis Skandalakis, according to a press statement from the ministry.

"It's obvious that if somebody does not respect (these decisions) they will have the entire responsibility of any eventual negative consequences."

Athens has twice previously called on the patriarch to resign since mid-March when a newspaper reported an alleged transaction in which ideologically motivated Jewish businessmen acquired Church land in a mainly Palestinian area of the Old City, part of occupied east Jerusalem.

Irineos was effectively turfed out of office by his own flock on May 7 when 12 out of the 18 bishops in the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem voted for his removal.

After he refused the Istanbul Synod's call to step down, participants from the 12 sister churches and patriarchates held a vote and overwhelmingly backed the decision of the Synod of the Jerusalem Patriacrhate, the Metropolitan of Petra, Cornelios, said.

Nine of the churches and patriarchates voted against Irineos while only the patriachate of Georgia cast a vote in favour of him, he said.

The Church of Poland and the patriarchate of Antioch abstained, he added.

"The next step will be to elect a temporary replacement for Irineos. Then, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians will be informed. Then we will organize elections for the next patriarch," he said.

But Irineos, who has repeatedly denied involvement in the sale, signaled with his hand that he would not step down when queried by reporters after the meeting if he would resign.

Asked about the possibility of Irineos not recognising the decision of the Istanbul Synod, Bartholomew I said: "That is something up to him."

Before the Istanbul Synod got underway, one of Irineos' two lawyers had said that they would take the matter to international courts should the synod decide against the patriarch.

"No one can cut us from the religious rights and legal liberties through any legal means," attorney Franciscos Ragoussis told AFP.

"And any entity that is going to challenge this is going to be brought in front of international justice. By that, we mean the European Court of Human Rights and even the United Nations," he said.

His supporters claim the Holy Synod in Jerusalem cannot decide on a dismissal unless the patriarch himself calls the meeting, loses his mental capacities or violates the teachings of the Church.

The Istanbul Synod meeting also stirred controversy among nationalists in Turkey who contest the power of Bartholomew I, recognized by Ankara as only the head of the Greek Orthodox community in Turkey.

Up to 3O demonstrators showed up in front of the patriarchate shortly after the synod began but were blocked by police a few meters (yards) from the entrance to the patriarchate.

They dispersed after reading a declaration condemning Bartholomew for setting up a "court independent of Turkish courts" and what they called his attempts to establish a "second Vatican" in Turkey
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050524/wl_mideast_afp/mideastjerusalemgreece_050524192510