Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem appeals to High Court
Tel Aviv (AsiaNews) - The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Theophilus
III - so Israeli media report - has presented a recourse, on Wednesday,
26
October, to Israel's High Court of Justice (the country's highest
administrative court) against the Executive, which according to him is
still
denying him civil recognition, i.e. is refusing to issue him with the
decree
(of Ottoman origin) called Berat.
This decree would be necessary for the Patriarch to be able to act on
behalf
of the Patriarchate in the secular sphere (buy, sell, give orders in
respect
of bank accounts etc.). The recourse alleges that the Government is
making
the grant of the Berat conditional upon acceptance by Patriarch
Theophilus
of certain real estate sales (in East Jerusalem)� made by his deposed
predecessor, Irineus I, transferring the properties to Israeli
settlers. The
cause of enormous scandal among clergy and faithful, but also to public
opinion at large, these sales are believed by the new Patriarch to be
obviously invalid, not only because done without the required approval
of
the Synod, but also in view of the improbably low prices indicated in
the
contracts and cited by the recourse. The Government has not yet
responded to
the recourse of the Patriarch.
The Israeli Franciscan jurist, Fr. David-Maria A. Jaeger, an expert on
Church-State relations in Israel, reached by AsiaNews, comments: "As a
matter of fact there Israeli law does not require the Berat or any
other act
of Government recognition of the newly elected Greek Orthodox
Patriarch.
Nonetheless, in everyday life, without a letter of recognition by the
Government, many private and public bodies� - for example, banks,
companies,
but also the land registry and various Government agencies - often
refuse to
del with the Patriarch in his capacity of legal representative of the
corporation he heads. This results in considerable practical
difficulties,
above all in the administration of temporal goods. Since this refusal
has no
basis in law, and since it would be moreover incompatible with the
fundamental principles of the legal system, the Patriarch could direct
his
recourse against the very requirement that he have the Berat (a
requirement
happily never directed at any Catholic Bishop). It seems almost certain
that, if he did it, citing especially the right to religious freedom,
the
High Court of Justice would side with him.
However, going by the press reports, this is not what the Patriarch is
doing. It appears that the Patriarch has chosen instead (perhaps for
tactical motives, but also because it might be difficult to challenge a
non-existing legal requirement) not to challenge directly the survival
of
the Berat, but to argue that this recognition is being denied to him on
illegitimate grounds, in the service of what would essentially amount
to
'extortion'. This is a very grave accusation to make against the public
authorities - with which he and his institution will, in any case, have
to
co-exist - and it will be very interesting to see what response the
Government will make (most certainly an indignant response rejecting
the
charge)."