Priests Replace Nuns in Jericho Monastery Standoff

JERICHO, April 17 (Newsroom)--Two American nuns who blocked the transfer of a "white" Russian Orthodox monastery to the "red" church have been replaced by two priests as the standoff enters its fourth month.

Sisters Maria Stephanopolous, sister of former United States presidential adviser George Stephanopolous, and Xenia Cesena took up residence in the Garden Monastery on Jan. 15 when the Palestinian Authority seized the property belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (the so-called "White Church"). The Palestinians arrested and expelled the monks who were on hand, then announced their intention of turning the compound over to the Moscow Patriarchy, known as the "Red Church."

But the two nuns refused to leave the property until it is returned to the White Church, and turned the affair into an international diplomatic confrontation by involving American and Russian embassy officials.

However, Sister Xenia left after 45 days because of her health. On March 30, Sister Maria returned to her duties at the Bethany Community of the Resurrection of Christ in the Jerusalem area.

Two new monks replaced the nuns in a trailer at the monastery, where Palestinian soldiers remain posted at the gate. The monks are not allowed near any buildings on the property. Access to the chapel is denied to White Church personnel and to Russian Orthodox pilgrims.

Since the Synod of Whites' Bishops is based in the U.S. and Stephanopolous comes from a prominent Greek-American family, U.S. diplomats intervened in the standoff. Palestinian authorities promised in February to work out a peaceful agreement, but nothing has changed after three months.

Sister Maria told Newsroom that she hopes for a political resolution to the conflict. "The matter cannot be solved in the Palestinian court; the legal system is not functioning in the PA," she said. "They make autocratic decisions based on political scheming and carry it out by military means. We hope that after Easter our bishops will meet with Palestinian and Moscow Church authorities and there will be some sort of compromise."

Compromise will be difficult, however, because the Moscow Patriarchy does not want the White Church "to have one meter of the compound," Sister Maria acknowledged. "Their position is that we are totally illegitimate."

The taking of the Garden Monastery was the third seizure of White Church property in the Holy Land in the last decade. Although the PA technically handed over the Jericho property to the Moscow Patriarchy, the monastery is rumored to become a consulate for the Russian government.

PA leader Yasser Arafat, eager to win Moscow's recognition of a Palestinian state and possible Russian financial or military aid, ordered the transfer of the White Church's property to the Kremlin-backed Red Church, claiming that the Moscow Patriarchy is the rightful heir of Russian Orthodox property in the Holy Land.

However, Iliyas Iskanderov, press secretary of the Russian embassy in Tel-Aviv, told Newsroom that although the Russian Federation has a diplomatic presence in Gaza and the PA has an embassy in Moscow, talk about a consulate in Jericho is baseless.

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