First it was a display of octogenerian nun-violence in Italy, and now, two groups of feuding Orthodox monks are getting hot under the clerical collars in Jerusalem…

Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks got into a stoush with one another just outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and ornaments and furnishings didn’t fare well as the rival factions had a go at each other, or so the BBC reports. The row was just one episode in an ongoing jurisdictional dispute between the two Orthodox sects, in which the Greek Orthodox monks refuse to recognise the Armenian status as custodians, interfere with their ceremonies, and try to place a monk inside the edicule, the sacred site where the entombment of Christ is said to have occurred.

Two monks were detained. For shame. They’re getting as bad as Italian Disciplinarians of Saint Teresa…

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“Monks Brawl at Jerusalem Shrine” BBC News: 09.11.08: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7718587.stm