Brawl at Bethlehem

Posted December 28th @ 5:23 pm by Andy Rau

Tell me this doesn’t sound like fodder for a bad comedy sketch: seven people were injured during a brawl between Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It wasn’t lofty theological differences that sparked this particular religious conflict, however:

The brawl apparently began when Greek Orthodox priests set up ladders to clean the walls and ceilings of their part of the church after the Christmas Day celebrations.

Armenian priests claimed that the ladders encroached on their portion of the church, which led the two sects to exchange angry words which quickly turned to blows.

Witnesses said that the robed and bearded priests scuffled for more than an hour using fists, brooms and iron rods as weapons.

Pastors—next time one of your church services doesn’t go according to plan, take comfort in the fact that it could always be worse.

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