in the name of God i smash you with this broomstick
Did you hear the one about the rival holy men who got into a fight while cleaning up Jesus’ birthplace? Neither had I, but apparently it’s been a thing for centuries.
Things got heated between Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergymen when they were cleaning up one of the world’s most famous churches, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The rival monks were cleaning the church in preparation for Orthodox Christmas next month when a brawl broke out and they started hitting each other with brooms.
They were fighting over sacred space in the ancient church which is built over Jesus’ birthplace. It is shared by three Christian denominations: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian. Each has their own area of the church and essentially if a group cleans another area that could mean them snatching it up as theirs – which is the basic gist of what caused the aforementioned broom fight.
It’s not a new fight the groups have gotten into it during the December clean-up on numerous occasions in the past. Now, however, the inability to get along is beginning to threaten the 1,500 building: the roof is leaking and nobody wants to pay to have it fixed.
