Patriarch Irenaios

Irenaios Skopelitis born 1939 was the primate of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem from 2001 to 2005. As Patriarch, he is styled "Patriarch Irenaios" or "Irenaios I."

Born Emmanouil Skopelitis in April 1939, Irenaios was elected patriarch on August 13, 2001 in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

He was enthroned on September 15, 2001 as the 140th "Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Syria, beyond the Jordan River, Cana of Galilee and Holy Zion" in the presence of senior church and secular dignitaries, including Archbishop Christodoulos of the Church of Greece and Metropolitan Nicholas of the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church.

He was born on the Island of Samos in Greece and came to the Holy City of Jerusalem in 1953 and served for many years as Exarch of the Holy Sepulchre in Athens.

A few years into Irenaios' patriarchate, he was accused of selling several parcels of church-owned land in the Old City of Jerusalem to Israeli developers. As most of the Orthodox Christians in the region are Palestinian, and the land was in an Arab-populated area that most Palestinians hoped would become as a part of a future Palestinian capital, these accusations caused a great deal of concern among Church members. In January 2005, The Palestinian Authority formed a commission to investigate these allegations. After a thorough investigation of the commission, they published their report [http://www.gopoj.org/files/PalestinianCommissionReport_1_.pdf] , exonerating Patriarch Ireneos and concluded that the accusations made against Ireneos were "A very well calculated plan . . . schemed by a number of clerics opposing Ireneos in collaboration with Israeli Extreme Right Wingers. Their interest converged in the aim of getting rid of Ireneos step by step." The report also concluded that "In accordance with the applicable law in East Jerusalem, Patriarch Ireneos is still the legitimate Patriarch enjoying full powers."

Patriarch Ireneos continues to be recognized by the State of Israel as the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Israel continues to invite him to official government functions [http://www.gopoj.org/files/invitation.pdf] .

He was also accused of conspiring with Greek Archbishop Christodoulos and convicted drug-dealer Babylis, in order to slander his opponents for the throne by circulating montaged pictures of one of his opponents engaging in homosexual sex [http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=14390&m=A08&aa=1] These allegations, have also never been proven. On May 5, 2005, other Orthodox Church leaders in Jerusalem announced in a letter they had broken off contact with Patriarch Irenaios, and regard him as dismissed as Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The decision reached by the Holy Synod of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre was made final on May 6, 2005 by a two-thirds vote of that body. Irenaios ceased to be Patriarch at that point as far as the local church is concerned.

On May 24, 2005 a special Inter Orthodox Conference, was convened in Constantinople (İstanbul) to review the decisions of the Holy Synod of Jerusalem. The Inter-Orthodox Conference under the presidency of the Ecumenical Patriarch voted overwhelmingly to confirm the decision of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher and to strike Irenaios' name from the diptychs, and on May 30, Jerusalem's Holy Synod chose Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra to serve as locum tenens pending the election of a replacement for Irenaios.

On June 16, 2005, the Holy Synod of Jerusalem announced that Irenaios had been demoted to the rank of monk. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4101886.stm] This action is now widely viewed as being uncanonical. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has also said the defrockment does not have any validity and is not recognized by any Orthodox Church. [http://www.gopoj.org/files/060407.pdf]

However, by a longstanding tradition any action of this nature requires the approval of the governments in the regions of the Patriarchate's authority, presently Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan. As of December 20, 2007, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority and Israel have granted their approval. [http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58266] [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1196847383560&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull]

External links

* [http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=14390&m=A08&aa=1 Greek newspaper article referring to the Christodoulos-Babylis-Irenaios connection and the attack on Irenaios's opponent with montaged photographs (Greek)]
* [http://www.monastery.org/patriarchate.html Biography of Patriarch Irenaios and other facts about Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem]
* [http://www.gopoj.org His Beatitude's biography at the official web-page of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4517223.stm BBC News report of Patriarch Irenaios dismissal]