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Man who holds keys to holy Christian site in Jerusalem will refuse to welcome Pence

Unitedwestand13

Unitedwestand13

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According to an article from The Hill.

The official custodian in charge of the keys to one of the most sacred sites in Christianity will not welcome Vice President Pence when he visits the Old City of Jerusalem this month.

“It has come to our attention that Vice President Pence intends to make an official visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and asked me to receive him officially,” Adeeb Joudeh, who is responsible for the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, wrote in a letter on Wednesday, according to Israel's Channel 2 News.

“I absolutely refuse to officially welcome the American Vice President Mr. Mike Pence at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I will not be physically in church during his visit," he continued.

“This is an expression of my condemnation of President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is located in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City and is said to contain the sites where Jesus Christ was crucified and where Christians believe he was buried and resurrected.

Officials from the church have downplayed the importance of Joudeh's letter.

“We didn’t receive any formal or informal request and if there is a request, there is a status quo procedure to respect involving the three communities. Anyway it is not up to one of the key keepers to decide anything about this kind of issue,” a church official said, according to The Times of Israel.

A senior church official told the publication that no visit had been planned.

Pence, who was raised Roman Catholic and now identifies as an evangelical Christian, is set to travel throughout the region this month seeking an "end to the persecution of Christians and all religious minorities."
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Man who holds keys to holy Christian site in Jerusalem will refuse to welcome Pence | TheHill

The symbolism in this act is pretty grave.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Sounds like a guy who needs to be removed from his position.
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God will remove him one day, but American politicians probably don't have that kind of influence.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Sounds like a guy who needs to be removed from his position.
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I don’t think he has done anything that offensive.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is one of Christianity's holiest sites - it contains the tomb where Christians believe Jesus was buried.

The keyholder to the church is Adeeb Jawad Joudeh Al Husseini who is a Muslim. He is not paid for this duty but says he is proud to have the job.

"We are here in Jerusalem, Muslims and Christians we are living together. We are brothers here," he said
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The Muslim man with the key to the Holy Sepulchre Church - BBC News
 
Grand Mal said:
God will remove him one day, but American politicians probably don't have that kind of influence.
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You are confused, I was talking about the minders of the church removing him, for insubordination.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Sounds like a guy who needs to be removed from his position.
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He didn't say Pence couldn't visit. Just that he wouldn't be there to welcome him. It's a symbolic protest. Nothing more.
 
Grand Mal said:
Who is he subordinate to?
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Sounds to me like he is subordinate to the community, custodians are never the deciders, they are the facilitators of what others decide.
 
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Things get more curious:

The intractable nature of these rivalries has led to a rather curious, unique arrangement that dates to the 12th century: Two Muslim families were entrusted by a presumably weary Arab potentate to be the gatekeepers of the church. The Joudeh family keeps the key, while the Nuseibeh family opens up the church door every morning and locks it in the evening.

In an interview with CNN earlier this year, Adeeb Joudeh, the current keeper of the key - an old, cast-iron object that's a foot long - described his family's hereditary task as a metaphor for religious tolerance.
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https://www.newsday.com/news/world/...ne-is-guarded-by-2-muslim-families-1.12548841
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Sounds to me like he is subordinate to the community, custodians are never the deciders, they are the facilitators of what others decide.
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Sounds to me like he's separate from the church hierarchy, as if that was someone's intention.
Also sounds like a perfectly appropriate place for an act of conscience.
 
More curious:

It’s worth noting that the two Muslim families tasked with keeping the peace aren’t immune to arguments of their own—though nothing on the scale of the tensions beyond the church’s entrance. “Yes, we share the responsibility with the Joudehs, and sometimes we argue, as happens in a family,” Nuseibeh told the International Business Times earlier this year. He believes that his family was the first to hold the key and Joudeh’s came later. But the latter disagrees.

“My ancestor who was given the keys was a sheik, a highly respected person, who was not supposed to perform physical labor, such as climbing the ladder to open the gate,” Joudeh noted later in the article. “That’s why the Nuseibehs were called in to perform this duty. Unfortunately, they feel still ashamed of being just the doorkeepers.”

Nuseibeh disagrees. “It’s like having a million dollars and not being able to spend a single cent,” he said of the other man in an interview with The Philidelphia Inquirer.
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/christian-monks-square-off-at-one-of-jerusalems-holiest-sites

The link has more on the complete dysfunction of this site.....reads like a bad joke actually.
 
bearpoker said:
He didn't say Pence couldn't visit. Just that he wouldn't be there to welcome him. It's a symbolic protest. Nothing more.
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Given the nature of the man more likely it is grandstanding....in any case this matter lacks relevance.....though surely the stakeholders of this Church can come up with a better management plan.....the current one is so bad that the Church is turning into dust but they cant do anything about it per reports.
 
CJ 2.0 said:
Yeah, nothing really unusual about Muslims limiting access to holy sites of other religions. Sort of an expectation, isn't it.

Wonder if the guy understands he is making the case for why Jerusalem needs to remain Israeli?
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How so? Do you think the Israelis should have a say in what happens in that church?
And I'm curious, what in that report says to you that Muslims are limiting access to a holy site?
 
CJ 2.0 said:
Yeah, nothing really unusual about Muslims limiting access to holy sites of other religions. Sort of an expectation, isn't it.

Wonder if the guy understands he is making the case for why Jerusalem needs to remain Israeli?
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Except that he's not limiting access. Read the article.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Sounds like a guy who needs to be removed from his position.
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Hawkeye10:

Isn't that what the Pharisees and Pontius Pilate said too? The irony is delicious! How would the carpenter from Galilee treat a visit from VP Pence, I wonder?

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Given the nature of the man more likely it is grandstanding....in any case this matter lacks relevance.....though surely the stakeholders of this Church can come up with a better management plan.....the current one is so bad that the Church is turning into dust but they cant do anything about it per reports.
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You need to expand your reading
Restoration work on Jesus’s tomb began just under a year ago, in May 2016. Ten months later, scaffolding was removed from the aedicule making it visible. Some work is still ongoing in the non-visible part of the tomb, which will be completed in time for the inauguration.

The goal is to consolidate the whole structure, and preserve it from damage from quakes, like that of 1927. Both public and private groups are funding the work.
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Here's one American report
Jesus’ Tomb Is Unveiled After Year-Long Renovation

JERUSALEM — Just in time for Easter, one of Christianity’s holiest sites has been restored to its former glory.

The tomb that Christians believe was where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected — officially known as the Holy Edicule — has undergone a year-long renovation.

Gone is the cage-like structure that was put in place to prop up the walls 70 years ago.

And the black soot that had accumulated on the stone structure from years of visitors' candles has been scrubbed clean. Now the warm red marble welcomes worshippers.
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Evilroddy said:
Hawkeye10:

Isn't that what the Pharisees and Pontius Pilate said too? The irony is delicious! How would the carpenter from Galilee treat a visit from VP Pence, I wonder?

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
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This guy loves the attention, and his works sucks, so I am discounting him.
 
Grand Mal said:
How so? Do you think the Israelis should have a say in what happens in that church?
And I'm curious, what in that report says to you that Muslims are limiting access to a holy site?
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Some people need to read a bit of history. The two Muslim families were chosen because the three Christian churches couldn't agree on anything so they picked an outsider to keep the door.
 
CLAX1911 said:
and that's different from Bill Clinton's George bushes and natal Obama's recognition of it how?
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Because he's going to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem, and because he's strengthening Isreal's claim to all of Jerusalem even though the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital. Don't you follow the news at all?
 
bearpoker said:
Because he's going to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem, and because he's strengthening Isreal's claim to all of Jerusalem even though the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital. Don't you follow the news at all?
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Who gives a crap about Palestine? They will be unhappy until the entire world is Palestine
 
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