Punches and kicks hurled at Franciscan friars by Greek Orthodox monks at Jerusalem's church of the Holy Sepulchre were "unprovoked and without any real reason", the Franciscans say.
A "holy" brawl broke out on Monday morning at Christianity's most important shrine, where different denominations guard their hold on sections of the Basilica that, tradition holds, was built where Jesus was crucified and buried.
Involving dozens of Greek Orthodox monks, Franciscan friars, Israeli police and a sacristan, the fight started during a Greek procession marking the Feast of the Holy Cross and lasted half an hour.
The straw that broke the camel's back was the bronze door of the chapel of the Apparition in the custody of Franciscan friars, which Greek Patriarch Irineos wanted closed but which the Franciscans had left open.
The Franciscans said tension had built up because the Greeks were going to attempt, against the prevailing status quo, "to pass through the northern section of the chapel of St Mary Magdalene", also in the custody of the Franciscans.
The Israeli government had asked the Franciscans to allow the Greeks to pass through this section, which can be reached through the door that provoked the brawl. "The reason for this request was ostensibly to keep the peace and avoid violence in the Basilica," said Franciscan priest Fr Anthony Chircop, who lived in Jerusalem for a year.
However, the Greeks read the open door as a sign of provocation and the patriarch sent his bodyguard and other representatives to close it. They were stopped by Israeli police who formed a cordon in front of the chapel, the Franciscans said.
After a brief standoff, the Greek monks, many of whom were in liturgical vestments, attacked the police and attempted to enter by force the Franciscan chapel of the Apparition in order to close it, according to the Franciscans. "One Franciscan friar was beaten and kicked by Greek monks and lay people and several police officers were injured." Several Greek monks were arrested.
The rights exercised by six different groups guarding their share of the Basilica go back to 1757 when, under Ottoman rule, status quo rules were laid down on how Christians were to "share" the holy edifice.
"There were specific rules even on how the floor of the Basilica should be wiped," Fr Chircop said.
He explained that different denominations, Latins (Catholic), Orthodox Greeks, Armenians, Ethiopian and Egyptian Copts and Syrians, tightly held to their customs and their sections, otherwise "they risked losing territory to other denominations for good".
Fr Chircop said there were no Maltese Franciscans in the Basilica even though a Maltese Franciscan priest, Fr Noel Muscat, responsible for priests in formation, lived in the Franciscan convent of St Salvador, in Israel. Fr Muscat was not at the Basilica when the brawl took place.