Court cancels injunction against recognition of Greek Orthodox Patriarch

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
The High Court of Justice on Sunday canceled an injunction it had issued last week freezing Israel's belated recognition of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, ending a two-year bitter political legal and religious dispute within the church and beyond. The Patriarch's predecessor Irineos I had petitioned Israel's highest court last week against the government's decision to confirm the appointment of Theophilos III as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. The dispute over who heads the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land is especially significant because of the church's extensive property holdings in Jerusalem, and throughout the Holy Land.