In this corner...

Ah. Christian love, peace and brotherhood. Monks - the symbols of all that is RIGHT within Christianity...or not.

Truly, it lends itself to some kind of joke..."Did you hear the one about the monks at the tomb?"...only this is no joke, and shows the kind of behavior that wouldn't be acceptable from my CHILDREN, let alone grown men who profess to love the Lord above all things.

In Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (believed to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection), a group of Armenian monks were celebrating and commemorating the discovery (in the 4th century) of what was believed to be the cross Jesus was crucified on. Well, the Greek Orthodox monks were having hissy fits that the Armenians didn't have a Greek escort - fearing that without one, the Armenians would have a better claim to the area...how celebrating the discovery of a cross without a Greek policemonk on hand gives extra claim is beyond me...

Anyway, the Armenian monks refused the not-so-generous offer of an escort, and the Greek Orthodox monks decided to be bullies. They formed a chain and refused to let the Armenians continue their march. When the Armenians tried, the fighting began. Police had to be called and two men (one of each sect) were taken away.

So, can someone explain this to me? Aren't monks, like nuns and priests, supposed to be the epitome of the loving, generous and forgiving spirit of Christ? I'm kind of failing to feel that here...Not only that, but this smacks of idolatry - granted, it's part of their religion, but since when should a piece of wood come before a human being? I personally believe that Jesus would have some issues with that particular stance.

So, apparently the rule is to show loving kindness to all...unless that "all" includes people who believe differently than you do. Then, all bets are off. And so are the gloves...