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Father Germanos's death has shocked the Holy Land's Greek Orthodox community, troubled by the violent, eight-month conflict here.

Thirty-five-year-old Germanos was shot dead on June 12 as he was driving from Jerusalem to his monastery at Wadi Qelt near the West Bank town of Jericho. His car had Israeli plates, which suggests that his attackers were Palestinian gunmen who had mistaken Germanos for a Jew.

One of the mourners at his funeral, Father Christopher, said he had wept an entire night for his fellow priest and was now scared to travel on West Bank roads. He pointed to his full beard, a distinctive sign not only of Greek Orthodox monks but also of religious Jews and Muslims.

"We monks look like religious Jews to the Arabs and like [members of the militant Islamic group] Hamas to the Jews. It's a big problem," he said.

At the funeral, Christopher was one of a line of black-robed monks and nuns escorting Germanos's body down a winding trail to the monastery. A single church bell tolled in the stark, sun-baked landscape.

Germanos, originally Georgios Tsibouktsakis, came to the Holy Land in 1990 from Thessanloniki, Greece.

Metropolitan Christodolos, in charge of the funeral, said that this was the second time a priest of the Greek Orthodox faith had been murdered here. The first was the superior at the Jacob's Well Monastery in Nablus who was murdered 30 years ago.

But the metropolitan stressed that members of his denomination would not stop their ministry because of the violence, and would continue as the guardians of holy places.

"A monk looks for a lonely place where it will be between him and God, and suddenly a tragedy happens," he said. "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict caught him the middle. There are always innocents who find themselves between warring sides.

"We are not afraid because we have come to guard the holy places and to pray for peace. We pray that the two peoples will live together in peace and harmony."

He added that the Greek Orthodox Church was not placing suspicion on anyone, and would await the outcome of an investigation by the Israeli authorities.

The Greek Patriarchate in Jerusalem has sent church members to guard the site until a replacement can be found for Germanos, who was the acting superior and the sole monk at the monastery.

The Byzantine Monastery of St. George and St. John clings dramatically to a rock face high above the Wadi Qelt valley. It was built in the fifth century around a cave where tradition has it that the biblical prophet Elijah lived for several years, kept alive by spring water and a bird that brought pieces of meat and bread.

The monastery houses several relics, including one said to be a piece St John the Baptist's skull.

Greek Orthodox Christians make up the biggest Christian community in the Holy Land. Nissim Dana, acting director of the Religious Affairs Ministry department of Christian communities, estimates their numbers at between 45,000 and 50,000.

Copyright © 2001 ENI.

The Jerusalem Post News focused on the Greek Orthodox community—caught in the middle of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The monk faced formidable difficulties in keeping alive the 1,500-year-old traditions, according to the Daily Telegraph. The paper also has an extensive timeline and factfile on the Middle East conflict.

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June (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45