The Palestinian police had to break up a brawl between clergy this past week.
Officials had to intervene at the famous Bethlehem church, the Church of the Nativity, to break up a fist fight that erupted between clergy.
The famous church is 1,700 years old and is considered one of the holiest sites in Christianity. The fight broke out Wednesday between Greek and Armenian clergy, while they were cleaning the church following Christmas.
The cleaning of the church is an annual tradition that takes place between Latin Christmas and early January, in which the Christian denominations that share the church including Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox take part in each year.
At the height of the melee, some 100 priests and monks had gotten involved and some were caught on video, which later made its way to the Internet, seen swinging broomsticks and exchanging words.
According to Bloodthirstyliberal.com, the cause of brawl: accusations of encroaching on each other’s parts of the church.
The fight was eventually broken up by police. Reportedly, no one was seriously injured and there were no arrests.
According to CNN, the church is administered jointly by the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian religious authorities and tensions between the sects is not uncommon. Officials reportedly say that fights like this happen each year between opposing clergy.
Check out the video.
