Communalism and Nationalism in the Mandate: The Greek Orthodox Controversy and the National Movement

Abstract

The Greek Orthodox Church in Palestine, the largest of the Christian denominations, had long been troubled by a conflict ("controversy") between its all-Greek hierarchy and its Arab laity hinging on Arab demands for a larger role in church affairs. At the beginning of the Mandate, community leaders, reacting to British official and Greek ecclesiastical cooperation with Zionism, formally established an Arab Orthodox movement based on the structures and rhetoric of the Palestinian nationalist movement, effectively fusing the two causes. The movement received widespread (though not total) community support, but by the mid-1940s was largely overtaken by events and did not survive the 1948 war. The controversy, however, continues to negatively impact the community to this day.

Orthodox Clubs and Associations: Cultural, Educational and Religious Networks Between Palestine and Transjordan, 1925–1950

“…24 This movement spread from the urban centres of Palestine to Transjordan, led by well-known Arab nationalists engaged against Zionism such as Khalīl al-Sakākīnī and 'Isā al-'Isā (Robson, 2011). 25 In June 1923, during the sixth Palestinian Arab Congress, intellectuals involved in this Orthodox controversy, such as 'Isā al-'Isā and Ibrāhīm Shammās, presented a petition asking the congress to support the Orthodox struggle. 26 In this context, an Orthodox fraternity (jama'iyyat al-ikhā al-urthūduksiyya) was created with local committees in the parishes dealing with local matters.…”

The Politics of church land administration: the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in late Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine, 1875–1948

“…However, the relevant resolution of the third Arab Orthodox Congress (Jerusalem 1944) was 'considerably less detailed and forceful than previous efforts'. 84 After the Arab refusal, the British refrained from further engagement in the affair until the end of the Second World War; nor did the other interested parties take any step to reopen the question. There was a relevant initiative only at the conclusion of the British rule (spring 1946).…”