Jordan Times
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Theophilus forms ‘special advisory council’ with 11 Jordanians
AMMAN — In an unprecedented move, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III has formed a “special advisory council” with 11
Jordanians to assist in steering the affairs of the congregation and the church.
The patriarch, who is sovereign over all church decisions from the Mediterranean to the Gulf coast, decided to create the
Arab council to assist him in “steering the affairs of the congregation and the church amidst the waves of complications in
the holy land territories,” according to vice chairman of the council, Munther Haddadin.
The former minister of water and irrigation explained that advice would be directed towards any issues that involve Jordan
or Jordanians, adding that there are plans to appoint a parallel council for Palestine.
Haddadin refuted the idea that the Patriarch created the council because of pressure to add more Arabs as decision-makers in
the church.
“Nationalism does not have a place in Christianity or Islam. The Lord has come for the salvation of mankind and did not
pick any particular nations or groups to be closer to him than others,” he said.
Former minister of foreign affairs Kamel Abu Jaber, who was informed of his position yesterday, is the chairman of
consultative council.
“I would like to advise the patriarchate to really start paying attention to the flock in Jordan and Palestine, especially
the idea of re-activating the mixed council which is the decision-making organ of the Church,” he told The Jordan Times.
Last week, four Jordanians, yet to be approved by the Cabinet, were appointed as members of an interim mixed council that
will temporarily participate in decision making and help prepare for mixed council elections.
Abu Jaber explained that other matters of importance he would like to give advice on include educating and eventually
appointing Arab bishops in the Holy Synod and for the Patriarch to have regular meetings with his congregation to maintain
dialogue and find out what important issues or concerns they may have.
“The patriarchate should start to activate its role in the social affairs of Jordan and Palestine,” he said
Abu Jaber said another idea he would like to see implemented was a research centre for holding conferences and posting
bulletins to raise political and social awareness among citizens.
“In view of the chaos that is the characteristic of the Arab world now, we need to be involved in community affairs and
produce positive ideas to help Christians and Muslims. Christian or Muslim, in the end we are all Jordanian and the issues
affect us both,” Abu Jaber added.
The remaining nine members of the advisory council will be informed of their appointments today.
Meanwhile, Haddadin - who was a senior negotiator during the Kingdom’s peace talks — noted a common mistake printed in the
media is that “Jordan is the custodian of affairs for Islamic and Christian holy shrines in Jerusalem as a result of the
1994 peace treaty with Israel.” In fact, Jordan is only responsible for Muslim shrines.
“This was not touched upon within the peace treaty. The church follows the Jordanian law No. 27 from year 1958 which is a
“status quo” law that has perpetuated in history since the year 637AD. The party who has on the ground jurisdiction since
1967 is Israel,” he said.