Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece, Panayiotis Skandalakis stated that decisions of the Panorthodox Meeting have to be accepted by everyone, in a threatening note , :"Whoever deviates or does not conform will bear the responsibility of any negative developments"

The conspiracy and bribaries of Mr Panayotis Skandalakis, (Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece) have created the enormous crisis in Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece, Theodoros Kassimis
The n onrecognition of Theophilos condemns the Patriarchate to an economic paralysis. Their actions have damaged the reputation of
Greece and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in the Christian Orthodox Churches.

Haaretz.com by the Associated Press, Jerusalem
... Theofilos's invitation addressed him simply as "bishop," Aristarchos said. Irineos I attended the annual party for Christian leaders, said Avi Granot, political adviser to Israel's ceremonial president, Moshe Kastsav.

January 5 2007: BREAKING NEWS! THE LAWFUL PATRIARCH IRENAIOS OF JERUSALEM IS FOUND INNOCENT!
An independent investigation by the Palestinian Authority has found Patriarch Irenaios *innocent* of the accusations made against him of an alleged "inappropriate" church property sale to a group of Israeli investors. This was used by Patriarch Bartholomew to illegally replace Patriarch Irenaios with his own man, Theophilos III, who was made a Bishop only 3 months before Patriarch Irenaios' dismissal. The Ecumenical Patriarchate stirred up the Sacred Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, inciting some of them against the innocent Patriarch Irenaios so as to have him removed from office. Patriarch Irenaios was not deposed but rather dismissed. Thus he remains the lawful Patriarch of the Jerusalem Patriarchate according to Israeli law Patriarch Irenaios had fully consented to the wishes of the Palestinian Authority's investigation of the accounting books and transactions. At the same time, the illegally elected new Patriarch Theophilos III would not comply with the investigation. A "Vavylos Phocas," who uses three aliases, and a Mr Papadimos, have been cited as the guilty parties who worked in the Patriarchal accounting office.
It should also be noted that Theophilos III is not recognized by the Israeli Government but Patriarch Irenaios is recognized by them as the lawful Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. The title of the special News Report will be: "Patriarch Irenaios Was Framed! Patriarch Irenaios Is Innocent!" Please do not miss this ground breaking News Report!

Article/book #: 21920 Title: PA clears Greek Orthodox patriarch in property deals By: Associated Press (AP)
Published in: Ha'aretz Date of issue: Tuesday, 5 July 2005
The embattled Greek Orthodox patriarch in Jerusalem was not involved in the long-term lease of prime Jerusalem properties to Jewish settlement groups in the city, the Palestinian Authority concluded yesterday, after an investigation of several weeks. The findings could signal a turning point in the murky saga of the property deals and help the patriarch, Irineos I, cling to his job.
It was not clear to what extent the findings might have been influenced by the PA's attempt to wrest the properties from Jewish hands. Senior Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said their main objective was to cancel the property transactions, and that Irineos has been cooperating with them.

15/07/2005 HAARETZ.com
Greek's consul general: We're not taking advantage of patriarchy crisis to advance regional presence By Lily Galili
The Greek consul general in Jerusalem, Eleni Sourani, has denied Israeli claims that Greece is leveraging the crisis at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy in Jerusalem to advance its political aspirations in the region.
...Sourani rejected claims that the PA removed its support of the patriarch due to Greek pressure. "Had the Palestinians wanted to appease us, they would have revoked their recognition long ago," she said."The PA decided to revoke recognition at the timing of its choice, and as far as I know, it was recommended by the committee set up to examine the affair. The committee's report is very different from the position of Irineos' Palestinian lawyers, clearing him of all involvement in the real estate deal," she said.

 

Article/book #: 24741 Title: Greek Orthodox Church sets bizarre patriarch precedent By: Lily Galili Published in: Ha'aretz
Date of issue: Sunday, 21 August 2005
Barring any last-minute changes, as of tomorrow morning Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Church will have two patriarchs: Irineos the First, who is recognized only by Israel, and a new patriarch recognized by most of the Orthodox world, and by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
This bizarre state of affairs presents a problem for the Greek Orthodox Church, but more of a problem for Israel, which is on a collision course with the Orthodox world. Israel's stubborn position has provoked harsh criticism from the Greek government, which is embarrassed by the affair and seeks to end it quickly.
He had a significant role in the establishment and leadership of a number of boards of trustees and other Orthodox committees, the founder of Orthodox youth movements and Sunday schools, holder of the Holy Sepulcher medal of the “high commander” rank, which is the highest medal a layman can have.
Al Quds newspaper published a long interview with Dr. Qumri concerning this issue on 13.04.06. Then in June 2006 he sent a long letter to Metropolitan Theophilus, making it also an open letter to the congregation and whoever is concerned.
What follows is a summary of the positions and primary information that appeared in the long interview and letter:

...I was among the first who called to withdraw the confidence from the Patriarch Irineos. And I say frankly with a living conscience: Now I condemn myself for my hastiness and I apologize for my rashness, since what accompanied the news was a major revolution that no one could stand in its way. Then this revolution acted under the influences, internal and external, on both levels, of the Church and of the relation between the Church and the members of the Arab congregation.

History will write about these facts in the future, and I say honestly that it was a conspiracy by the Greek government, in the person of Skandalakis, the deputy foreign minister who was fired two months ago from his office, when the Greek government discovered the extent of his conspiracy against the Patriarchate and the situation of schism to which it led. This is added to the plot of the Oecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeo in Constintinople against the Jerusalem Patriarchate. The reason for this plot was that the Greek deputy foreign minister had held for himself an amount of 4 millions dollars from the rent of a piece of land owned by the Patriarchate in Greece willing to transfer it to an Olympic village at the last Olympic games held in Athens in 2004. Irineos was against the corruption and bribery that accompanied this deal and he warned to go the courts to annul it.

....I don’t support Patriarch Irineos, but I support the right. There is nothing more hurting than to feel the injustice done to others. Every conscientious man is asked to stand with the right and to lift the oppression. Patriarch Irineos has the right now to hold the throne and the spiritual leadership, since he was elected democratically

Article/book #: 37261
Title: Hanegbi confirms Israel's support of ousted Greek Patriarch Irineos By: Lily Galili Published in: Ha'aretz
Date of issue: Monday, 24 April 2006
For the first time since Irineos I was ousted from his post by the Greek Orthodox Church, the government has formally confirmed its continued recognition of him as patriarch of Jerusalem despite the appointment of a successor, Theofilos III. This was conveyed in a letter sent to Irineos by Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, the chairman of a ministerial committee created to deal with issues surrounding the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. The letter was sent following yesterday's "holy fire" ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

A summary of the open letter sent by Dr. Peter Qumri to Theophilus and the congregationThe current Holy Synod, Your Eminence Metropolitan Theophilus, is not legitimate due to the fact that eight of its eighteen members do not satisfy the membership requirements. The law states that the Synod member should have acquired the Jordanian nationality and passport, those eight did not. In addition, the previous Synod (2001-2005) that named you a patriarch, is also a Synod that lacks legitimacy since two of the fourteen members do not have the Jordanian nationality. This applies after withdrawing the membership of three out the seventeen members, in an illegitimate session, because they insisted on supporting Irineos as patriarch as none of the accusations was validated.
Your election by an illegitimate Synod does not confer on you anything but illegitimacy for the post that was given to you untruly. The legitimate Patriarch is still alive, and the way he was deposed is illegal and full of conspiracy between the inside of the Patriarchate and its outside. There is no Synod session to which the Patriarch himself calls and then it ends by deposing him. The conditions for deposition according to both the Church canon law and civil law are heresy and mental disorder. The mechanism to depose the Patriarch Irineos employed telephone calls, authorizations and signatures at homes, away from all legal regulations and formulations. In addition, the general secretary of the Patriarchate compelled all archimandrites and monks of the holy Sepulcher Brotherhood to sign on the memorandum to denounce Patriarch Irineos, support his deposal and the election of a new patriarch to replace him (we have a copy of the letter). He also threatened them with depriving them of their passports, annulling their residence permits, removing them from the Brotherhood and expulsing them to Greece. Based on that, all the articles of administrative assignments or deposition from the Synod, and the aforementioned memorandum put all who are behind them in a position of legal responsibility for threatening and blackmailing.
You might say that the Greek government recognized you. This is an unacceptable statement and we must answer that the Greek government has its own church in Greece. This church participated in working against the Patriarch Irineos in order to settle some accounts with him. At that time, I was one of the swindled.
As for accusing Irineos with the Jaffa Gate deal, I believed that, until I found the truth and put my finger on the wound. The folks revolted when the news about the deal was spread by Maariv newspaper, the instigators and ill wishers, from inside the Patriarchate and its outside, hurried to undertake the fictitious news and end the situation to what it is now.
Our question addressed to your eminence, Metropolitan Theophilus, is: why didn’t you bring a claim against Papadimas (who performed the Jaffa Gate deal and stole money from the Patriarchate and ran away) and request him to give his testimony in order to clear the issues? We suppose you know his current address in Canada, since he calls your nearest metropolitan on a daily basis. Isn’t it necessary to bring him, even through the Interpol, first to record his witness, and to retrieve the money he stole from the account, opened by the owners of fictitious companies, where they deposited part of what they agreed upon with Papadimas and some others involved in the conspiracy inside the Patriarchate, without the Patriarch’s knowledge?
In order to demonstrate the broadness of the conspiracy and the involvement of some people from the Patriarchate, I inform your eminence that I received a telephone call on the evening of Thursday 17/3/2005 from an unknown who speaks Arabic incorrectly and with an accent. He said without introduction: “Doctor, listen tomorrow morning, at the Radio of Jerusalem Al Quds, for what the newspapers will be writing about a bomb…”
I thought, for the first instant, that the speaker is Jew, but after listening to the newspapers headings on the next day (morning of Friday 18/3/2005, the day when Maariv disclosed the news about Jaffa Gate deal), I started to doubt that the speaker was Greek, not a Jew, and from inside the Patriarchate. What assured me is that one of the bishops, we knew it later, called on the same day, Thursday 17/3/2005, one of his friends named Samir (we keep his family name), asking him to listen on the next day to the newspapers heading program on the Israeli station. What does that mean, reverend fathers? Doesn’t it mean that one of the dimensions of the plot on his beatitude Patriarch Irineos is inside the Patriarchate, among those whose interests overlapped with the goals of those involved, from outside the Patriarchate, who have their own agendas and desires in settling, with the patriarch, their own election and status accounts?

NEOI ANTHROPOI newspaper, Athens. 10-11-2006 , JERUSALEM: The lie never hides the Truth!

It’s a difficult time for . . . diplomats. The news that is coming from Jerusalem is not pleasant at all for the “illuminators” of the Foreign Ministry, who worked with special zeal in order to guide our Patriarchate to today’s tragic dead end. The Israelis, to their credit, don’t accept to follow downhill to illegality and to “dress” with the cape of legality the acts and the works of a lamentable group of Greek clergymen, which following the instructions of Greek diplomats, abolished everything legal and ethical. The “forecasts” of the “specialists” of the foreign ministry, that “sooner or later Israel will give in”, were shown to be ridiculous and dangerous for our ethnic rights in the Holy Lands. In this way, embarrassed and ridiculed, they try in the Foreign Ministry, to buy time, hoping for . . . a miracle! .....No, His Beatitude Irineos has not yet been “thrown out” of Israel as the “fortune-tellers” of the Foreign Ministry were predicting from the 19th of July, 2006!