ISTANBUL - The highest authority of the Orthodox Church called a meeting of all church leaders Tuesday to rule on the expulsion of Jerusalem`s Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos after he was implicated in a highly damaging land-sale scandal.
The synod of the Patriarchy of Constantinople unanimously decided to call a meeting of the leaders of all the sister Orthdox churches to a meeting in Istanbul on Monday to make a ruling on the Irineos case, it said in a statement.
Irineos was effectively turfed out of office on May 7 when 12 out of the 18 bishops in the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem voted for his removal.
The beleaguered patriarch had been under pressure to resign since mid-March when a newspaper reported an alleged multi-million-dollar transaction in which Jewish investors acquired church land in a predominantly Palestinian area of the Old City.
He has repeatedly denied involvement in the transfer in annexed east Jerusalem, where Jewish groups often try to obtain properties in Palestinian areas in a major settlement drive fraught with political controversy.
His supporters claim the Holy Synod in Jerusalem cannot decide on a dismissal unless the patriarch himself calls the meeting, loses his mental capacities or violates the teachings of the church.
The head of the Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, has urged Irineos I not to act on threats to convene the same 18-member Holy Synod in a bid to replace the bishops who asked for his dismissal.
05/17/2005 18:50 GMT