Greek church former leader demoted to monk

The former head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem has been demoted to the rank of monk by a disciplinary tribunal, the church said on Friday. Patriarch Irineos I was ousted last month by the church's Holy Land hierarchy over the leasing of church property to Jewish investors in mostly Arab East Jerusalem, which outraged Palestinians who regard the area as their future capital.
Irineos had denied the allegations and refused to step down, prompting the leaders of the world's Orthodox churches, which have 300 million followers world-wide, to vote in a synod held in Istanbul last month to stop recognising him as patriarch.
A tribunal of 12 Greek Orthodox bishops in Jerusalem stripped Irineos in absentia from his "Patriarchic and Bishopric rank", the church said in a statement.
"We wish the defrocked to receive divine enlightenment for repentance and wisdom," it said.
The Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land is led by Greek clerics rather than Palestinians, unlike other churches in the region that have opted in recent years to appoint Arab patriarchs. The church owns thousands of acres of property in Jerusalem.