Amid Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine, Putin Demands Jerusalem Church As Israel Promised

St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Old Jerusalem. Creative Commons photo

JERUSALEM — As Russia’s two-month-old invasion of neighboring Ukraine continues, Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding that Israel grant the Kremlin control of a Russian Orthodox church named after the medieval Kievan Rus prince Alexander Nevsky in Jerusalem’s Christian quarter — as the previous Israeli government had promised.

Putin’s letter came shortly after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow slammed Lapid, saying that Israel is using Ukraine to cover up for its own conflict with the Palestinians. On Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry also summoned Israeli Ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi for a reprimand.

Transferring the ownership of the land to Russia could cause a diplomatic headache for Israel while its Western allies are sanctioning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The brouhaha dates from March 3, when Judge Mordechai Kaduri of the Jerusalem District Court annulled the transfer of ownership of the historic Russian Orthodox church in the Old City to the Russian government. The pink limestone neobaroque St. Alexander Nevsky Church is located at 25 Souq ad-Dabbagha, 70 meters (230 feet) from the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus is traditionally thought to have been crucified, buried and — according to Christians — resurrected.

The gate in St. Alexander Nevsky Church that is believed to be the Gate of Judgment through which Jesus exited the walled city of Jerusalem, dragging his cross on the way to be crucified at Golgotha. Creative Commons photo

The site was acquired by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society of the Holy Land in 1857. Construction was funded by the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857-1905), the son of Czar Alexander II. Excavating the foundations in 1887, Russian archaeologists found the remains of a monumental triumphal arch that they assumed was the Gate of Judgment through which Jesus exited the walled city, dragging his crucifix on his way to the Golgotha execution grounds now contained within the Holy Sepulcher church. Modern archaeologists now understand the archway, preserved within the church, was built in honor of Emperor Hadrian in the second century as part of the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina.

The Alexander Nevsky Church was named after a 13th-century Russian warrior-prince who fought against the Teutonic Knights invading from Germany and Sweden. He was proclaimed a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. The church is one in a series of Russian Orthodox pilgrimage complexes built after Czar Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861 and began subsidizing their visit to the Holy Land.

The Orthodox Palestine Society of the Holy Land has managed the church since its construction in the late 19th century. But ownership of the property, popularly known also as the Alexander Hospice and the Alexander Courtyard, became contested following the 1917 Russian Revolution. The Russian Orthodox Church split into rival Red communist and White exile synods based respectively in Moscow and New York.

Though in 2007 Putin healed the rift between the Moscow church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which was headquartered in New York, Moscow’s conflict with the ROCOR over property ownership continued.

Kaduri’s ruling followed an appeal by the Orthodox Palestine Society of the Holy Land, which owned the church prior to it being handed over last year to the Russian government. In August 2017, Putin’s government filed a registration request for ownership rights with Israel’s commissioner in charge of the land registry, often referred to by its Ottoman-era name, Tabu.

The request dragged on until October 2020, when former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the transfer to the Kremlin. Many commentators saw that as a quid pro quo for the release of Naama Issachar. The American-Israeli backpacker, 27, was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport in April 2019 while en route from India to Tel Aviv for allegedly smuggling 10 grams of “charas.” Charas is made from a live cannabis plant, while “hashish” is produced from a harvested plant. Issachar was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. On January 29, 2020 Putin signed her pardon. Issachar’s attorney previously noted that no convicted foreigner was ever pardoned by a Russian president.

Netanyahu determined that the dispute between rival Russian sects over ownership fell into the category of “holy sites,” and according to British Mandate law from a century ago, it was a dispute that could not be resolved in a court of law.

Shortly afterwards, Israel’s commissioner in charge of the Tabu office accepted the request of the Russian government and registered Moscow as the owner of the Alexander Nevsky Church.

The Land Registry commissioner dismissed appeals against the registration and ruled that the Russian Federation — the current Russian government — is recognized by international bodies and by the state of Israel as “the successor state” of the czarist imperial government; therefore, as part of the registration renewal order, the land should be registered in the name of the Russian Federation and not in the name of an organization representing the Russian imperial government, which no longer exists.

Judge Kaduri referred to the huge diplomatic sensitivity regarding the registration of ownership. In a detailed ruling, he said that because Netanyahu had accepted the property as a holy site by definition, then the competent body to determine who owns the site is not an administrative body or the court but the Israeli government, which will have to settle the issue taking into account a gamut of religious, political and diplomatic considerations.

In other words, the court has now passed the hot potato to Prime Minister Bennett, who must decide the matter in the midst of the war between Russia and Ukraine and the massive sanctions imposed by the West on Russia.

Bennett set up a ministerial committee consisting of Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov and Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana to examine the matter in July 2021, which despite the length of time that has passed, has yet to convene.

Now the court has given Bennett no choice but to decide on the ownership of the Old City church, which has already caused major tensions between the Israeli government and the Kremlin.

The Orthodox Palestine Society of the Holy Land was represented by Shay Gimelstein, Ilan Golod and Israel Klein of S. Horowitz & Co., a major Tel Aviv law firm founded in 1921.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, the Putin Pub — a popular Jerusalem drinking hole — recently removed the name of the Russian president. It is now simply known as the “Pub.”

Gil Zohar was born in Toronto, Canada and moved to Jerusalem, Israel in 1982. He is a journalist writing for The Jerusalem Post, Segula magazine, and other publications. He’s also a professional tour guide who likes to weave together the Holy Land’s multiple narratives.