Jerusalem, August 15, 2025
Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Photo: timesofisrael.com
The Jerusalem municipality has frozen all bank accounts belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem over unpaid property taxes, leaving the religious institution unable to pay salaries to clergy, teachers, and staff.
The freeze, implemented on Wednesday, August 6, stems from a long-running dispute over which Church properties are exempt from municipal taxes. According to the municipality, the action was taken because the Patriarchate “failed to settle its property tax debts for assets not used as houses of worship” and ignored repeated letters demanding payment, reports the Times of Israel.
“This was done despite efforts at dialogue and engagement with them, and in light of their ignoring letters from the municipality demanding payment,” the Jerusalem municipality said in a statement, adding that it acted “in accordance with the law” and its “responsibility to take such steps when debtors fail to settle their obligations.”
The Patriarchate, led by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, disputes this characterization. Through the group Protecting Holy Land Christians, the Patriarchate suggested that dialogue was ongoing and that the municipality acted despite reassurances that no unilateral measures would be implemented.
“As religious bodies, the churches fulfil vital roles by maintaining educational, welfare, and charitable institutions that serve the local population whether Christian or not,” the Patriarchate’s statement read. “Because of this, historically, the churches have never paid municipal or governmental taxes for church properties whether during the periods of Ottoman, British, Jordanian, or Israeli rule.”
The current dispute dates back to 2018, when Jerusalem decided that tax exemptions for churches applied only to properties used “for prayer, for the teaching of religion or for needs arising from that”—excluding commercial activities serving pilgrims such as guesthouses and coffee shops. The city began seeking to collect tens of millions of shekels in back taxes.
That year, then-mayor Nir Barkat froze Church bank accounts, prompting religious authorities to shut down the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for three days in protest. The municipality backed down only after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intervened.
The Jerusalem Patriarchate reports it’s now unable to pay salaries to its clergy, teachers, and staff due to the account freeze. Other churches face similar disputes, with a court case brought by the Jerusalem municipality against the Armenian Patriarchate scheduled for September.
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