Orthodox Patriarchate ordered to pay $2.9 mln to Israeli lawyer

An Israeli court ordered the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem to pay 11.3 million shekels (2.9 million dollars) to Israeli lawyer Moshe Lipke after he claimed that the Church owed him 11.3 million shekels. The sum covers the cost of cases that he says he represented the Patriarchate in Jerusalem in since 2002.

Most of the cases had to do with property transactions as well as a stormy dispute with former Patriarch Irineos. The former Patriarch had been removed due to his involvement in a lucrative multi-million-dollar deal with Israeli investors, who bought certain Church-owned tracts in a mainly Palestinian area of Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem.

The Orthodox Church is reportedly the largest and wealthiest Christian denomination in the Holy land with around 500,000 faithful in the area.