The Brothers

6 thoughts on “The Brothers”

1. Some monks in front of the wailing wall? What’s the story?

2. They look like Franciscans to me. Those sandals are cold in the snow.

3. I don’t know if they were visitors or locals, I’m guessing locals since they weren’t carrying anything. They seemed to be a jovial group.

4. The Franciscans have had custody of the Holy Land’s shrines for over 800 years.

   http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custodian_of_the_Holy_Land

   Legendarily, St. Francis met the Sultan in person, and asked him to convert to Christianity. The Sultan told him to walk into fire and if he came out unscathed, the Sultan would become a Christian. St. Francis apparently got up and was going to walk into the fire. The Sultan had his guards stop Francis. He told him, I will never give up Islam, but you are a brave man, so I will grant you one request. Francis legendarily replied, give us the Christian holy places to care for, and it was granted.

5. I think the Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Abyssinians et al would say that custody in many cases is shared.

6. It is shared. There are elaborate agreements defining precisely who can do what. But the Franciscans got there first, I believe.

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