Patriarch Theophilus III grants a German archaeological studies center permission, in cooperation with the occupation Ministry of Antiquities, to begin excavation work in the Orthodox cemetery of Mount Zion, near the Hebron Gate, southwest of occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext of archaeological work.

He sells and steals everything he can get his hands on      

                       
This step raised astonishment among the Palestinian national movements calling for the Arabization of the Orthodox patriarchate, as Theophilus III, with his qualities of leaking numerous Orthodox endowments, had previously sold the graves of the Herod family in the Nicephoria area of Jerusalem and sold all the historical antiquities of Caesarea on the Palestinian coast. What antiquities aroused his interest and keenness on them...??

True Orthodoxy


The Orthodox Truth Group, in turn, confirmed that it would never rule out the role of the occupation municipality and the Zionist Ministry of Antiquities in having a new deal to sell antiquities in this historic cemetery.

It is worth mentioning that the Orthodox cemetery contains the body of the martyr, Jerusalemite journalist Shirin Abu Aqla.