By Rand Dalgamouni, Jordan Times

BAPTISM SITE – A senior official on Monday called on Christian leaders to help establish beyond doubt that the Kingdom hosts the holy site where Jesus Christ was baptised by John the Baptist.

“We request that your beatitudes help us in highlighting the historical facts in the Bible about Jesus Christ’s Baptism Site,” Minister of Culture Jeryes Samawi asked Orthodox patriarchs at a conference yesterday.

Father Nabil Haddad, president of the Jordan Interfaith Coexistence Research Centre, said all Christian religious leaders consider Jordan’s Baptism Site the actual place where Christ was baptised, which affirms its authenticity and refutes all Israeli allegations that claim otherwise.

On Saturday, senior officials, senators, lawmakers and Church leaders denounced an Israeli decision to rename the Judith Church on the West bank of the River Jordan the “Baptism Church”.

They stressed that excavations have clearly proved that the eastern side of the River Jordan is the place where Jesus Christ was baptised, known worldwide as the “Baptism Site”, contrary to what the Israelis claimed.

Monday’s conference grouped leaders of the Orthodox churches of the East, invited by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem to stress that Christians in the East are an integral part of the fabric of eastern society.

“Today, the very fabric of this harmonious society is being threatened by dark forces,” the patriarch said at the conference’s opening ceremony yesterday. read more

Patriarch Chrysostomos II of Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus delivers an address during the opening ceremony of a conference at the Baptism Site on Monday (Photo by Rand Dalgamouni)