Closures of Holy Sites in Jerusalem During the 2026 Iran War

The war involving Israel, the United States, and Iran in early 2026 has affected far more than just military targets. One of the most striking consequences has been the closure of Jerusalem’s major holy sites, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Western Wall. What makes this situation especially significant is the timing: Ramadan, Easter, and Passover all fall around the same period, meaning that under normal circumstances, large numbers of worshipers from three different religions would be gathering in the city. Instead, these spaces have been shut down, showing how deeply the war has disrupted everyday religious life.

Israeli authorities have explained these closures as necessary security measures. Police statements emphasized that all holy sites were closed “in accordance with national emergency guidelines” and that the goal was to “safeguard public safety and human life.” These decisions were also linked to instructions from the Home Front Command, which coordinates civilian safety during wartime. In other words, the official position is that the closures are not about restricting religion, but about preventing harm during a dangerous and unpredictable situation.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow More Comfortable With the Mullahs of Iran Than Christians of the West

The Ideal Russia Is Based on “Orthodox” Iran

By Panagiotis Andriopoulos

March 4, 2026

The warm condolences of the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, for the death of the religious leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, do not surprise us (see here). They simply remind us emphatically of reality.

The ideal Russia, which is based on “traditional values,” is an “Orthodox” Iran. In this model, the head of state is not merely an administrator, but an ayatollah who interprets everything, while the Church acts as a transmitter.

“Once, when our president Vladimir Putin was asked by journalists about the attitude of Orthodoxy toward Catholicism and Islam, he replied that we are closer to Islam — this is what I believe as well,” the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church had previously admitted during a visit to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. “Both Islam and Orthodoxy,” the Patriarch explained, “belong to the same eastern group. Moreover, among the immediate priorities of the dialogue of the Church of Russia with Islam, Iran occupies the first place.”

There is a significant… prehistory. Indicatively we mention the following:

The Imperial Sacred Decree of Sultan Selim Concerning the Renovation of the Monastery of Xeropotamou (Issued After He Saw the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in a Vision)

 

INTRODUCTION

The Xeropotamou Monastery, whose katholikon (main church) is dedicated to the memory of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (9/22 March), experienced abandonment three times in its long history: in the 14th, 16th, and 18th centuries, and an equal number of times it was rebuilt.

The reconstruction of the 16th century came about in one of the most unexpected ways: through Selim I (1512–1520), known as Yavuz (“the Grim,” meaning harsh or unyielding). In the monastery’s archive there exists a ḥatt-i şerif (imperial sacred decree) of Selim. Its date and content are Muslim, but its conclusion is Christian.

“It is written,” the document says, “that the Muslim who persists in overturning this present ḥatt-i şerif of ours we consign to eternal anathema.”

In the document of 1517, Selim grants large donations and many privileges to the monastery.

What exactly happened with Sultan Selim I — whose donations and concessions gave the monastery “breathing space” for a century and a half — is described by Gerasimos Smyrnakis in his book The Holy Mountain (1903):