In 2005, a crisis occurred in the church when Patriarch Irenaios was stripped of his authority as patriarch by the Holy Synod of Jerusalem after he had allegedly sold church property in a very sensitive area of East Jerusalem to Israeli investors. The "locum tenens" (steward) until the election of a new patriarch was Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra. On August 22, 2005, the Holy Synod of the Church of Jerusalem unanimously elected Theophilos, the former Archbishop of Tabor, as the 141st Patriarch of Jerusalem.