Armenian Apostolic Church

Cleaning days are rarely happy times. Even less so when you've got to fight over who cleans where and with what.

For years, Armenians and Greeks have been battling over who has the right to polish a step or dust a lamp in one of the world's oldest churches -- Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, a 1,687-year-old structure built to commemorate the supposed birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Jointly run by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Roman Catholic Church's Order of St. Francis, the church, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, shows that, when it comes to housekeeping, three heads do not necessarily work together as well as one.

Windows, walls, the roof -- you name it, there's been conflict. In December 2011, the scuffles required police intervention when Greek and Armenian priests furiously battled each other with brooms and blows over a "new" approach to cleaning. (The Franciscans, for their part, get to give "the general cleaning" a miss.)

But, finally, hopes are surfacing that 2013 might prove the year of a ceasefire.