Istanbul, Turkey ? World Orthodox leaders voted Tuesday to stop recognizing the patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, church officials said, asserting a rare unified position on the crisis facing the church in the Holy Land.

Representatives of 12 main Orthodox churches cast their votes during a rare “pan-Orthodox” synod, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians.

Irineos has persistently refused to resign despite efforts by his own church members to depose him over explosive allegations that his church leased property to Jewish investors in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians consider their capital.

The vote doesn’t directly call for his removal. But the act of refusing to recognize his authority is expected to put additional pressure on him to resign.

Irineos was asked to resign during the synod, but he refused, Bartholomew said.

The Istanbul proceedings are the first major pan-Orthodox summit in more than a decade. The gathering has no authority to formally dismiss Irineos or pick his successor. That duty rests solely with the synod, or governing council, of the Jerusalem church. Irineos refuses to convene the synod.

Speaking from Jerusalem, Father Dimitrios, the secretary for the Holy Synod in Jerusalem, said the church in the Holy Land will start working to elect a “locum tenens” – someone to execute the duties of the patriarch until a new one is installed.

As Irineos was leaving the patriarchate, he was asked by reporters whether he would resign. He said nothing, but shook his finger back and forth as if to indicate no.