The Greek state and the Greek Orthodox Church reacted sharply to a court ruling by the Egyptian court in Ismailia, handed down on May 28 this year, regarding a legal dispute that began in 2015 between the Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine and the South Sinai Governorate. The Monastery of St. Catherine, built in 548 AD in South Sinai, is one of the oldest operating monasteries in the world and has immense religious and historical significance.
A publication by Proto Thema claims that “the court ruling, which effectively deprives the monastery of all its assets, including the church itself and the buildings, represents a deep insult and provocation not only to the entire Christian world, but also to the international community. The Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai is one of the most important monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage List.”
According to the publication, at the end of 2024, after political consultations with the government in Cairo, a Greek delegation visited Egypt and an agreement was approved between the Sinai Archbishop Damian and the Egyptian state. Under this agreement, the legal disputes were to be terminated and the ownership of the monastery was recognized, on condition of cooperation with the Egyptian Antiquities Authority.
This agreement was publicly welcomed in Athens by Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis and Egyptian President Sisi, with the Greek side expecting it to be finalized by signing by the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, thus resolving the legal dispute that began in 2015. Instead, a court decision was issued this week, which the Egyptian authorities have not even officially notified Athens of.
The monks in Sinai interpret the decision as meaning that “all the property of the monastery now belongs to the Egyptian state, while the monks are only granted the right to use the monastery… to stay in the monastery as guests.” They consider this a prerequisite for the gradual limitation and even termination of the monastery’s activities and its transformation into a museum, although the Sinai Monastery is the only Christian site for which the Prophet Muhammad himself issued a protective act (akhtiname). This act, which is kept in the monastery library and bears the imprint of his palm as a seal, grants special privileges to “Saint Catherine” in Sinai.
Reactions
There followed sharp reactions from Athens, including from the Archbishop of Athens. Ieronymos, who stated: “In essence, the Egyptian government itself has decided – despite the recent contradictory commitments of the Egyptian President to the Greek Prime Minister – to violate all principles of law and, in practice, to try in one fell swoop to erase the very existence of the monastery, nullifying its liturgical, spiritual and cultural work. The property of the monastery is being seized and confiscated, and this spiritual beacon of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now faced with the question of its very survival.”
On Thursday evening, the Egyptian presidency issued a statement in which the presidency reaffirmed its full commitment to preserving the unique and sacred religious significance of the St. Catherine Monastery in South Sinai and stressed that this significance will not be undermined. According to the statement, the latest court ruling regarding the monastery confirms this significance and is in line with what President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated during his recent visit to Athens on May 7. The presidency also stressed the importance of maintaining the “close and fraternal relations between the two countries and the two peoples” and the need not to undermine them.
Today, Friday, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also made a statement: “The Ecumenical Patriarchate appeals to the Egyptian government, based also on yesterday’s statements by the country’s President, His Excellency Mr. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to find an appropriate way to preserve the property status (status quo) of the holy monastery, which has been respected and privilegedly protected for centuries even by Islam, and to implement the recent agreement between the government and the monastery,” the statement says, urging the implementation of the out-of-court agreement.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilus also issued a statement in this spirit.
The court ruling
The reason for the escalation of tensions is the decision of the Ismailia Court of Appeal (Tor Sinai subdivision) in the case of disputed lands between the South Sinai Governorate and the St. Catherine Monastery. The court recognized the right of the monks belonging to the monastery to use the monastery and the religious and historical sites in the St. Catherine area, while ruling that these sites are public state property. The presence of the monks in these properties is in a religious capacity and they practice their spiritual rites under the guidance of the abbot of the monastery, appointed by Presidential Decree No. 306 of 1974, although this statement is disputed. All contracts concluded by the monastery regarding plots of land used by the monastery’s methos must be respected, which excludes encroachment on these lands. The court concluded that the remaining disputed plots of land are nature reserves, all of which are public state property, and cannot be disposed of by the monks, nor can they be acquired by prescription.
Egyptian national security expert Mohamed Makhlouf denied that the Egyptian state has taken any negative action against the Monastery of St. Catherine. He pointed out that the rumors that are being spread in this regard are lies and a conspiracy to sow discord and ruin the close, centuries-old historical relations between Egypt and Greece and their two friendly peoples. According to him, the Egyptian political leadership, represented by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, gave a live press conference to the entire world during the May 7 meeting in Athens with the Greek Prime Minister to thwart this conspiracy. The recent court ruling has been misinterpreted by some, he claims, and the court ruling is also the first time that the monastery’s status has been legalized and its sacred status confirmed.
Statute of the Monastery
The monastery is an autonomous Orthodox archbishopric under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It was founded by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century and has been functioning without interruption of monastic life in it for nearly 15 centuries.
The majority of the monastic brotherhood are Greek citizens, including the current Archbishop Damian. According to international law, the Republic of Greece has the right to protect its citizens abroad when there are threats to their fundamental rights and freedoms – including religious and property rights.
The abbot of the Sinai Monastery, Archbishop Damian, was born in Athens in 1935, graduated in theology and has been a brother of the monastery “St. Catherine” since 1961. He was elected abbot in 1973, when he was also ordained a bishop, and at the end of the year, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Benedict, gave him the distinction of archbishop.
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First published in this link of The European Times.
