A court ruling in Cairo to seize the historical Monastery of St Catherine, evict the monk’ community so that the buildings are refurbished and operate it as a museum a tourists’ attraction like the Pyramides has shocked the whole Greek Orthodox world, the Greek Church in charge of the Monastery as well as the political leadership in Athens that had received assurances by the Egyptian highest leadership that such a thing would not happen.
Prompt was the reaction of Archbishop of Greece, Ieronymos, who said: Hellenism and Orthodoxy are experiencing yet another historic “fall.”
A little later, the Foreign Ministry in Athens came out with a “diplomatic comment” saying they will wait the official court decision.
History plays a joke
It is a historic Irony that the court decision in Cairo is taken on May 29, the date that coincides with the Fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453, and its conquest by Ottoman Emperor Sultan Mehmed II that put an end to the Byzantine Empire.
Similarly Greeks were shocked when Turkey and its President Recepy Tayyip Erdogan with the seizure of historic Greek Orthodox church of Hagia Sofia and its conversion into a mosque.
stunning Monastery in Sinai
The Monastery of Saint Catherine was founded by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian about 1,500 years ago and is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian Monastery.
Saint Catherine’s Reliquary: the marble chest containing the relics of Saint Catherine is located at the south side of the sanctuary in the catholicon of the holy monastery
Its history can be traced back over seventeen centuries. The monastery predates the divisions of the Christian world, its origins extending to late antiquity.
The monastery has never been destroyed in all its history, and thus it can be said to have preserved intact the distinctive qualities of its Greek and Roman heritage.
Members of other Christian confessions have honored the monastery, coming as pilgrims to this holy place. But from its beginnings, the Christian inhabitants of Sinai belonged to the Greek speaking world, and it has remained so to this day.
In 2002, the area of Saint Catherine, a property of 60,100 ha has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, both for its cultural and for its scenic significance. The accompanying text reads:
The Orthodox Monastery of St Catherine stands at the foot of Mount Horeb where, the Old Testament records, Moses received the Tablets of the Law. The mountain is known and revered by Muslims as Jebel Musa.
The entire area is sacred to three world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
The Monastery, founded in the 6th century, is the oldest Christian monastery still in use for its initial function. Its walls and buildings of great significance to studies of Byzantine architecture and the Monastery houses outstanding collections of early Christian manuscripts and icons.
The rugged mountainous landscape, containing numerous archaeological and religious sites and monuments, forms a perfect backdrop to the Monastery.
Historic Monastery to turn into a tourists’ attraction
The Egyptian authorities have proceeded to close the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, suspend its operation, despite its enormous religious and cultural importance.
The Egyptian government has decided to turn it into a museum and add another tourists’ attraction like the Pyramids.
The real estate of the Monastery within Egypt is being transferred to the state.
The buildings will be renovated and operated as a tourist attraction, on the model of the pyramids.
The monks will be evicted, something that is expected to cause a wider outcry.
This development is being denounced as an infringement of religious freedoms, given that there is no state of emergency in Egypt that would justify it. This is a historic setback, as the monastery had withstood wars, floods and geopolitical upheavals for fifteen centuries.
The monks
The monks are already organizing an international information campaign, addressing both the Christian Churches and the leaderships of other monotheistic religions, with the aim of overturning the decision, which they consider a blow to religious freedom and the long-standing presence of Orthodoxy in Sinai.
Archbishop Hieronymus – Angry Reaction
The condemnation of the decision of the Egyptian authorities to put a “padlock” on the historic Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai was expressed by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Hieronymus.
Without hiding his “immense sadness and his justifiable anger”, Hieronymus called for mobilization from every Greek and every international Authority regarding the fact that “the property of the Monastery is being seized and confiscated and this spiritual Lighthouse of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now facing a question of real survival.”
“I do not want and cannot believe that today Hellenism and Orthodoxy are experiencing yet another historic “fall””, the Archbishop stressed in a statement and conveyed that “we cannot allow this”.
The Archbishop accused the Egyptian government of having decided “despite the recent commitments to the contrary made by the Egyptian President to the Greek Prime Minister, to dismantle every concept of law and, in essence, to attempt to single-handedly extinguish the very existence of the Monastery, negating its entire function, its very worship and spiritual work, as well as its cultural one.”
“I unequivocally condemn any attempt to change the regime that has existed in the region for 15 centuries and I appeal to the responsible Greek Government and personally to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to take immediate action so that normal and lawful order is restored and the Holy Monastery is not effectively abolished.”
The Foreign Ministry in Athens
The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairsin Athens said in a statement about the developments regarding the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine of Mount Sinai:
“The Governments of Greece and Egypt have been working systematically in recent times towards an agreement that will ensure the sacred Greek Orthodox character of the area. We are awaiting the dispatch of the decision of the Egyptian court that was issued yesterday.
The Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs immediately contacted the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt and made it clear that there is no room for deviating from the common understanding of the two sides, which was expressed by the leaders of the two countries in the context of the recent Supreme Cooperation Council in Athens.”
Mitsotakis – El Sisi
This decision comes in stark contrast to the assurances made by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit to Athens in February. He had assured the preservation of Christian pilgrimages in Egypt, and insisted that possible seizure of the Monastery were just “rumors.”
First reactions on social media and some opposition parties put the blame for the seizure of the monastery on PM Mitsotakis and speak of a “total failure in foreign policy.”
Greece considers Egypt as an ally and a close friend of Greece and the stake between the two countries is more material in terms of energy and geo-strategic cooperation than in terms of religious spirituality, orthodoxy and traditions.
pictures: via stcatherinesinaimonastery official website