EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). This is outrageous!! Just a couple of weeks after the visit of Egyptian President El-Sisi to Athens and the apparent agreement with PM Mitsotakis on issues related to St. Catherine’s of Mt. Sinai monastery, the oldest in Christianity, an Egyptian Appeals Court ruled to seize a large part of its property and evict its monks.
There is no clarity on what legal means exist to reverse this decision, but there is also no time to wait. The Hellenic Caucus should immediately react and call on President Trump to offer his help on this issue. Trump appointed Elpidophoros to the “Religious Liberty Commission” two weeks ago. Should we expect the failed Archbishop to prove that this commission is worthwhile? I am not holding my breath…
BELOW A SHORT VIDEO FOLLOWED BY THE NEWS
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National defeat! Mitsotakis shrinks Greece – Sinai Monastery passes into Muslim hands
After the celebratory meeting of Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Al-Sisi and the declarations about strengthening relations between Greece and Egypt , the national defeat! The Sinai Monastery falls into the hands of Islamists for the first time in centuries.
The concessionary and self-serving attitude of Mitsotakis and his government is shrinking Greece and abandoning sovereign and cultural rights that trace their origins back millennia.
The oldest functioning Christian monastery in the entire world is coming under the jurisdiction of the Egyptian State.
The Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai, almost 15 centuries after its founding by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and having survived many adventures, is heading towards being converted into a museum.
OPTICAL ASPECTS FOR DISOUTED LANDS IN SOUTH SINAi
THE APPEALS COURT OF ISMAHLIA ISSUED TODAY, WEDNESDAY ITS DECISION REGARDING THE LAWSUIT THAT WAS SUBMITTED REGARDING THE DISPUTED LANDS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH SINAI.
THE COURT HELD THAT THE FAITHFUL OF THE MONASTERY OF SAINT EKATEPINE’S SHOULD BENEFIT FROM THE MONASTERY AND THE ARCHBODY OF THE THRESKITE LAND IN THE TERRITORY OF SAINT AIKATEPINES, WITH THE CHIEF OF THESE LAND AS PUBLIC PROPERTIES.
THE FAITHFUL OF THE MONASTERY ARE IN CONNECTION WITH THE THRESKEITIANS OF THEIR PRIVATE RELIGIONS AND THE THRESKEITIANS OF THE CEREMONIES UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE BISHOP OF THE MONASTERY , WHICH WAS DECREED BY THE PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 306 OF 1974.
THE ABOVE SYMBOL OF THE OBSERVATORY CHOOSES THESE OBSERVATORY PLACES.
THE COURT ALSO DECIDED THAT THE AGREEMENTS THAT WERE CONCLUDED BETWEEN THE LOCAL UNIT OF THE CITY OF AGIA AIKATEPINAS AND THE MONASTERY IN CONNECTION WITH STATE LAND OWNED BY THE MONASTERY’S OWNERS ARE INTENDED TO BE RELEASED , A FACT THAT INDICATES THE POSSIBILITY OF THE CONFISCATION OF THIS LAND.
THE COURT CONCLUDED THAT THE OTHER DISPUTED PLOTS ARE NATURAL REFUGES , WHICH ARE ALL LANDMARKS AND THEY ARE NOT PROPERLY OWNED BY THEIR OWNERSHIP. NO AGREEMENTS RELATING TO THEM HAVE BEEN ISSUED BY THE APXH.
Court Judgment
On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, the court convened in a public civil session…
Court Composition
The court was composed of:
– Honorable Judge Alaa Mustafa Abdel Razek, President
– Honorable Judge Hassan Ahmed Al-Waseef, Member
– Honorable Judge Amir Abu Al-Lail, Member
– Mr. Al-Saeed Muhammad Helmy, Secretary
Case Details
The court heard appeal numbers 226 and 228 of the year 32, filed in 2015…
Rulings
The court ruled as follows:
1. Acceptance of Appeals: The court accepted appeals numbers 226 and 228 of the year 32, filed by…
2. Dismissal of Request: The court dismissed the request submitted by… regarding the interruption of proceedings due to the death of…
3. Intervention: The court accepted the intervention of the Minister of Antiquities and the Head of the Environmental Affairs Agency…
4. Non-Acceptance of Claims: The court did not accept the claims against the Egyptian Survey Authority and the South Sinai Survey Administration…
5. Judgment: The court ruled in favor of… regarding the ownership and possession of certain land plots and buildings…
Detailed Rulings
The court made the following detailed rulings:
– Eviction: The court ordered the eviction of… from certain land plots and buildings…
– Rejection of Claims: The court rejected claims regarding certain land plots and buildings…
– Acceptance of Some Claims: The court accepted some claims regarding certain land plots and buildings…
Costs
The court ordered the parties to bear their own costs…
Given the length and complexity of the original text, this translation is condensed while maintaining the essential details. If you require further clarification or a more detailed translation, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Archbishop Ieronymos on the situation at the Holy Sinai Monastery
” Following yesterday’s scandalous decision of violent infringement of human and especially religious freedoms, issued by the judicial authorities of Egypt, the world’s oldest Orthodox Christian Monument , the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai, is entering a great ordeal, which harks back to other dark times…
Essentially, the Egyptian Government itself decided, despite the recent commitments to the contrary by the Egyptian President to the Greek Prime Minister , to dismantle any concept of law and, essentially, 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.
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.
With immense sadness and justified anger, I call on every Greek and international authority to recognize the supreme stakes and to take immediate action to protect the fundamental religious freedoms of the Holy Monastery of Sinai.
I unequivocally condemn any attempt to change the regime, which has been in force in the region for 15 centuries, and I appeal to the responsible Greek Government and personally to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to take immediate and appropriate action, so that regular and lawful order is restored. The Holy Monastery is not effectively abolished.
I wholeheartedly express my fraternal solidarity with both the Brotherhood and its Abbot, His Eminence Archbishop of Sinai, Faran and Raythos, Mr. Damianos, as well as with the Greek brothers who serve sacrificially in the wider Sinai region.
Finally, I do not want and cannot believe that today Hellenism and Orthodoxy are experiencing yet another historical “fall” .
We cannot allow this. “
Was the timing a coincidence? The court decision was yesterday. And May 29th is the day Constantinople was taken over by the Ottomans…
However, at the same time, the Egyptian government is leveraging “Ottoman justice”…reminiscent of the days that Christians can’t “own” anything.
Next steps? Forget about Elpi…he’s useful as he was when St. Sophia was re-converted into a mosque by the turks. Instead, let’s see how the “so-called Christian” members of Congress / Senate act…if we don’t see immediate and crushing sanctions against Egypt until they “remedy” the problem in accordance with international expectations, then perhaps it’s time for “Christian” members of congress to withdraw support from the ‘big beautiful bill’ until the administration actually does something effective here. They need every last vote to pass that legislation, so the negotiation value for that vote is at its “peak”, one might say…That’s what the phrase “God & Country” means…God first, Country second…will they do something? TBD…
Five years ago, Hagia Sophia became a Mosque and now St. Catherine’s Monastery to be a museum. I wonder if we will have support from the greater Orthodox world. The primates of the Greek Churches are tainted with the shame of what they are supporting in Ukraine. Schism and persecution.
Patriarch Bartholomew is partly responsible for this. Orthodoxy divided is less likely to succeed in fending off challenges such as these. This is a reminder the schism in Orthodoxy must end.
This is a satanic attack. We are in a spiritual war. Evil.
Latest reports are that the monastery will NOT be closed or its properties confiscated. The Egyptian foreign ministry gave its assurance to the Greek foreign minister that the court decision is only a procedure to legalize its status.
We have already reported the Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s announcement in our second post today…
https://www.helleniscope.com/2025/05/29/harsh-reactions-against-the-violation-of-the-rights-of-saint-catherines-of-sinai/
The situation is not yet clear. There is confusion on the legal terms of the decision and their true meaning. But our sources from inside the monastery verify that life is going on as usual so far.
My personal feeling is that this is too big an issue for Egypt to play games with and it will soon be resolved through diplomatic interventions.
Bob,
The problem with “Ottoman justice” is two-fold:
1) It is always up to the interpretation of the one in power (today vs. tomorrow)
2) It never ends favorably for Christians
The court verbiage appears to affirm that the Monastery “belongs to the State”, despite affirming that the monks can continue to “operate it”…that “belongs to the State” (under the antiquities laws) is sufficient for some legal decree in the future to evict the monks…the current government may not do it, but the “confiscation” has been affirmed by the court, for sure in a legal sense… whether or not there is political appetite to exercise full and complete dominance by the State is a different discussion. It would be best for Egypt to be forced by the international community to confirm they don’t “own” any of the Monastery’s property, even under the antiquities laws, but to “commit” Egypt to protect and support the Monastery’s existence…Ottoman justice mentality seems to be in the way of that solution for the time being…
I have read elsewhere that this is not true. From what I have read, the court decision only gave property rights to the Egyptian Department of Tourism, who will own the property; but the monastery and church will continue on as usual. God willing, the decision will be reversed and the monastery, not the Egyptian NOR the Greek governments will own the property. The monastery itself should own everything! Sinai and its archbishop are basically considered an autocephalous church.
You are right! Today may 30 Egypt reported the monastery status is unchanged! It was all a misunderstanding !
Not so fast… Let’s wait a bit…
Ντροπή και Αίσχος!!!
Ambassador Kimberly, do something!!!
Quickly…..please.
I think that if the monastery now belongs to the Egyptian government, that is a big change of status. That means that every penny that the visitors give to the monastery, now belongs to the Egyptian government! I think this court decision should be appealed, even in an international court.
I remember reading, many, many years ago that St. Catherine’s has in its possession a letter written by Mohammed himself, guarantying the existence of the monastery for all ages to come. In essence this was a charter for St. Catherine’s. I don’t know how accurate that story was, who wrote the book or anything else about it.That was a long, long, long time ago that I read that.
You can find a photo of this letter by Mohammed in our second post yeserday.
https://www.helleniscope.com/2025/05/29/harsh-reactions-against-the-violation-of-the-rights-of-saint-catherines-of-sinai/
Emmanuel,
All it takes is one “Muslim brotherhood” zealot to cast doubt on the decree’s authenticity, and it’s game over… there have been many accusations about its veracity over the centuries. If they don’t think it’s an authentic decree, it won’t matter what anyone tries to say.
As a quick comparison, we continually see hierarchs on “our side of the house” speaking and acting in ways that ignore the “decrees” of our own Church Fathers, saints, Apostles, Christ’s teachings, and even the 10 Commandments themselves…and who is stopping them from ravaging the Church and its Holy Tradition?
The Ottoman mindset left behind in the Mediterranean (including Egypt) only understands and respects brute force & cold cash in the hand…the threat of massive sweeping, devastating, and crushing international sanctions is necessary to ensure that the Egyptian government passes some legislation quickly to “fix” this problem.