King Charles Probed To Issue Prayer for St. Catherine’s Of Sinai!

source – newsbreak.gr / estianews.gr

And intervention by the King of Great Britain in its favor – The Orthodox world and the Hellenic Republic are organizing against Egypt’s greatest challenge to our religion

The atmosphere that prevailed at the summit meeting between the two delegations of Greece and Egypt that took place last Wednesday in Cairo, following the dramatic developments in Sinai , was extremely tense, charged and at times episodic.

• By Manolis Kottakis

The style and aggressiveness of the Egyptians, and particularly of the representative of the Ministry of Justice, who attempted to link the changes in ownership of the Monastery of St. Catherine with issues of sovereignty and state security, convinced even the Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis , who landed awkwardly in reality, that the goal of the other side was not to find a solution but to completely change the status of the Monastery and the change of the ownership regime. And deep down, the expulsion of Greek Orthodox culture after 15 centuries of presence.

The argument of Estia that helped Mr. Gerapetritis

The moments of tension between the two delegations were such that the Greek Foreign Minister, who in the previous days had been saying in Athens that the Court of Appeal’s decision was positive, went so far as to directly confess that the counter is reset with the decision of the Egyptian court that the status in the Sinai region is changing and that the negotiation for the fate of the Monastery is starting from the beginning. And he reached this confession, which underlines the enormous responsibilities of himself and the Prime Minister who underestimated the issue, when the representative of the Ministry of Justice in the negotiation questioned the settlement that the Monastery had signed with the Egyptian State with the argument that the governor of South Sinai who was negotiating with the Greek ambassador in Cairo, Mr. Papageorgiou, supposedly had… no authorization. This was certainly a terrible lie by the Egyptians that shows how they now perceive the relations between the two countries. And how much they respect us. The representative of the Ministry of Justice developed the argument that Egypt is a sovereign state and that the Monastery has allegedly violated the 1971 legislation according to which only those who are Egyptians by nationality can own land in that area. He also argued that all archaeological sites belong to the State and that the same happens in Greece. The Minister of Foreign Affairs replied that this is indeed the case, but when states want to, they make exceptions to solve problems with special legislation.

At this point, the argument of “Estia” was invoked in the open letter that our newspaper addressed to Egyptian President Sisi about Sinai last Tuesday, that the Imaret of Kavala, where the founder of the Egyptian State, Muhammad Ali, was born, is a monument and should belong to the Greek state. But the Greek state, by a law it passed in 1960, recognized the Egyptian State’s ownership of the Imaret monument in Kavala and since then it has been its waqf. The Egyptians remained awkwardly silent. (The Minister may be bothered by our newspaper’s criticism of him personally, but at least on this issue, reading it offered him an argument that seemed nationally useful to him! The suspicion that we too could confiscate the Imaret, as we wrote, caused embarrassment and panic).

The Egyptians also, when called upon to answer why they had resorted to justice, claimed that the Monastery had encroached on some property plots in the wider Sinai region, but there the Greek response was because it did not resort only for these but claims the property of the entire Monastery. The issue of resolving the legal personality of the Sinai Monastery , which is currently non-existent, and of granting Egyptian citizenship to the monks was also urgently raised. With permanent legislation. Especially given that throughout its history the Monastery has demonstrated its credentials against the Egyptian state: during the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian soldiers found refuge inside it while the Israelis who were persecuting them respected its asylum and did not invade it!

And Turkey is hiding behind it.

This meeting was extremely instructive for the permanently deluded Minister of Foreign Affairs, as he realized that despite the smiles with his counterpart in front of the cameras that Greek-Egyptian relations have already been largely blown up and the Sinai Monastery affair is simply the validation of the new reality. And they have been blown up not only because of the Monastery but mainly, as the Al Monitor magazine reports, because in the background a rapid rapprochement is developing between Turkey and Egypt, which is due to the fact that President Sisi is very anxious not to lose control of developments within his difficult country.

The public relations meetings that took place before the dramatic meeting in Cairo in Athens on issues of diaspora between Greece, Egypt and Cyprus did not yield much.  “The situation is very difficult,” commented a Greek official immediately after the end of this dramatic meeting during which the Egyptians essentially tore up the paper of the settlement they had signed and which recognized the ownership of the Monastery and its 71 properties. Everything will now be discussed from the beginning. The leaks of Maximos that the understanding agreement between Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Sisi would be confirmed in Cairo were blatantly denied.

The counterattack of the Orthodox world

The realization that we are now facing a new situation forces the leadership of the Orthodox world to plan its counterattack in a very harsh manner if the impasse is confirmed after two weeks.

The internationalization of the issue is a one-way street in order to achieve the minimum goal: the remaining ownership of the holy monastery a) of the Monastery of St. Catherine, b) of its unimaginable historical value relics and c) of course the entire area, which is protected by UNESCO. Even this was disputed by the Egyptians when the Foreign Minister presented them with evidence that since 2003 they have accepted its ownership. Their refusal to admit it made him so angry that he said that… “it is wrong to give lessons to a law professor on such issues!” (If they had said this from Athens to President Sisi and not pretended to be comfortable, they would not have been forced to negotiate with lower officials in Cairo!)

The end of the meeting left no illusions to the participants. The negotiation that begins is tough and the Monastery must play everything for everything to save the holy places and saints of Hellenism and Orthodoxy. The government must prove to the Greeks that it will indeed fight for Sinai and that what happened in Cairo was not a parenthesis to have a good testimony from the outside in case of dramatic developments.

The phone call from a top Commission official

Sinai Monastery is not a coincidence. It may not have legal personality in Egypt, but outside of it it has an international personality! It has an excellent network of international and public relations. From November 2023 to June 2024, the unique exhibition “Byzantium and Africa” for its relics, with the dominant image of “Virgin Mary of Mercy” toured New York, Cleveland and Ohio, and the relics were even exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. During this period, Archimandrite Father Porphyrios Frangakos, who remained in America for almost a year, had high-level contacts, which proved to be extremely useful at this stage.

The dramatic reversal of centuries of achievements unites the Orthodox world, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Church of Greece, Mount Athos, the Church of Cyprus, the Archdiocese of America who plan to internationalize the seizure of the Monastery’s property by the Egyptians. Already before the meeting of the delegations in Egypt, representatives of the Greek government met with the Dutch ambassador to the European Union in Cairo who, despite her icy tone, acknowledged the problems, resulting in the evening of the same day that the President of Egypt, Al-Sisi, received a phone call from a top official of the European Union who asked him for information! The phone call from the Commission was a foretaste of what was to come. Egypt is currently claiming the leadership of UNESCO with an official named Anani. The Greek government and international Orthodoxy figures have already begun a behind-the-scenes campaign to reject his candidacy if the impasse is finalized after the dramatic events in Cairo.

Involvement of King Charles, US Deputy Secretary of State Mr. Rigas and the European Parliament

However, tensions are expected to increase significantly with the involvement of King Charles in the case, as well as top officials from the Trump administration.

Charles, who regularly visits Mount Athos and is rumored to have secretly come to Athos to the Pantokrator monastery a short time ago, is currently being probed to intervene in the case, as, among other things, Saint Catherine is protected by the Anglican church. The English-speaking Saint Catherine’s schools are also considered to be named. Any involvement of the King, who swore an oath to the Byzantine rite and loves Byzantine culture, will put Sisi’s leadership in an extremely difficult position. At the same time, the US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. Rigas, is also being informed and probed to get involved, who is becoming a party to the case. If Egypt insists, it will soon occupy a prominent position in the State Department’s religious freedom report. Soon, the European Parliament will also be called upon to take a position on the dramatic developments in Sinai following questions from members of the European People’s Party and other parties (Niki, Hellenic Solution).

The diplomatic pressure that will peak in the immediate future will be the main lever for the Egyptians to realize the great slip, which they committed in order to withdraw. If the defeat in Sinai is ratified, the government will have a huge political problem. The Prime Minister’s visit to Mount Athos on July 7, if it takes place, will not be in vain. If what the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” revealed, that our government was lukewarm about Sinai because of the electrical interconnection cable with Egypt, is at least true, even if the Italians leak it because they are interested in the project, it will have a huge internal political cost for ND in the long run. But before and above all, it will have a cost for the Nation. National cost.

PS: If the Sisi government pulls the trigger, an extreme possibility has also been put on the table of reactions, which is not the most prevalent at the moment but does exist: for the monks to lock down the monastery of St. Catherine. For an indefinite period of time. Until the previous situation is restored. This would of course also mean the relocation of the sacred relics that are at risk! This would mean that the entire mega project of the Egyptian government to turn the godless Mount Sinai, where the resurrected Christ gave his commandments to Moses… into a resort and… Disneyland, is also canceled. It is extreme, but if necessary to protect Christianity and the sanctity of the place… it will be done!