Egyptian Court Ruling Threatens Saint Catherine’s 6th Century Monastery with Mosque Conversion
Mount Sinai’s landmark Christian monastery, Saint Catherine’s, could become a mosque.
Greece is demanding reassurances from Egypt that it will not seize the unique UNESCO Christian site after a court ruled that the 6th-century Byzantine monastery belonged to the state.
Still considered to be under the protection of a 7th-century accord authorised by Mohammed, the monastery has survived 14 centuries of Islamic conquest and occupation.
Saint Catherine’s now faces an uncertain future.
The site has been the North African home of Greek Orthodoxy for almost 1,500 years, and is older than Islam.
Built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, 20 monks live in the Greco-Roman monastery through temporary residency permits that are renewed annually.
Saint Catherine’s Uncertain Future
Fears that Egypt’s Muslim majority government may seize the Christian property are not unfounded.
The push to requisition Saint Catherine’s began with Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
They came to power in 2011 after exploiting the pro-democracy revolution known as the “Arab Spring.”
By 2012, a new constitution had officially shrouded the 1971 constitution in Sharia law. (Read more here)
Although democratically elected, Mohamed Morsi was forced out by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi through a coup in response to mass unrest over the Muslim Brotherhood’s boot-heel rule of the country.
Fattah el-Sisi is still Egypt’s president.
Court Ruling: Saint Catherine’s is State-Owned
Alarmed, Coptic Solidarity (CS) said, the “Sharm el-Sheikh Court ruling that the state-owned Saint Catherine’s Monastery” included “all of its property.”
They added that the judgment casts serious doubt on the sincerity of an agreement signed between Egypt and Greece in 2024.
Egypt had agreed to “recognise the monastery’s property rights, and drop the judicial proceedings and appeals.”
In return, Saint Catherine’s Christian monks “committed to cooperating with the Egyptian Antiquities Authority to protect the site’s archaeological heritage.”
Greece was awaiting the finalisation of the agreement, “but was confronted with the court ruling instead.”
“Cairo did not even bother to notify Athens or officially inform them,” CS alleged.
Accusing the Egyptian government of ignoring the World Heritage status of Sinai’s Saint Catherine area, Coptic Solidarity warned that any seizure of the site could hinder Egypt’s bid for the Director-General of UNESCO.
Noting that the state has no interest in owning mosques in the area, CS stated there was one rule being applied to Christian property, and another to those flying the flag for Islam.
“These are policies that defy understanding,” they concluded, “but since when have fanatic ideologues ever been known for reason?”
The answer is found in Egypt’s plans for the area.
Egyptian Government’s Area Plans
The Christian monastery, maintained by Greek Orthodox monks, is an obstacle to the Muslim government’s goal of turning Saint Catherine into a new Mecca.
Egypt wants to develop the area of Saint Catherine’s into a city.
The Fattah el-Sisi project, dubbed The Great Transfiguration (TGT), is projected to “maximise benefits from tourist attractions in South Sinai as well as its rich archaeological and religious heritage.”
A statement press release back 2023 added,
“TGT’s blueprint entails turning the site into a spiritual spot comprising the mountains located in the environs of the sacred valley.”
Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they were working on fresh dialogue with Egypt to “safeguard the Greek Orthodox character of the area.”
The official remarks published on 29 May also said Greece regards the matter as urgent, saying they had “made it clear to Egypt that there is no room for deviation from the common understanding.”
Greece, scrambling to save Saint Catherine’s, is doing little to reassure Christians that the moves are profit-driven, not politically motivated.
Monks in Saint Catherine have protested the perceivable persecution by committing to prayer.
They have closed the monastery to all visitors until Egypt honours its commitments, and a resolution to the court ruling is found.
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Image via Adobe.
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