Successive legal challenges aimed at the venerable St. Catherine’s Greek Orthodox Monastery of Mount Sinai, which began under the short-lived Muslim Brotherhood government more than a decade ago, apparently succeeded this week with an appellate court decision essentially shifting possession of the Sinai Monastery and its estates to the Egyptian state.
The apparent judicial decision, which had still not been officially published on Thursday afternoon, comes less than a month after visiting Egyptian President Abdel el-Sisi, speaking during an official visit to Athens, went out of his way to dispel what he called “rumors” of state attempts to confiscate the monastery and its properties.
He also underlined his and the country’s commitment to the link between St. Catherine’s Monastery and the Egyptian state as “a perpetual contract that no one can touch.”
At the time, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, at his side during a joint press conference, publicly thanked el-Sisi for his stance on the matter.
According to sources in the Greek capital on Thursday, the issue of St. Catherine’s Monastery was, indeed, broached in talks held in Athens between the visiting Egyptian delegation and the Mitsotakis government, with the latter reportedly assured that no change in the historic site’s status was being considered.
Although the details were still coming in on the day, the development caused a political and diplomatic flurry in Greece, with the government, the opposition and even former prime ministers making statements. Some sources referred to the prospect of Mitsotakis contacting the powerful Egyptian president in the next 24 hours over the matter.
The opposition also pounced on the news, criticizing the Greek government for “shoddy diplomacy”, among others.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after signing cooperation agreements at the Maximos Mansion, in Athens, Greece, May 7, 2025. REUTERS/Louiza Vradi
Meanwhile, ecclesiastical news sites in Greece on Thursday, quoting monks serving at St. Catherine’s, reported that the monastic community has been notified that they can remain at the monastery and continue to cultivate their lands, despite the court decision.
“The decision recognizes the (monastic community’s) adverse possession, and we can cultivate the fields and live in the monastery. We haven’t seen the decision, but our attorneys briefed us, and we consider that we won’t have any trouble with our presence here or the fulfilment of our (religious) duties,” a monk at the monastery, Brother Michail, was quoted on Thursday by the Athens-based Orthodoxia news agency.
File photo: The late John Paul II (R) kisses a Cross given to him by the Greek Orthodox Hegumen (Abbot) of the St. Catherine’s Monastery, Elder Damianos (L), during a ceremony at the historic monastery at Mount Sinai, 26 February 2000. EPA PHOTO AFP/MARWAN NAAMANI
Conversely, Archimandrite Porphyrios, a spokesman of the autonomous Orthodox Church of Sinai, under whose jurisdiction the monastery operates, viewed the decision in a much more negative light, in comments from Athens.
“Essentially the monastery is lost after the court verdict that vindicates the Egyptian state’s appeal, which disputed both the ownership of the monastery and every asset. With this decision, everything is up in the air, with the monks are in danger of being excluded from the monastery – and the property passing into the hands of the Egyptian state.”
He added that “wherever you go abroad it would be unthinkable to believe that a 6th century AD (religious) institution has no property, they’d call you crazy.”
Although the entire written agreement (in Arabic) has not been published, the main points reportedly acknowledge the monks of the St. Catherine Sinai Monastery as mere tenants, who remain on the site to execute their devotional duties, with all properties belonging to the Egyptian state, and managed by the country’s archaeological service.
FILE PHOTO – Visitors walk inside the St. Catherine’s Monastery, on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, December 8, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Athens in contacts with the Egyptian side
According to other reports from Athens on Thursday, contacts between the Greek state, in its role as a mediator, and the Egyptian side began last December over the status of the monastery and its dependencies. Specifically, press reports said the Greek education and religious affairs ministry’s general secretary had ironed out a draft agreement with South Sinai Governor Khaled Mubarak Bakr. The latter, in fact, had paid an official visit to Athens in November 2024, with several references to the St. Catherine Monastery and the Sinai’s potential publicly made at the time.
The Elders of Monastery had also reportedly been briefed over the draft extra-judicial agreement and were positive.
However, the draft agreement was never signed by all the relevant Egyptian ministries and therefore never made it to the presidential office as a draft decree requiring final approval and publication. Instead, the Egyptian appeals court decision rendered the agreement a moot point.
The Egyptian state has previously cited its resolve to transform the arid, rugged and remote south Sinai into an international spiritual and cultural destination called the “Great Transfiguration” project, with the sixth century AD St. Catherine Monastery as its epicenter.
El-Sisi comments earlier this month
Earlier this month, El-Sisi had affirmed his government’s commitment to protecting the monastery in the South Sinai, denying speculation that Cairo was moving against the latter’s status.
“I was very upset when the topic of St. Catherine’s Monastery was raised and that Egypt might take any negative action,” Sisi explained as he stood alongside Mitsotakis.
He added that such rumors annoyed him “not only because of the monastery’s status, but because this contradicts the principles of Egyptian belief and policy that we practice.”
