Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Mount Sinai is built, it is said, on the site where Moses encountered God in the burning bush. Men have sought it out in the Egyptian desert for fifteen centuries in order to seek God there. Today, however, the very existence of this venerable monastery, built on the order of the Roman Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, is under severe threat. The Egyptian government is taking steps that could lead to its closure, to the thoroughgoing alarm of Christians and all those who are concerned about human rights and religious freedom.
The controversy began when an Egyptian court ruled in late May that the monastery’s property actually belonged to the Egyptian government. The Times of London reported on May 29 that “Egypt could be set to close the world’s oldest continuously functioning Christian monastery after almost 15 centuries, igniting international concern and fury from the Greek Orthodox community.”
The Times explained that although the monastery had existed continuously for a millennium and a half, surviving through all manner of upheavals, “its 1,475-year reign could be about to end after an Egyptian court ruled in favour of transferring ownership of the monastery’s assets to the state on Wednesday. The decision is said to include plans to evict the monastic community living there, paving the way for the building to be converted to a museum.”
To replace a functioning monastery with a tourist attraction featuring a museum that used to be a monastery seems to be a peculiar, cruel joke of our peculiar and cruel age. And so, Orthodox Christian leaders were rightly appalled. The Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America, Elpidophoros, stated that he viewed the Egyptian court ruling with “profound concern and deep sorrow.” He added: “The recent judicial actions which threaten to confiscate the monastery’s property and disrupt its spiritual mission are deeply troubling. Such measures not only violate religious freedoms but also endanger a site of immense historical and cultural importance. It is imperative that the Egyptian government honors its previous commitments to protect the monastery’s autonomy and heritage.”
In a similar vein, Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece termed the court’s decision a “scandalous decision involving the violent violation of human—and specifically religious—freedoms by the Egyptian judicial system.” He lamented the fact that the monastery “now enters a period of severe trial—one that evokes much darker times in history.” He concluded on a sad note with an oblique reference to the recent conversion of two world-historical landmarks of Orthodox Christianity, Hagia Sophia and Chora Church, both in occupied Constantinople, into mosques: “I do not want to believe—and I cannot believe—that today Hellenism and Orthodoxy are experiencing yet another historical fall. We cannot allow this to happen.”
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Then, as quickly as the controversy began, it ended — or seemed to end. The Egyptian Presidency issued a statement that assured that the Egyptian government would continue to allow the monks to remain at the monastery:
The Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt reiterates its full commitment to preserving the unique and sacred religious status of Saint Catherine’s Monastery and preventing its violation. The Presidency affirms that the recent court ruling consolidates this status, aligning with the points President El-Sisi emphasized during his recent visit to Athens on May 7. The Presidency also affirms the importance of preserving the close and fraternal relations that bind the two countries and peoples and ensuring that they are not jeopardized.”
That was great, but it left in place the court ruling that the monastery was the property of the Egyptian state. As a result, on May 31, 2025, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the first see in Orthodox Christianity, waded into the controversy, expressing “deep sorrow and surprise upon learning that the competent Egyptian court called into question the longstanding ownership status of the historic Holy Monastery of Sinai. The court recognized the local monastic brotherhood only as having the right to use the monastery’s property.”
The Ecumenical Patriarchate appealed to Egyptian authorities “to preserve the monastery’s ownership status.” It noted that “respecting longstanding traditions and honoring agreements will enable the Monastery of Saint Catherine to continue its religious and cultural mission from the Sinai Peninsula, where God once spoke to humankind.”
Whether the Egyptian government will heed this counsel is an open question. As Christians continue to suffer persecution around the world, the loss of this ancient and revered monastery would just add insult to injury. And more insults, and injuries, are certain to follow this one.
