By EIPR –
EIPR (The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights) expresses deep concern over the repercussions of the ruling issued by the Ismailia Court of Appeals concerning Saint Catherine’s Monastery in South Sinai. While the ruling preserved the monks’ possession of sites with a “religious character” under the new legal concept of “religious possession” introduced by the court, it failed to adopt a comprehensive understanding of the monastery’s unique heritage and the monastic life that has developed in and around it over the past 14 centuries. This life goes beyond prayer and worship to include land reclamation, well-digging, and cooperation with the surrounding Bedouin tribes to manage life in the Saint Catherine area on the basis of coexistence.
In this context, we refers to the 2008 Quebec Declaration issued by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which emphasizes the preservation of the spirit of place—comprising both tangible elements like buildings, sites, landscapes, and pathways, and intangible elements like memories, narratives, written documents, and rituals. The declaration affirms that “people are the essential creators of a place’s spirit,” both materially and spiritually.
Based on this, EIPR believes that while safeguarding the religious possession of the monks is necessary, it is not sufficient. The monks have exercised other forms of possession that have enabled them to contribute meaningfully to the sustainability of their presence and the development of the monastery and its surroundings over centuries. We stress the need to preserve the infrastructure established by the monks, which supports the monastery’s self-sufficiency and testifies to their interaction with and influence on their environment.
EIPR condemns the government’s approach to the dispute over ownership of Saint Catherine’s Monastery and its lands. This began with government officials, in their original 2014 lawsuit, claiming that the monastery’s possession of its lands, churches, and buildings constituted unlawful “seizure,” and demanding a ruling to evict the monks and dispossess the monastery of all its holdings.
After the first degree court ruling in 2020, major changes took place in the Saint Catherine heritage area with the launch of the “Great Transfiguration” project in 2021. In 2023, UNESCO requested the project’s suspension pending an assessment of its impact on the Saint Catherine World Heritage Site and the development of a management plan, including one for tourism. Notably, UNESCO’s advisory mission was unable to visit the site in 2021.
In light of the above, EIPR deems the monks’ fears that the appeals ruling might be a step toward stripping the monastery of its spiritual, religious, and cultural role as entirely legitimate. We also warn against using the recognition of the right to worship—via acknowledgment of “religious possession” based solely on the practice of religious rites—as a means to deprive the monks of their other rights, such as preserving the monastery’s character and their role in maintaining it.
Despite attempts to reach an amicable agreement between the monastery and the governorate prior to the appeal ruling—an agreement that, according to statements from the monastery leadership (which the South Sinai Governorate did not deny), would have preserved the ownership rights of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Sinai over the monastery and its lands—the ruling contradicted those expectations.
It is worth noting that the Egyptian government officially recognized the ownership of the Bishop of Sinai—representing the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Sinai—over the monastery, its chapels, gardens, walkways, and all its facilities in the request Egypt submitted at the start of the millennium to have Saint Catherine included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The bishop even participated in preparing the nomination file (see p. 38).
EIPR also points out the unique heritage nature of Saint Catherine’s Monastery: it is a living heritage site inhabited by monks, unlike many archaeological sites that are uninhabited or no longer used for their original purpose. This specificity calls for the establishment of legal ownership frameworks that take into account the unique situation of the monks of Saint Catherine.
Recommendations
EIPR calls on the government to develop legal frameworks that secure the ownership of Saint Catherine’s Monastery and its lands for the independent Greek Orthodox Diocese of Sinai, ensuring peaceful, secure, and stable possession for the monks, both now and in the future. This includes their autonomy in managing their church and its associated religious, cultural, social, and economic activities.
EIPR also recommends resuming dialogue among all parties involved in the crisis—foremost among them the monastery leadership—with the goal of reaching an agreement between South Sinai Governorate and the Monastery of Saint Catherine that ensures the monks’ rights and role in preserving the monastery as a living religious heritage and in safeguarding their rights in the surrounding area. This surrounding space has served as the monks’ daily activity zone within the heritage landscape they have inhabited and helped shape for 14 centuries.
Background
On May 28, the Ismailia Court of Appeals issued its decision in two appeals of a lower court ruling dated May 30, 2020, in case no. 24/2015. The plaintiffs—Governor of South Sinai, Minister of Antiquities, Head of Saint Catherine City’s Local Unit, and Chair of the Environmental Affairs Agency—sued the Bishop of Saint Catherine’s Monastery in his personal and official capacities, demanding his eviction from 71 land plots, including all churches, buildings, and agricultural lands belonging to the monastery.
The court ruled that the Bishop had “religious possession” (not ownership) over 29 religious sites, and dismissed the lawsuit concerning 17 plots with preliminary sales contracts. However, the court also ordered the eviction of the monks from lands deemed not to have a religious character, and ruled to hand these lands—along with their structures, crops, and plantings—over to the South Sinai Governorate.
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Translated from:
[…] official reassurances, the monks of Saint Catherine’s Monastery closed its doors to visitors on 6 June in protest, citing fears that the new legal framework could, in the future, […]