By OrthodoxiaNewsAgency –
Former Archbishop of Sinai Damianos has issued a new statement accusing Greek officials of exerting pressure on the current Archbishop, Simeon, and the monastic brotherhood to sign an agreement with the Egyptian state.
The statement follows Archbishop Simeon’s announcement of October 24, 2026 (see below), expressing his intention to sign the proposed agreement.
Full Statement by Former Archbishop Damianos
Following the statement issued on October 24, 2026, by His Eminence Archbishop Simeon, Archbishop and Abbot of the Monastery of Sinai, Pharan and Raitho, I feel duty-bound, both toward the Monastery of Sinai, to which I have devoted myself body and soul from 1961 to the present day, and for the information of the entire Greek nation, to declare the following:
I denounce Messrs. Mitsotakis and Gerapetritis for the unbearable pressure they have exerted on the Brotherhood in recent days to force it into signing a disgraceful and unacceptable settlement with the Egyptian state. The orchestrated attack against me personally—an attempt, in other words, to assassinate my character—is intended to weaken my opposition to the planned settlement.
No ruling was due to be issued today by the Court of Cassation on the appeal we filed against the judgment of the Ismailia Court of Appeals (I am precise in what I write). This “information” was circulated on the instructions of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to rush through the signing of the agreement.
I am saddened by Archbishop Simeon’s statement. And I am saddened for two reasons.
First, because he does not disclose the contents of the settlement he announces his intention to sign. I, for example, have not been informed of any draft whatsoever.
Second, because, under the Fundamental Regulations, he has no right to sign, on his own and without the Brotherhood’s consent, any settlement that relinquishes centuries-old, inalienable historic titles.
Moreover, it is obvious that no Orthodox Church can endorse an agreement whose contents it does not know.
We all wish for a solution to be found. But under no circumstances at the cost of sacrificing the imprescriptible rights of our Monastery.
Around the end of 2024, while I was still Archbishop, we had reached an out-of-court agreement with the Egyptian government that expressly and unconditionally recognized the Monastery of Sinai’s ownership of all seventy-one (71) disputed properties.
The agreement was not signed because, in the meantime, the well-known judgment of the Ismailia Court of Appeals was issued on May 28, 2025.
To speak plainly: the agreement was not signed because the Egyptian government, with which Mr. Gerapetritis was supposedly negotiating, allowed the Ismailia Court of Appeals judgment to be issued.
The issue is not merely legal; it is above all political. No one can hide behind the decisions of Egyptian “justice” to evade their own responsibilities.
What matters, when this affair is considered in its broader historical perspective, is this:
The decisive issue is not what Egyptian “justice” or the Egyptian government says today. Circumstances change.
What currently appears utopian to us was something the Egyptian government itself was ready to sign only yesterday.
The crucial question, therefore, is not what Egypt does, but what the Brotherhood signs.
We are the custodians of fifteen centuries of history. Our duty is sacred.
I am certain that my brothers will not open the gates (*) to the conquest of our Monastery.
It is rightly said that Byzantium lives on in the Monastery of Sinai.
But it lives on not only in its sacred treasures and historic monuments, but also in its heroic spirit.
More relevant than ever today are the words spoken by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos when Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror demanded that he surrender Constantinople in exchange for sparing his life and preserving his personal property:
“To surrender the City to you is neither within my power nor within that of any of its inhabitants. For, by our common decision, we have all freely chosen to die rather than spare our lives.”
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(*) The expression κερκόπορτα (“the small gate”) is a historically charged reference to the supposed opening through which Ottoman forces entered Constantinople in 1453; the sentence is rendered idiomatically as “open the gates to the conquest of our Monastery.”
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Archbishop of Sinai Announces Intention to Sign Agreement with Egyptian State
By OrthodoxiaNewsAgency –
Archbishop Simeon of Sinai, Pharan and Raitho has issued a statement expressing his intention to proceed with the signing of an agreement aimed at bringing an end to the outstanding legal proceedings and disputes with the Egyptian state concerning the status of the historic Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai.
The Archbishop expresses appreciation for the time the Egyptian government afforded the Monastery to examine the proposed agreement. He also acknowledges the support provided by the Greek state throughout the discussions.
In his statement, Archbishop Simeon also refers to the support received by the Monastery from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Alexandria, and the Autocephalous Churches of Cyprus and Greece.
These Patriarchates and Autocephalous Churches, he says, have jointly expressed their “unreserved fraternal support for the signing of the aforementioned agreement, with the hope and expectation that it will contribute to the secure settlement of outstanding issues and the safeguarding of the Monastery’s historic and lawful rights.”
“This development undoubtedly gives the Sinai Brotherhood and me personally the support needed to proceed with signing the Agreement in the near future, as soon as my health permits. At that point, a specific signing date will be agreed upon with the Fathers and the Egyptian government,” Archbishop Simeon states.
Full Statement by the Archbishop of Sinai
The Greek Orthodox Monastery of Mount Sinai, where God once walked (St. Catherine’s), received a draft agreement from the esteemed government of the Arab Republic of Egypt approximately one year ago, following the election of my humble self as the new Archbishop of Sinai. This came at a time when the ruling of the Ismailia Court of Appeals dated May 28, 2025—that is, before my election—had already created certain established legal realities within the Egyptian legal system.
The proposed agreement between the Egyptian state and the Monastery was intended to clarify further aspects of the court ruling and the manner of its implementation, in a way consistent with centuries-old arrangements, so as to ensure the uninterrupted continuation of monastic life and clarify the Monastery’s position and operation within Egypt’s contemporary legal framework.
The Sinai Monastery entered into the dialogue bound by Egyptian legislation and the decisions of Egyptian courts, with a sense of responsibility toward its centuries-old spiritual heritage, as well as responsibility toward the authorities of Egypt, the land of the Nile, where it has flourished for fifteen centuries.
At the same time, the Monastery requested sufficient time to examine the proposal thoroughly, submit counterproposals to improve certain provisions concerning its practical implementation—for which purpose additional explanatory accompanying documents were prepared—and compile, in a scholarly manner, a dossier concerning its status quo and the documentation relating to the properties under discussion. This dossier was ultimately developed into a scholarly study.
We wish to emphasize, with particular satisfaction, that in this respect the Monastery received the understanding of the esteemed Egyptian government and His Excellency President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. As a result, the dialogue has already extended beyond one year, a delay to which my recent health difficulties have also contributed.
Throughout this effort, we have had the Greek state, as well as many other friends of the Monastery around the world, as partners and supporters.
It is well known that the Sinai Monastery has historically enjoyed a special status of ecclesiastical autonomy. At the same time, however, it constitutes an ark of universal Orthodoxy, and matters concerning it can potentially become major concerns for Christians throughout the world, particularly Orthodox believers.
It is therefore no coincidence that, during this period, the Sinai Brotherhood received various contradictory recommendations and information, from those with and without authority, from knowledgeable individuals and from others who, despite their good intentions, lacked adequate understanding.
Nevertheless, without ignoring or underestimating any well-substantiated opinion, the Brotherhood concluded that it would benefit above all from the centuries-old and uninterrupted experience of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, particularly the Patriarchates of the Christian East.
Within this framework, we approached the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, with which we have the appropriate canonical and legal relationship, in order to obtain the considered opinion of the Church of Zion after providing detailed information concerning the draft agreement and the surrounding circumstances.
His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, recognizing that the matter required broader consideration, and in accordance with our own wishes, subsequently approached His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, and the Autocephalous Churches of Cyprus and Greece.
Today, with profound emotion, we are able to state that all the aforementioned Churches, having been informed in detail, have welcomed the initiative through Patriarchal and Synodal Letters, which have been placed in the Monastery’s archives.
They express their unreserved fraternal support for the signing of the aforementioned agreement, with the hope and expectation that it will contribute to the secure settlement of outstanding issues and the safeguarding of the Monastery’s historic and lawful rights.
This development undoubtedly gives the Sinai Brotherhood and me personally the support needed to proceed with signing the Agreement in the near future, as soon as my health permits. At that point, a specific signing date will be agreed upon with the Fathers and the Egyptian government.
Above all, however, this development represents an expression of the unity of the Orthodox Churches of the East.
Mount Sinai, where God once walked, rejoices that, through the esteemed Patriarchal and Synodal Letters it has received, it has provided an occasion for this unity to be reaffirmed once again.
The Sinai Monastery, situated “in a desert land, inaccessible and without water,” enjoys their love and practical support in complete unanimity.
In this atmosphere of firmly established trust between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Sinai Monastery, we are confident that, following today’s announcement concerning the aforementioned agreement, there is no longer any reason for the Supreme Court of Cassation of the Arab Republic of Egypt to issue its ruling.
We are also confident that, during the implementation of the Agreement, the atmosphere of established trust between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Sinai Monastery will enable us to resolve definitively any specific outstanding matters that may arise concerning the Agreement and its accompanying documents.
Expressing our warmest gratitude to the venerable Primates and their Holy Synods, we offer praise to the Almighty Lord and humbly believe that the intercession of the Monastery’s patron, the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, has brought together, in wondrous unity, the entirety of Eastern Orthodoxy at the side of the Sinai Monastery.
Within the institution of the Monastery, the centuries-old, profound and fraternal relationship between two states and great civilizations—Egypt and Greece—is reaffirmed.
Finally, addressing everyone, we assure you that Mount Sinai, where God once walked, remains, by the grace of God, “in its place,” with the Fathers continuing their service, their spiritual struggle, and their welcome to every pilgrim, visitor and traveler.
With warm thanks and blessings to all,
Archbishop Simeon
Archbishop of Sinai, Pharan and Raitho
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