1 week ago
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The Ecumenical Patriarchate connected Friday expressed “deep sorrow and surprise” implicit a caller Egyptian tribunal ruling that challenges the historical ownership status of Saint Catherine’s Monastery successful Sinai, calling connected Cairo to grant longstanding spiritual traditions and agreements.
In a strongly worded statement, the Istanbul-based patriarchate criticized the court’s determination to admit the section monastic assemblage lone arsenic having usage rights to the monastery’s property, alternatively than afloat ownership.
“The First-Throned Church of Orthodoxy is disappointed and saddened by this ruling,” the statement read, noting that the Church has agelong embraced the revered instauration established by Emperor Justinian and remains grateful for its enduring contributions to faith, culture, and nation.
Located astatine the ft of Mount Sinai, the sixth-century monastery is 1 of the oldest functioning Christian monastic institutions successful the world and has agelong been recognized for its historical, religious, and interfaith significance.
The patriarchate appealed to the Egyptian authorities to uphold the monastery’s established ownership, which it noted has been protected for centuries, including under Islamic rule.
“Respecting longstanding traditions and honoring agreements will alteration the Monastery of Saint Catherine to proceed its spiritual and taste ngo from the Sinai Peninsula, where God erstwhile spoke to humankind,” the statement said.
Calling the monastery a “precious spiritual and taste treasure for Egypt,” the patriarchate urged Egyptian authorities to enactment successful accordance with the principles of spiritual state and quality rights, and to instrumentality a caller statement reached with the monastic community.
“The centuries person respected the Monastery of Sinai; fto Egypt respect it today arsenic well arsenic a civilized, law-abiding federation that upholds spiritual state and quality rights,” the patriarchate said.
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