\n<\/p>\n
From the very first moment the case of the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai<\/strong> arose, I wrote that the real stake was not a simple administrative or property dispute, but the risk of losing ownership, autonomy and ultimately the undisturbed character of one of the most important monuments of world cultural and religious heritage.<\/p>\n The consequences are broader: purely religious, cultural, but also geopolitical. Unfortunately, the latest developments confirm that these concerns were not exaggerated. While the Greek government assured for months that \u201ceverything is under control,\u201d the evidence coming to light a year and a half after the Egyptian courts\u2019 rulings on the monastery\u2019s property status is causing concern and greater anxiety.<\/p>\n According to named allegations, the agreement under negotiation recognises ownership of the monastery by the Egyptian State, limiting the Sinaitic Brotherhood to a \u201cright of possession\u201d and \u201cuse of the facilities.\u201d If the basis of the negotiation is confirmed, this is not a compromise. It is a substantial loss of the entirety of the ownership and a historical downgrading of the monastery\u2019s special legal status.<\/p>\n The issue, however, far exceeds the property aspect, as I analysed in the open letter I sent to the UNESCO Executive Board months ago. The historic monasteries of the Middle East function as arms of long-term strategic presence, endowing Greece with a timeless presence, soft power, and cultural and diplomatic influence in a region of exceptional geopolitical importance. Their protection is not only an ecclesiastical or cultural obligation; it is an element of the country\u2019s national strategy at the crossroads of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East<\/strong> and Africa. That is why the unjustified complacency cultivated throughout the previous period by Athens cannot continue. If in the Aegean we were trapped in the logic of \u201ccalm waters,\u201d in Sinai there lurks the danger of being covered by the \u201ccalm sand\u201d of faits accomplis.<\/p>\n The government must, first, fully and transparently inform Greek society and the political parties about the real content of the negotiations. The case cannot be allowed to remain a \u201csecret,\u201d since it concerns the country\u2019s foreign policy, religious freedom and the protection of Greek cultural heritage. Second, Greece<\/strong> must exhaust every international legal and diplomatic means to protect the monastery\u2019s property status, even by recourse to the competent international judicial bodies. The holy monastery is not the property of the Egyptian state, nor of Egypt\u2019s Ministry of Culture. It belongs historically and canonically to the Sinaitic Brotherhood, which has maintained an uninterrupted presence for fifteen centuries.<\/p>\n At the same time, we must appeal immediately to UNESCO. Already in September 2025, in my letter to the Organisation\u2019s Executive Board, I expressed serious reservations about the candidacy of former Egyptian Culture Minister Khaled el-Enany for the post of Director-General, precisely because of the Egyptian authorities\u2019 questioning of the monastery\u2019s property status. Athens then chose to ignore the warnings and give its vote to el-Enany, without even securing any quid pro quo in favour of the monastery.<\/p>\n Yet even under these conditions, Egypt<\/strong> must finally be held to account before the international community and the commitments arising from the protection of world cultural heritage.<\/p>\n Finally, it cannot go unnoticed that the Italian press has linked the monastery case with the broader Greek-Egyptian understandings in the energy sector. Strategic energy cooperation between Greece and Egypt is important and must proceed. It cannot, however, leave any suspicion that the historical and spiritual capital of Hellenism in the Eastern Mediterranean is being placed on the negotiating table. No economic\u2013business agreement legitimises concessions on History, and in view of political developments no government has the right to leave behind faits accomplis that will burden the next generations.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n