ATHENS – [ANA-MPA]
Greece will fulfill the promise given to the Sinai Monastery Brotherhood and Archbishop Damianos of Sinai, Minister of Education, Religious Affairs & Sports Sofia Zacharaki said on July 31 in Parliament.
Zacharaki was speaking during the debate on a bill establishing the legal status of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St Catherine at Mount Sinai, as a “legal entity of public law” (NPDD) in Greece with the name “Greek Orhtodox Holy Basilica Autonomous Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and Theobadist Mount Sinai”.
She also clarified that the national representation “will under no circumstances replace religious courts and decide about the legality and regularity of internal procedures of the Mt Sinai monastery.”
Greece is “not getting involved at all in the court regulations of another country,” Zacharaki insisted, noting that Mt Sinai monastery “is based in Egypt, and its legal status is an issue of Egyptian law.” Yet, she noted, the monastery does not have a legal status in Egypt, and satisfying this request is a very important parameter of an overall solution.” The recognition of a legal status in the monastery’s representation in Greece “helps the Greek position, but that is as far as it goes,” she underlined.
The minister acknowledged that the draft bill was delayed, and that the Greek-Egyptian relations went through “an unprecedented crisis becuase of the Mt Sinai monastery’s case.” She added however that the monastery’s issues were long-standing, and underlined that “it is not this government’s responsibility that the Sinai monastery did not have a legal status in Egypt or that it had not safeguarded its continuity through residence and citizenship permits.”
Greece was not involved in the monastery’s differences with the Egyptian state, and it only intervened after asked for help when a fire threatened the monastery, which it was Greece’s duty to respond to, she noted.
Finally, Zacharaki called on Greek parties not to become involved in the monastery’s internal issues and discussion on the archbishop’s legal standing, and expressed appreciation for PASOK’s leader that he will keep this promise of non-involvement.
The debate was observed in Parliament by Archbishop Damianos, head of the monastery.
