Sinai monastery deal: Archbishop Symeon agrees to sign agreement with Egypt

Archbishop accepts the deal

Archbishop Symeon of Sinai, Faran and Raithou said in a statement on Saturday, 24 October, that he will sign the agreement with the Egyptian state on the status of the Monastery of Saint Catherine. He wrote that the signing date would be set together with the monastery's fathers and the Egyptian government once his health allowed, since he is recovering from a serious illness. The statement closes a dispute that threatened the monastery's legal standing and followed more than a year of dialogue. The monastery said it had entered that dialogue bound by Egyptian law and the rulings of Egyptian courts, and with a sense of responsibility toward the authorities of the country where it has stood for fifteen centuries.

This development gives, of course, the Sinaitic Brotherhood and me personally the support to proceed to signing the agreement in the near future, as soon as my health permits.

From the Ismailia ruling to stalled talks

The dispute traces back to a decision of the Ismailia Court of Appeal on 28 May 2025, which the archbishop said created facts in Egypt's legal order before he was elected. The Egyptian government then submitted a draft agreement intended to clarify how that ruling would be implemented and to protect the monastery's monastic life. The monastery asked for time to study the text, file counterproposals and prepare a scientific dossier on the status quo and the disputed properties. Talks stopped on 10 August, when the latest Egyptian proposal in a series of exchanges went unanswered. The Supreme Court ruling had been suspended four times, the last on 24 August, and the Egyptian side made clear that the extension ran only until 24 October with no further postponement.

Church backing and the Greek track

The archbishop's acceptance followed letters of support from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Churches of Cyprus and Greece, which backed the signing. The Standing Holy Synod of the Church of Greece held an extraordinary session in which the archbishop took part by teleconference and which unanimously backed him. Georgios Kalantzis, General Secretary for Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, attended and briefed the bishops on the Greek government's handling of the case. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece showed personal interest in the matter. A letter from former Archbishop Damianos of Sinai, which disapproved of a possible deal, was also read to the session. Greece's Foreign Ministry was activated to seek a formal diplomatic freeze of the court ruling until the agreement is formally signed.

Deadline and the path ahead

The archbishop thanked the Egyptian government, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi personally, and the Greek state for their help. The breakthrough came with less than 24 hours left before the deadline for announcing the Supreme Court ruling, which leaks had indicated would be negative. According to those leaks, the ruling would be less favourable than the Ismailia decision and could not be appealed further. Reports described hours of negotiations over the wording of a letter to the Egyptian authorities, aimed at avoiding any phrasing that could trigger a new reversal. The archbishop's health means he cannot fly to Cairo immediately to sign, so the signing date will be fixed later. The next step is a diplomatic request for the ruling to be frozen until the agreement is formally signed, on a timetable still to be agreed.