In a move that cannot go unnoticed, The Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai closed This afternoon, her access to the faithful, announcing that she will remain closed until Sunday at 5 pm, when the Vespers and the Divine Liturgy will be held.
The decision was taken by their own monkswho, apparently troubled by the latest developments, wish to retire to silence and pray away from external pressures and visits. As they say, the goal is to regain their inner tranquility, which has been shaken in recent days due to the judicial decision to commit its real estate Single by Egyptian court.
This sudden move comes to deny the assurances of the Egyptian authorities That “nothing is going to change” in the lifestyle and operation of the monastery. The statements of officials are now reassuring, as the monks themselves choose isolation and prayer in response to uncertainty.
It is worth noting that Archimandrite Porphyrios, a spokesman for the Holy Monastery in Athens, said he would open tomorrow, as opposed to the monks.
Here’s how he transmitted the “sealing” of the Sinai Monastery for the faithful his envoy protothema.gr in Egypt, Frixos Drakontidis
The ownership regime of the monastery remains cloudy, and ambiguity around the boundaries of monastic property continues to cause strong reflection.
In an area that is already experiencing radical changes due to the tourist “great transformation”, with luxury hotels and conference centers being built in a breath away from the sacred place, the monastery seems to be at the center of a deeper conflict: between spirituality and commercial use.
The question is whether the “silence” of the monastery is a temporary reaction or the beginning of a new, more difficult capital for one of the oldest and most sacred monastic sites on the planet.
