St. Catherine’s Monastery, 275 miles from Cairo in the depths of the Sinai desert, is the world’s oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery. It is also one of Christianity’s oldest institutions, built at the foot of the mountain where Moses is believed to have seen the burning bush and subsequently received the Ten Commandments. Run by Greek Orthodox monks—some 25 of them live there today—it has served as a sanctuary of worship, refuge, and scholarship for more than 1,500 years.
I grew up in Egypt’s Coptic Christian community; once a year my church would pile us into a bus for our annual pilgrimage to the monastery. But the standing of this holy place is now at grave risk.
In May, an Egyptian court ruled that the monastery’s monks are mere “occupants,” allowing the state to essentially take control of what is—and is not—allowed at St. Catherine’s, and stripping the monks of all legal authority. With enough pressure, they may be forced to abandon the monastery altogether.
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Author: Mariam Wahba
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