Archbishop Symeon, Archbishop of Sinai and head of St Catherine’s Monastery, informed Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty of his final approval to sign the contract on the monastery and its surrounding lands, in an official letter announced by the Foreign Ministry on Saturday, October 24, 2026. The ministry said the signing would take place after the date of the official ceremony is coordinated, and that the contract ends all pending cases concerning the monastery and its lands.
The Foreign Ministry said the step implements the final ruling of the Ismailia Court of Appeal issued in May 2025, in line with national legislation regulating the ownership and management of these lands. Abdelatty affirmed Egypt’s commitment not to infringe on the religious and spiritual status of the monastery, and said it would remain a historical witness to the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between religions and civilizations.
Archbishop Symeon said in his letter that he would sign the agreement in the near future as soon as his health allows, and that the signing date would be set in coordination with the monastery’s monks and the Egyptian government. Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis described the agreement, in a statement, as giving the monastery a solid legal foundation after about 1,500 years of an unregulated legal status, permanently ensuring the preservation of the religious character of the monastery and its ecclesiastical properties, and granting its monks long-term residence permits. Gerapetritis thanked President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for his personal intervention, which he said made the agreement possible.
The dispute dates back to 2015, when the government filed lawsuits against the monastery over dozens of plots of land surrounding it. In May 2025, a ruling by the Ismailia Court of Appeal considered lands in natural reserve areas outside the monastery complex state property, while the monks retained the right to use the religious and archaeological sites, sparking a diplomatic crisis with Greece. The Court of Cassation had been expected to issue its ruling in the dispute on that same Saturday. The monastery dates back to the sixth century AD and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Photo: Berthold Werner via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
