International Initiative for Preservation of Saint Catherine’s Available for Signature

Photo: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

SINAI — On June 13, 2025, the Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery announced an international initiative for the preservation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) status quo of the Sacred Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai, Saint Catherine’s.

The letter included with the initiative is addressed to Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO. It states that the undersigned citizens of the world are “making a final appeal for institutional intervention on your behalf, as the only responsible global authority regarding the crisis unfolding at the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai – the only spiritual monument of the ancient world with global sacred influence that has survived up to today, continuously operating for nineteen centuries.”

The letter also argues that it is not just the future of the monastery at stake, but something much higher, as the potential for the ancient institution to fall into the “abyss of any bureaucracy” would be an indictment on the protection of UNESCO itself. 

“If your office does not respond decisively to this clear violation of every justification for protection, you risk setting a global precedent for the ‘neutralization of heritage’ – the dismantling of international protection by an internal state bureaucratic decree,” the letter states.

His Eminence Archbishop Damianos of Sinai, who has served as archbishop since 1973 and is abbot of the monastery, offered a letter and blessing in support of the appeal. It is published in full below. 

To the participants in the International Initiative for the Preservation of the UNESCO Status Quo of the Sacred Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai, Saint Catherine's:

As the Archbishop and Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai and Saint Catherine, together with all the Fathers of the community, we extend our heartfelt thanks and blessings for the divine consolation we received upon hearing of the international initiative to gather signatures in support of preserving the uninterrupted tradition of at least 1,800 years of our ascetic life - of prayer and service at the foot of the God-trodden Holy Peak of Mount Horeb. It is here that, according to tradition, from the early 3rd century A.D., the first monks fled persecution and gathered near the site of the Burning Bush and the Well of Moses.

We perceive your initiative as a gift of the Holy Spirit, especially as it was made known to us on the feast of Holy Pentecost – when the Holy Spirit illumined the twelve Apostles simultaneously, inaugurating the earthly ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ.

At Sinai, Moses spent 40 years at the foot of Mount Horeb, and there, before the Burning Bush, he encountered the presence of our Lord. Later, from the Holy Peak, he received the Law of God directly. Similarly, for three years, the Apostle Paul – after his conversion from persecutor to servant of Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus – retreated to this same Biblical ‘house of God, Mount Sinai,’ before returning to Jerusalem to meet the other Apostles.

God's philanthropic will was revealed a third time when, according to multiple historical sources, Muhammad himself ascended the Holy Peak in mid-June 623 A.D. (during the first month, Muharram, of the second year of the Hijra), accompanied by all his disciples as a pilgrim. Upon descending, he delivered the Deed of Covenant – known as the Achtiname – to our predecessors, the Sinai Fathers, who had by then already upheld a monastic tradition of more than 400 years both within and beyond the Justinian Fortress, built by the emperor and founder of Hagia Sophia.

This document, called the Achtiname, expressed the personal will (‘عهد/Ahd’) of the Biblical ‘God of Sinai’ addressed to all the rulers and Nation of Muhammad, establishing a sacred, earthly law (‘الميثاق/Mitha’,) protecting the lifestyle of the Sinai Fathers within God's biblical ‘house’ – and by extension, all Christians. In it, God's will was articulated through a series of commands mandating the protection of Christians by the followers of Muhammad, as a tangible sign of obedience to the divine Will until the end of time.

In 737 A.D., Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph after Muhammad, confirmed the Achtiname and elaborated it further to safeguard Christians and their holy sites in Jerusalem. The legacy of the Sunni caliphs' fidelity to the Achtiname continued until 1904, when Sultan Abdul Hamid II ratified the election of Porphyrios II, my third predecessor, affirming once more the binding nature of this divine covenant.

May the merciful God always bless those who uphold His divine Will.

We earnestly ask for your continued solidarity in this honorable, just, and unwavering struggle – a struggle for faith and for truth. 

+ Damianos, Archbishop of Sinai, Pharan, and Raithos

On behalf of all the Fathers of Sinai

The initiative can be signed at this link.

Previously, UOJ reported on a meeting between Greek and Egyptian officials on the status and future of the monastery.

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