The head of the Bulgarian Church spoke out in support of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai

The Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Daniel, sent a letter of support to the abbot and brethren of the monastery in honor of St. Catherine the Great Martyr on Mount Sinai, which is under threat of closure due to the actions of the Egyptian authorities. The Patriarch expressed concern about what is happening, expressing support and hope that the status of the monastery will not change and that the monastery on Sinai will continue its 1,500-year history. The letter was published on the official website of the Bulgarian Patriarchate.

«We want to express our warm, brotherly, and prayerful support to you and the entire monastic brotherhood of the ancient Holy Monastery of Sinai in these difficult times. The Holy Monastery of St. Catherine is a place of spiritual struggle and devotion for its monks and should in no way be considered a museum or state property. We unequivocally reaffirm our unwavering support for the monastery’s right to own all immovable and movable property that has always belonged and continues to belong exclusively to its monastic brotherhood. The inviolability of church property — and, in particular, monastic property — is a fundamental principle that derives from the sacred canons of the Church, is enshrined in ancient imperial law, and is protected by modern democratic legal systems,» — the letter emphasizes.

Earlier, we reported that Greece had sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to discuss the alarming situation surrounding St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. The visit, which took place on June 2, 2025, was a response to legal initiatives in Egypt that threaten the monastery’s rights to the land it owns.