And the saga
continues between the authorities on one side and the church
on the other; once between the army and the monasteries, and
another between the governorate and the monasteries; in continuation
to the assault series on the Christian properties in Egypt.
Today, we witness the governor of the red sea governorate taking
it upon himself to demolish the fence of St. Anthony's Monastery
in the red sea desert. And the bizarre aspect is that this monastery
is isolated in the middle of the vast desert and of no use to
anyone ever. Also, the peculiar thing is that bishop Yostos,
the head of the monastery had built this fence in 1992 by a
government decree to protect the monks and hermits in the caves,
and that's more than ten years ago. Why is it now that they
want to bulldoze the fence?!
On the dawn
of August 19, 2003 and in the middle of the night the following
forces from the governorate of the red sea attacked St. Anthony's
Monastery in the red sea desert:
11 Loaders (Tractor trailers)
2 Water containers trucks
2 Air compressors
2 Hydraulic hammers
2 Fire trucks
1 Ambulance
20 Minivans
1 Pickup truck loaded with soldiers
6 Large personnel army vehicles
5 Jeep Wrangler and 1 Jeep Cherokee of the governorate
2 Officer vehicles
Tear gas bombs
1 Airplane carrying the governor, the general Saad abu Reyda,
to supervise his soldiers task of destroying the fence of St.
Anthony's Monastery.
These forces
did the following:
On the dawn of August 19, 2003 Special Police Forces from the
governorate of the red sea attacked St. Anthony's Monastery
and proceeded to use these forces as follows:
1- Seal all the roads leading to the monastery to isolate it.
Koraymat Road (160 kms) and Zaafarana (50 Kms). Preventing people
and provisions from coming or leaving.
2- Intercept one of the monks, father Axios, while he was returning
to the monastery with another 3 monks by trying to run them
off the road, but they miraculously pulled over before flipping
over or hitting the rocks on the side of the road. Then the
officer who tried to ram them treated them offensively as if
they were thieves or bandits, pulling them out of the car, and
taking their personal cameras as well as their cellular phones,
even the monastery's car keys but the father refused to give
him the keys. As for the cellular and the cameras, they were
impounded as if it was stolen property.
And coincidently 4 Italian tourists that were visiting the monastery
saw the occurring unfortunate events from the Egyptian government,
so they took pictures that give a very bad notion to the way
Copts are treated in Egypt.
3- After closing the roads and attacking the monks in the car,
the police forces went on to the monastery to start their terror
mission using the force and the heavy machinery to demolish
the fence that protects the monks from robbery. But the monks
were ready to give their lives as martyrs rather than let them
destroy the fence of their monastery, as well as the monastery's
workers who stood by the fathers in their defense against this
senseless attack.
4- Bishop Yostos, the head of the monastery, went to confer
with these forces lovingly and peacefully, nonetheless the general
pushed the bishop's hand that was holding the cross in a trial
to provoke a fistfight with his grace but the monks intervened
in defense of their shepherd.
5- Then the forces started their move towards the monastery's
fence, but the monks and the workers defended the monastery
with little rocks and stones to prevent them from fulfilling
their assignment.
6- The soldiers and the special police forces retreated a little,
after the stone storm that was thrown on them, and the monks
started to pray and hymn the kyryeleyson( kerya layson, God
have mercy) raising their hearts glorifying the Lord, soliciting
the intercession of the saints, and asking for the help of the
monastery's proprietor, St. Anthony.
CNN found out about the attack on the monastery, so they proceeded
right away to cover the event but failed because all the roads
leading to the monastery were closed from 160 km away.
7- The forces started to bombard them with insults, name-calling,
and foul language; in addition to threats of using tear gas
bombs, but all in vain since the monks were ready for martyrdom
in protection of their monastery.
8- Throughout this entire ordeal, the governor was patrolling
the area in his helicopter, making three consecutive rounds
above the monastery, to keep up with the development of the
situation, and observe how his men are carrying on his orders.
9- Finally, and after the intervention of some of the Christian
religious leaders, local headship, and some organizations; the
forces that came to destroy the fence withdrew leaving behind
them terror in the hearts of the monks, workers, visitors, and
all Copts in Egypt and abroad.
