Fayoum police forces arrested Saturday a monk, ordained as Boules El-Rayani, on charges of storming the administrative building of Wadi El-Rayan nature reserve.
El-Rayani was part of the St. Macarius Coptic Orthodox Monastery, located in the Wadi El-Rayan nature reserve in Fayoum. Among the other charges levelled at El-Rayani are construction violations, committing violations on state-owned lands, and using weapons to terrorise workers and researchers during the course of their duties.
The prosecution ordered the detention of El-Rayani for 15 days pending investigations, after receiving a notification from the Arab Contractors Co. indicating that El-Rayani had burned the company’s equipment used as part of Fayoum-Oasis highway project.
Monks in the St. Macarius monastery have been involved in disputes with the Egyptian government since 2012, when number of monks allegedly began seizing state-owned lands surrounding the monastery and within the Wadi El-Rayan nature reserve. Monks also purportedly prevented workers of the Arab Contractors Co. from undertaking the construction of Fayoum-Oasis highway.
Although the Coptic Church previously called on the monks to abandon the area, the monks argue that they have lived on this land for decades. The monastery dates back to the 1960s, when a monk named Matta El-Meskeen—known for his disagreements with late Pope Shenouda III—resided there.
“I cannot justify the mistakes committed by the monks. Those monks in the St. Macarius monastery seized 13,000 acres of state-owned lands without permission from the authorities or the church. They disobeyed me and are excommunicated; this place is no longer a monastery and they are not monks,” Pope Tawadros II said in a televised speech.
He added that the monks declared disobedience to the Coptic Church and authorities, claiming that they rejected all solutions offered by the different parties concerned with the issue.
Tawadros noted that any visits or donations to the monastery are considered “sinful”. He warned Copts against supporting the monks’ actions or expressing sympathy with them.
Both Tawadros and his predecessor Shenouda have been widely viewed as mediators between the Coptic Orthodox population and the state. They have often taken a pro-state line amid mounting reports of violations against Copts, which are often left unaddressed or resolved informally, outside of courts.
The dispute surrounding the St. Macarius monastery reached its peak recently when the Egyptian government decided to establish the Fayoum-Oasis highway close to the monastery. The decision was met with great opposition from El-Rayani and a number of other monks in the monastery.
They began negotiations with the Egyptian government in an attempt to reach a compromise, but no agreement was reached, despite the attendance of former prime minister Ibrahim Mehleb. Mehleb previously headed the Arab Contactors Co. during the rule of former president Hosni Mubarak.
