Your Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece,
Your Eminences, Ambassadors, Your Graces,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I welcome you to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Giannos Kranidiotis Amphitheatre, where, with great pleasure and a deep sense of the spiritual, cultural and scientific importance of the event, we are hosting the International Conference “The Other Voice of the Desert: The palimpsest manuscripts of the Sinai Monastery, new technologies for reading, discovery of unknown texts, prospects for research”, under the auspices of His Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
The Monastery of St. Catherine, on the Egyptian peninsula of the same name, in the foothills of Moses’ Mountain and at the holy site of the burning bush, is the most ancient Christian monastic foundation in the world.
The Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai is a site of wonder and respect for all – Christians, Muslims, Jews – and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In other words, it is a vital reference point of global spiritual and cultural heritage; a site humanity must safeguard in every way possible.
Especially now, following the heinous attack at the al-Rawdah mosque in the governorate of North Sinai.
Allow me to repeat at this point that Greece unequivocally condemns terrorism, whatever its source. We once again express our solidarity with the friendly Egyptian people and convey the sincere condolences of the Greek people and the Greek government to the families of the victims.
Once again, we reaffirm that Greece will continue to unwaveringly support human rights and religious freedoms wherever they are under threat.
At the same time, we are working to further the interfaith dialogue and the cultivation of relations based on respect and tolerance.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The historic Sacred Monastery, which was officially founded by Emperor Justinian, was a centre of great spiritual activity, as attested to by the lives of over 180 Sinai Saints known to us, including spiritual figures such as John Climacus, Anastasios, Nilus and Philotheos, and Gregory of Sinai.
The founder of Islam, Muhammad, granted protection to the Sinai Monastery in his Ashtiname, which allowed it to continue its life unhindered, even in times of political instability in the wider region. Thus shaping a framework for peaceful coexistence and cooperation between the Sinai monks and the Bedouin residing in the area.
At the same time, the reverence of the East and West for the patron Saint Catherine, the remains of whom were transferred to the Monastery, made it an emblematic pilgrimage site through the ages.
These seventeen centuries of unbroken and undisturbed monastic life at the Monastery resulted in the preservation, in this ark, this ecclesiastical institution of the Eastern Orthodox Church, of unique spiritual and cultural treasures. And, for us, these seventeen centuries of undisturbed monastic life are non-negotiable.
Moreover, you are aware that our relations with Egypt are equally undisturbed and constructive – relations that were reaffirmed at the recent Greece-Cyprus-Egypt Trilateral Summit Meeting, as our countries are located at the crossroads of this region – and that we want to capitalise on the challenges we are facing today and play a constructive role, developing cooperation concurrently in the sectors of economy, transport, energy, tourism, defence and security.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Monastery’s library holds the richest collection of Greek manuscripts in the world, but at the same time it has one of the richest collections of manuscripts in other languages, dating from the 4th century AD onwards.
The Sinai relics are preserved and exhibited under the care of the Monastery and the Sinai Brotherhood, under the guidance of the Abbot, His Eminence Archbishop Damianos of Sinai, Pharan and Raithu, and the Mount Sinai Foundation, under the supervision of the Egyptian Archaeological Service, with the support of the Egyptian and Greek states, and the assistance of private organizations and collaboration of specialists.
Of particular importance are the palimpsests of the Sinaitic manuscripts, the texts of which were erased at some point – two or three times – so that the parchment could be used again for the writing of new texts. Manuscripts that hold unknown texts of late antiquity, of the early Byzantine world, and of the history of the Christian communities of the Middle East.
We have gathered today to hear and appreciate the spectacular results of a major and important project for the conservation and promotion of the Monastery’s relics; results of a five-year programme for the spectral imaging of the palimpsest manuscripts of the Holy Monastery of Sinai, carried out in collaboration with the California-based Early Manuscripts Electronic Library.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to welcome you and declare the opening of the Conference.
November 27, 2017