The monks of the Monastery of St. Samuel in Minya Governorate organized a protest at the main entrance of the monastery on August 12 after the security forces guarding the monastery refused to allow the main supplies of food for animals and residents of the monastery to enter. It is worth mentioning that the monks of the monastery filed on July 9, 2019, a complaint to both the Minister of the Interior and the Director of Minya Governorate Security, in order to intervene to stop such practices of security forces.
The complaint included the following points:
1- preventing cars that carry products of the monastery from entering or leaving the monastery.
2- preventing the workers who care for the animals and work in the construction and agriculture from entering the monastery.
3- preventing monks who have been assigned minister outside the monastery from returning back.
4- preventing visitors from entering the monastery, even families of the monks.
5- it should be noted that the monasteries of the Egyptian Church don t receive an annual budget to spend on its institution or the services it provides to its people. All sources of funding for the monastery depend on the work of monks, tithes, vows and donations. Moreover, this system has existed since the fourth century AD till today.
The complaint added: The monastery of St. Samuel is considered an archaeological area, which is visited by thousands of tourists from inside and outside Egypt. Hence, we call upon President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to intervene quickly to put an end to the problem .
