Copts v. Police

In the early days of Christianity, Egypt was famed for her desert fathers, solitary saints who lived in caves or on pillars, made friends of lions, jackals, converts of such sinners as the beauteous courtesan Thais. Over Egypt's sands last week trudged 300 policemen, mobilized by the Government to deal with 100 merry desert monks wrongfully occupying a monastery because they felt their social life was being repressed.

Three years ago seven monks of the monastery of Deir-el-Moharrak, on the edge of the desert near Assiut, rebelled because they received only $1.50 per month for pocket money. Bearded Auba Yoanes XIX, Patriarch of Egypt's ancient Coptic Church, excommunicated the seven, then pardoned them while their abbot raised their allowance to $7.50 per month. On this the monks grew merrier & merrier, saving up their money for uproarious nights in nearby Bedouin and Moslem villages. Such a nuisance became the Copts that the villagers told Abbot Sidarous to keep his men at home, else they would be shot.

Unimpressed by threats, the monks last week deposed Abbot Sidarous, elected from their midst a new abbot who would not only condone but join in their nights of fun. At once Patriarch Yoanes threatened to excommunicate all 100 monks, commanded them to vacate the monastery. They "sat down," and by the time a commission representing the Patriarch arrived, the monks had dug themselves in for a siege. Deir-el-Moharrak, 14 centuries old, has heavy 15-ft. walls, is accessible only by means of a drawbridge to an adjacent building. Within it are live cattle, fresh wells, well-stocked larders. At week's end, armed monks patrolled the walls while police, dispatched by the Governor of Assiut at the Patriarch's request, pondered the ultimatum that any attempt to storm the monastery would be met with deluges of boiling water.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.