Fr You’il al-Maqari, a monk and priest from St Macarius Monastery in Wadi al-Natroun in Egypt’s Western Desert, has been suspended for one year from presiding over Mass. The disciplinary measure was taken by the Committee for Monastic and Monastery Affairs (CMMA), which is affiliated to the Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod, in response to a direct violation by Fr You’il to a decision by the CMMA that no monk is to make any appearance or talk on any type of media, including social media.
The suspended monk had posted on YouTube video footage that showed him talking about monastic problems at St Macarius’s. The footage mentioned incidents attributed to Fr Matta al-Miskeen who was spiritual leader for the monastic activity at St Macarius’s for decades until he passed away in 2006; Pope Shenouda III who was patriarch in 1971 – 2012; Anba Serapion, Metropolitan of Los Angeles; and the late Anba Epiphanius, Abbot of St Macarius’s who was murdered on 29 July 2018, allegedly by a monk and defrocked monk from St Macarius’s, and the case of whose murder is being seen in court.
St Macarius monk and defrocked monk charged with murdering Abbot
Following the murder of Anba Epiphanius, the CMMA issued 12 decrees to discipline monastery life and monastic activity. Among these decrees was one that said: “Any monk who gets involved in any of the following deeds is liable to questioning and getting stripped of monkhood and priesthood, with official announcement:
a. Appearance on [talking to] the media in any form, for any reason, and through any medium.”
Metropolitan Serapion had seen the video footage by Fr You’il and filed a complaint about it with the CMMA, demanding an enquiry into the incident which flagrantly violated one of the 12 decrees.
Watani International
2 September 2018