Back in the twentieth century, a sizable congregation of Rum Orthodox lived in
Rosetta is one of those places where there are almost no Rum Orthodox left. In 1990, the then Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Parthenios III decided to sell the church they owned in Rosetta, in light of there being almost no worshippers left. The magnificent church had been built in the sixth century, and was several times renovated, the last time being in 1817. Along its outer fencing wall 14 rooms had been built which were rented as shops to different tenants. The church and shops were all sold to Mohamed Mustafa Kamel al-Taranelli at the price of EGP100,000. The sum was paid in two installments by 1993.
As soon as he paid the first installment in 1990 Mr Taranelli tried to demolish the shops and building, but the shop owners, who are all Muslims, demonstrated in protest. The outcome was that the land was handed over to the Waqf (Religious endowments) Authority. The Waqf Authority, however, refused to recognise the sale, basing on the fact that the land was in the first place a waqf or land locked in a trust fund and endowed to the Church, and was hence not possible to sell.
Several court cases were filed by the disputing parties against one another. Mr Taranelli, who himself is a judge on the Cairo Criminal Court, took advantage of the fact that the church and its grounds had fallen out of service and were thus turned into a derelict area that became an unofficial garbage dump. When the court-appointed committee who was to report on the disputed land and buildings submitted its report to court, the report merely mentioned that the dispute in concern involved a piece of land upon which stood a desolate building—it mentioned no church—and 14 shops. The court ruled in favour of Mr Taranelli. The plaintiffs contested the ruling and a final ruling has not yet been issued.
In the meantime, Pope Parthenios III died and was succeeded by Pope Petros VII (1996-2004), then the current Pope Theodorus II. In June 2007 Pope Theodorus II wrote an official letter to Rosetta primary court informing of the details of the sale, and explaining that, at the time of the sale, the patriarchate had been ignorant of the fact that the Egyptian law banned the sale of places of worship. Accordingly, and in line with objections to the sale from the Antiquities Authority, the patriarchate was reneging on the sale while offering to Mr Taranelli the sum of money he paid in addition to any suitable compensation, be it an equivalent sum, say.
The patriarchate, moreover, handed the church over to the Coptic Orthodox Church to use as a church. Anba Bakhoumious, archbishop of Beheira, delegated Father Luqa Awad to conduct services in the new church which was named after the Holy Virgin.
At 5:00am on Friday 19 September, a band of some 40 armed thugs and, with a bulldozer on hand, stormed the church. They ruined the fencing wall together with a shop and store room owned by Ahmed Hassan al-Raghi, the eastern part of the church sanctuary, some of the icons inside, as well as the relics of the saints that had been kept there. The guard, 45-year-old Ashraf Fahmy told Watani that he woke up at dawn that day to a rough noise, and was astounded to find more than 30 people jumping the fencing wall into the church courtyard. When he tried to object he was tied up and his four children drugged. “They entered the church, threw down the icons, the altar utensils, and the saints’ relics. They stole my wallet with all my papers and money, in addition to my daughter’s ring and even the gas cylinder I used for my cooker. When they left a Muslim neighbour came and undid my bonds and helped my children. All the Muslim neighbours came to our help.”
Haj Ahmed al-Raghi said his losses amount to some EGP500,000. Even though he saw the whole incident from the roof of his house opposite the church he could do nothing since he is an old man and moves on crutches. “I called the police,” he told Watani, “But by the time they came the bulldozer had done all the damage. The thugs carried arms, knives, and swords. No one could challenge them.”
Another Muslim neighbour and shop owner Haj Ahmed Muhareb who is a fishmonger said that Mr Taranelli was trying to ruin the church so as to weaken the case against him. “But everyone knows a church stands there,” Muhareb said. “Even the street still carries the name ‘The Rum Church Street.”
The Rosetta prosecutor general is investigating the case. Three of the thugs were caught and are being detained. Mr Taranelli and his sons Mohamed and Mahmoud, both public prosecutors, were charged with planning the assault in order to change the character of the building as a place of worship, with the aim of claiming its ownership. Shaker Wadie, the lawyer representing Haj Raghi said that it was unacceptable that a judge should ever take the law in his hands as Mr Taranelli and his prosecutor sons did. The case of the disputed land was still being contested before the court, and is as such yet unresolved.
The building is a place of worship that may not, according to Egyptian law, be sold. Moreover, Mr Wadie said, it is a building of antiquity that dates back to the sixth century. Mr Taranelli has been charged with ruining the building and attempting to murder the guard.
The lawyer Gamal Abbas Salam who represents Mr Taranelli said that his client had bought a dilapidated building not a church and that, as such, the court had ruled in his favour. Salam alleged that Rosetta police had procrastinated in executing the court order which, he said, was final. He accused Fr Luqa of having renovated the building and turned it into a place of worship, “but it was not so in the first place,” he said. Besides, Mr Salam said, churches are private not public property since the government does not finance them as it does mosques which are accordingly public property. Churches, he insisted, may thus be bought and sold. “Is my client a fool to risk his and his sons’ reputation and careers by conducting such a rash act?” he said.
Reda Nassif, the lawyer representing Beheira bishopric told Watani he had filed an official request that Mr Taranelli and his sons be stripped of their judicial immunity in order to undergo questioning.
“The bishopric is in possession of an official letter from the Rum Orthodox Church citing its handing over the Rosetta church to us,” Archbishop of Beheira Anba Bakhoumious told Watani. “We consecrated the church and opened it for services last year.”
“Mr Taranelli,” Anba Bakhoumious said, “made an attempt to have the initial purchase contract officially registered, but failed because the documents in his possession are not legally sound. He also abused his authority by influencing the court committee to report that the building he had bought was a mere dilapidated building, not mentioning that it was a place of worship.
“It is unacceptable that a judge, out of all people, should resort to such tactics, Anba Bakhoumious remarked.