In his capacity as head of the Holy Synod’s committee for care and service, Anba Domadius, Bishop of 6 October City and Oussim, has visited the defrocked monk Wael Saad Tawadros in prison. Mr Tawadros was convicted of murdering Anba Epiphanius, Abbot of St Macarius Monastery in Wadi Natroun in Egypt’s Western Desert in July 2018, and was accordingly sentenced to death.
Mr Tawadros was a monk at St Macarius’s under the name Ishaia al-Maqari but was defrocked and ordered to revert to his lay name. In February 2019, Damanhour Criminal Court handed him and his accomplice the monk Falta’ous al-Maqari death sentences. The rulings were contested and, on 1 July 2020, the Court of Cassation approved Mr Tawadros’s death sentence, and sentenced Fr Falta’ous to life imprisonment instead of death.
Anba Domadius visited Mr Tawadros in al-Abaadiya prison in the city of Damanhour, Beheira, in the west Delta, and gave him Holy Communion. As head of the committee for care and service, Anba Domadius is in charge of extending care and service for prisoners. He is the first bishop to visit Mr Tawadros since his imprisonment in 2018, and is the first member of clergy to visit since the death sentence.
Anba Domadius told ++Watani++ that he went to visit Mr Tawadros in his prison directly after Holy Mass, carrying with him Holy Communion. Following the prayer of absolution, Anba Domadius gave Mr Tawadros Holy Communion, then spent time talking to him on a spiritual level. He denied allegations made over social media that Mr Tawadros made any confession during that meeting. He also confirmed to ++Watani++ that this visit comes in the scope of the service offered by the Church to all prisoners.
For full report on the murder of Anba Epiphanius, and the sentencing of his killer:
Highest court: death sentence for killer of St Macarius’s Abbot, life sentence for accomplice
Watani International
24 August 2020