Your Excellency the Governor of South Sinai,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to welcome a special event being hosted today by the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs; an event that is on a cultural, scientific and religious topic, and that is being organized by the Athens-based Mount Sinai Foundation, under the auspices of His Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic.
Today, for the first time in Greece, we will see the presentation of the palimpsest manuscripts of the Holy Monastery’s library, with the layers of writing set down successively from the 5th to the 12th centuries AD. The reading of these palimpsests was made possible thanks to the implementation of a five-year programme of spectral imaging carried out by scientists of international standing, with the support of the Mount Sinai Foundation and the Arcadia Foundation.
Given Greece’s interest in the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai and the Sinai Monks, I would like to express the Greek government’s appreciation for the Egyptian authorities’ efforts to ensure the protection of the Holy Monastery, which, apart from being an Orthodox Monastery, is a World Heritage Site under the protection of the relevant UNESCO International Convention. I am certain that the government of the friendly country of Egypt will continue to foster the high level of Greek-Egyptian cultural relations, based on the mutual benefits for our two peoples and the promotion of our cultures.
November 27, 2017