The United Nations team which proceeded at the request of the Israel Government, to the ancient Christian Monastery of St. Catherine, on the Sinai Peninsula, to investigate Egyptian allegations that Israeli troops had destroyed rare manuscripts in the library of the monastery during their occupation of Sinai, returned today with a report that the Egyptian charges were baseless.
The UN team, it was reported here today, stated that it had found all the manuscripts at St. Catherine’s intact and that the monks said they had never been molested by Israeli soldiers. The team included a representative of the International Red Cross as well as a representative of the Greek Orthodox Church.
At the same time, it was revealed here today that Christos Evangelou, cantor of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Decalogue in the Sinai Peninsula, has asked for and received asylum here from the Israel Government. The famous Church of the Decalogue, which was founded in the Fourth Century of the Christian Era, stands at the traditional site, in Sinai, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments.
Cantor Evangelou said he did not want to stay on at the church because he feared Nasser’s troops would return after Israel has completed withdrawal of its armed forces. He praised the conduct of the Israeli soldiers who occupied the Sinai area, reporting that they had supplied food to the Christian monasteries in Sinai. Cantor Evangelou has taken up residence in a Greek Orthodox monastery in this city.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
