Preliminary investigations rule out suicide as cause of St. Macarius’s monk’s death

CAIRO – 26 September 2018: A security source told Egypt Today that monk Zeinoun al-Makari who allegedly killed himself on Wednesday in Assiut, likely died of natural causes, ruling out reported suicide as cause of the monk’s death.

Monk Zeinoun, who was lately moved from the controversial St. Macarius Monastery in Beheira’s Wadi El-Natrun where the monastery’s head was killed, allegedly killed himself in Al-Muharraq Monastery in Upper Egypt’s Assiut.

Egypt's Orthodox Church spokesman Bolis Halim announced the death of Zeinoun (monk Ash'eya's confession father) and did not mention anything about a suicide attempt. A statement by the church said that the prosecution is currently carrying out investigations to know the cause of Zeinoun’s death.

According to the source, a number of Muharraq Monastery monks went to call Zeinoun for midnight praises, where they found him in his room suffering severe stomach ache, adding that he was consequently moved to Saint Maria hospital, which is about one-hour away from the monastery.

A source revealed that an empty pesticide bottle was found in Zeinoun’s room, suggesting that the monk had deliberately ingested the pesticide to kill himself.

Six monks were moved from Wadi El-Natrun’s monastery late in August to six different monasteries following the murder of St. Macarius Monastery Head Bishop Epiphanius in July.

Barnabas al-Makari of St. Macarius named in August four monks who, he thinks, incited the murder of the bishop, including Zeinoun, Saleeb, Antonius and Ash’eya.

Ash’eyaa was officially charged on August 19 of deliberately murdering Epiphanius.

UPDATE: St. Macarius’s monk Zeinoun al-Makari allegedly kills himself

CAIRO – 26 September 2018: After a series of suicide attempts by the monks of the controversial St. Macarius Monastery over the last month, monk Zeinoun al-Makari took his own life.