Date: Aug 23, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Bishop murder saga rattles Egypt's Copts CAIRO: A scholarly bishop was found bludgeoned to death at the desert monastery he ran, and two monks are facing trial for killing him in an ambush on the way to Sunday mass. A murky murder saga is gripping Egypt's Coptic Church and the fallout is rumbling through an ancient community already facing grave threats. The Saint Macarius monastery lies in the dusty plains at Wadi el-Natrun, some 80 kilometers northwest of downtown Cairo. It was there on the last Sunday in July, prosecutors say, that two monks known by their ecclesiastical names Isaiah and Philotheos lay in wait. When 68-year-old Bishop Epiphanius passed by, they pounced. Isaiah struck the abbot on the head three times with a metal bar as Philotheos kept watch, the charges say. Weeks after Epiphanius' body was found, the reasons for his death remain shrouded in mystery. Prosecutors said Sunday that Isaiah confessed to carrying out the murder due to "differences" – but no more details were given. "What we know is very limited. The church and state agencies have not given away much," said Britain-based expert Shady Lewis. "Personal grudge could be a very strong possibility." Isaiah – whose real name is Wael al-Saad – had faced disciplinary proceedings before and was quickly defrocked after Epiphanius' body was found. The church has released little more information on the death, saying the investigation is in the hands of the authorities. "It is not to our advantage to cover up wrongdoings," said leader Pope Tawadros II in a statement, describing the incident as a "crime." While the motive remains unclear, the killing and reactions to it have focused attention on schisms in the Church. Long-standing disagreements over religious dogma, the independence of monasteries and power struggles have all come under the microscope. Epiphanius backed teachings advocating less involvement in worldly affairs and upset some in the Coptic establishment by questioning the legacy of the former head of the Church. But just as in any organization, it seems that feuds within the Church, including the one that might have killed him, can often be more basic. "Most conflicts are localized, fluid and run around personal loyalties, power shares, financial issues, prestige," Lewis said. "Dogma plays a role of course, but the main struggle is around centralizing power within the Church, imposing hierarchal authority." In the wake of the death, the Church leadership took wide-ranging steps. It placed a one-year moratorium on accepting new monks, banned current ones from social media, tightened financial controls and refocused attention on spiritual life. Tawadros himself deleted his Facebook account, slamming the site as a "waste of time." Gamal Asaad, a prominent Coptic thinker, said the death set off a warning bell for Church leaders that they have to reform and heal the rifts. "During the funeral of the late Epiphanius, Pope Tawadros told the monks that they are monks in the monastery and not following any one person," he said.