A bishop who was found dead at the monastery he headed in northern Egypt was not killed as an act of terrorism, according to a monk at the monastery, Egypt's Ahram online reported Monday (July 30th).
Bishop Epiphanius was found dead on Sunday, in what the Coptic Orthodox Church described as "strange circumstances".
Father Shenouda, a monk at Anba Makar monastery in Wadi el-Natroun, told Coptic television channel CTV on Monday that they had "ruled out" the possibility that the incident was an act of terrorism.
The church announced on Sunday that the authorities would carry out an official investigation.
"All scenarios are possible; as soon as the authorities learned about the incident around 60 officials came to the monastery and around 12 slept over inside the monastery," Shenouda said.
Father Shenouda said that the late bishop would usually attend midnight prayers before mass, but that someone must have waited for him from a distance of 20 metres away, and then hit him on the head.
He said that Epiphanius had died as soon as he was hit.
"We do not know who the perpetrator is but we are all praying for him," he added.
