Bishop of Egypt Receives Award in the UK

In recognition for his outstanding efforts in building thoroughly sturdy bridges between the Angelican Church and Al-Azhar, Bishop of Egypt Mouneer Anis has been awarded the newly established Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Inter-Faith Cooperation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. The award’s citation commends Bishop Mouneer’s steadfast and genuine contributions in establishing strong bonds and an open platform for discussion with Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed El-Tayyeb.

Bishop Mouneer’s crowning achievement, and one of the chief reasons of his garnering the award is the Imam-Priest Exchange; an internationally-acknowledged project pioneered by Bishop Mouneer that, over the years, has established an open channel of interaction, communication and education between both priests and imams, allowing them to learn about each other’s creeds and ideologies in a variety of ways beyond standard meetings and discussions. Overwhelmed by the level of recognition he’d received, Bishop Mouneer had this to say; 

“I am greatly honoured that Archbishop Justin would award me with this distinguished recognition," Bishop Mouneer said of the award. "It was a real pleasure to receive it in the context of the first meeting of the Anglican Inter-Faith Commission from Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon. I feel I don’t deserve this great honour.”

Bishop Mouneer is a graduate of Cairo University’s Medical Faculty, class of 1974. He then went on to receive certifications in Tropical Medicine and Hospital Management & Administration from the UK and US respectively. His foray into the cloth began in 1999, when he was ordained as an Anglican priest, before going on to serve at All Saints Cathedral in Cairo and further his theological studies in Australia, the UK and the US. Having been consecrated in May of 2000, he’s been the Bishop of Egypt ever since, as well as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East till 2017.