Saint Catherine's Monastery ( ar, دير القدّيسة كاترين; grc-gre, Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

located on the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is ...

. It lies at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai, near the town of Saint Catherine, in Egypt. The monastery is named after

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, ...

. Controlled by the autonomous

Church of Sinai The Church of Sinai is a Greek Orthodox autonomous church whose territory consists of St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, along with several dependencies. There is a dispute as to whether the church is fully autocepha ...

, which is part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, the monastery became a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 2002 for its unique importance in the traditions of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, Islam, and

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

. Saint Catherine's has as its backdrop the three mountains it lies near: Ras Sufsafeh (possibly the Biblical

Mount Horeb Mount Horeb (Hebrew: ''Har Ḥōrēḇ''; Greek in the Septuagint: ; Latin in the Vulgate: ') is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by Yahweh, according to the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible. It is describe ...

, peak c. west); Jebel Arrenziyeb, peak c.1km south; and Mount Sinai (locally, , by tradition identified with the biblical Mount Sinai; peak south). Built between 548 and 565, it is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery in the world. The site also holds the world's oldest continually operating library, with unique or extremely rare works, such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the

Syriac Sinaiticus The Syriac Sinaiticus or Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus (syrs), known also as the Sinaitic Palimpsest, of Saint Catherine's Monastery (Sinai, Syr. 30), or Old Syriac Gospels is a late-4th- or early-5th-century manuscript of 179 folios, containing a nea ...

, as well as possibly the largest collection of early Christian icons, including the earliest known depiction of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

Christ Pantocrator In Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator ( grc-gre, Χριστὸς Παντοκράτωρ) is a specific depiction of Christ. ''Pantocrator'' or ''Pantokrator'', literally ''ruler of all'', but usually translated as "Almighty" or "all-po ...

Christian traditions

During Catherine's imprisonment more than 200 people came to see her, including Maxentius' wife,

Valeria Maximilla Valeria Maximilla () was the Empress of the Romans and wife of Emperor Maxentius. Life She was the daughter of Emperor Galerius and his first wife, whose name is unknown. She married Maxentius around 293 (the exact date is unknown) in what was ...

; all converted to Christianity and were subsequently

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed. The furious emperor condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, it shattered. Maxentius ordered her to be

beheaded Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...

. Catherine herself ordered the execution to commence. And also according to legend, a milk-like substance rather than blood flowed from her neck. The monastery was built around the location of what is traditionally considered to be the place of the

burning bush The burning bush (or the unburnt bush) refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah (as also in the biblical Old Testament). It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the ...

seen by Moses. Although it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the monastery's official name is the ''Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai''. The patronal feast of the monastery is the

Feast of the Transfiguration The Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated by various Christian communities in honor of the transfiguration of Jesus. The origins of the feast are less than certain and may have derived from the dedication of three basilicas on Mount Tabor.' ...

. It has become a favorite site of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

History

The oldest record of monastic life at Mount Sinai comes from the travel journal written in Latin by a pilgrim woman named Egeria (Etheria; St Sylvia of Aquitaine) about 381/2–386. The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527–565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush (also known as "Saint Helen's Chapel") ordered to be built by Empress Consort Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the

. The living bush on the grounds is purportedly the one seen by Moses. Structurally the monastery's

king post A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above f ...

truss is the oldest known surviving roof

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

in the world. The site is sacred to

, Islam, and

. A

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

was created by converting an existing chapel during the Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171), which was in regular use until the era of the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16t ...

in the 13th century and is still in use today on special occasions. During the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, the mosque was in desolate condition; it was restored in the early 20th century. During the seventh century, the isolated Christian anchorites of the Sinai were eliminated: only the fortified monastery remained. The monastery is still surrounded by the massive fortifications that have preserved it. Until the twentieth century, access was through a door high in the outer walls. From the time of the First Crusade, the presence of Crusaders in the Sinai until 1270 spurred the interest of European Christians and increased the number of intrepid pilgrims who visited the monastery. The monastery was supported by its dependencies in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Crete, Cyprus and Constantinople. Ossuary Sinai

The monastery, along with several dependencies in the area, constitute the entire

, which is headed by an archbishop, who is also the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...

of the monastery. The exact administrative status of the church within the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

is ambiguous: by some, including the church itself, it is considered autocephalous, by others an

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

church under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. The archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; in recent centuries he has usually resided in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

. During the period of the Crusades which was marked by bitterness between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, the monastery was patronized by both the

Byzantine emperors This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

and the rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and their respective courts. On April 18, 2017, an attack by the Islamic State group at a checkpoint near the Monastery killed one policeman and injured three police officers.

Manuscripts and icons

The library, founded sometime between 548 and 565, is the oldest continuously operating library in the world. The

library preserves the second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts in the world, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library. It contains

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, Christian Palestinian Aramaic,

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

, Georgian,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, Ethiopic/Ge‘ez,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

, Church Slavonic, and Caucasian Albanian manuscripts and books, and very rare Hebrew Language, some Coptic books. In May 1844 and February 1859, Constantin von Tischendorf visited the monastery for research and discovered the Codex Sinaiticus, dating from the 4th century, at the time the oldest almost completely preserved manuscript of the Bible. The finding from 1859 left the monastery for

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, in circumstances that had been long disputed. But in 2003 Russian scholars discovered the donation act for the manuscript signed by the Council of Cairo Metochion and Archbishop Callistratus on 13 November 1869. The monastery received 9000 rubles as a gift from Tsar Alexander II of Russia. The Codex was sold by Stalin in 1933 to the British Museum and is now in the British Library, London, where it is on public display. Prior to September 1, 2009, a previously unseen fragment of Codex Sinaiticus was discovered in the monastery's library, as well as among the New Finds of 1975. On other visits (1855, 1857) Constantin von Tischendorf also amassed there more valuable manuscripts (

, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Georgian,

) and took them with him to St Petersburg and Leipzig, where they are stored today. In February 1892, Agnes S. Lewis discovered an early

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

manuscript of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

in St Catherine Monastery's library that became known as the

and is still in the monastery's possession. Agnes and her sister Margaret D. Gibson returned in 1893 with the Cambridge team of the two scholars that included their wives, and also J. Rendel Harris to photograph and transcribe the manuscript in its entirety, as well as to prepare the first catalogues of the

and

manuscripts. Only among the New Finds two additional palimpsest manuscripts came to light containing additional passages of the Old Syriac Gosples.Sebastian P. Brock, Two Hitherto Unattested Passages of the Old Syriac Gospels in Palimpsests from St Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, ''Δελτίο βιβλικῶν Μελετῶν'' 31, 2016, pp. 7–18. The Monastery also has a copy of the

Ashtiname of Muhammad The ''Ashtiname'' of Muhammad, also known as the Covenant or Testament (''Testamentum'') of Muhammad, is a document which is a charter or writ written by Ali and ratified by Muhammad granting protection and other privileges to the followers of ...

, in which the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

is claimed to have bestowed his protection upon the monastery. Additionally, the monastery houses a copy of Mok'c'evay K'art'lisay, a collection of supplementary books of the Kartlis Cxovreba, dating from the 9th century. The most important manuscripts have since been filmed or digitized, and so are accessible to scholars. With planning assistance from Ligatus, a research center of the University of the Arts London, the library was extensively renovated, reopening at the end of 2017.

Sinai Palimpsests Project

Since 2011, a team of imaging scientists and experienced scholars in the decipherment of palimpsest manuscripts from the U.S. and Europe have photographed, digitized, and studied the library's collection of palimpsests during the international Sinai palimpsests project.

Palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

s are notable for having been reused one or more times over the centuries. Since parchment was expensive and time-consuming to produce, monks would erase certain texts with orange juice or scrape them off and write over them. Though the original texts were once assumed to be lost, the imaging scientists used narrowband

multispectral imaging Multispectral imaging captures image data within specific wavelength ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths may be separated by filters or detected with the use of instruments that are sensitive to particular wavelengths, ...

techniques and technologies to reveal features that were difficult to see with the human eye, including ink residues and small grooves in the parchment. Each page took approximately eight minutes to scan completely. These images have subsequently been digitized and are now freely available for research at the UCLA Online Library for scholarly use. As of June 2018, at least more than 160 palimpsests were identified, with over 6,800 pages of texts recovered. The newer finds were discovered in a secluded storage area of the St George Tower in 1975. Highlights include "108 pages of previously unknown Greek poems and the oldest-known recipe attributed to the Greek physician

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...

;" additional folios for the transmission of the Old Syriac Gospels; two unattested witnesses of an early Christian apocryphal text the Dormition of Mary ( Transitus Mariae) of which most of the Greek text is lost; a previously unknown martyrdom of Patriklos of Caesarea Maritima ( Palestine), one of the eleven followers of

Pamphilus of Caesarea Saint Pamphilus ( el, Πάμφιλος; latter half of the 3rd century – February 16, 309 AD), was a presbyter of Caesarea and chief among the biblical scholars of his generation. He was the friend and teacher of Eusebius of Caesarea, who ...

; as well as insight into dead languages such as the previously hardly attested Caucasian Albanian and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, the local dialect of the early Byzantine period, with many unparalleled text witnesses.

Works of art

The complex houses irreplaceable works of art: mosaics, the best collection of early icons in the world, many in encaustic, as well as liturgical objects, chalices and reliquaries, and church buildings. The large icon collection begins with a few dating to the 5th (possibly) and 6th centuries, which are unique survivals; the monastery having been untouched by Byzantine iconoclasm, and never sacked. The oldest icon on an Old Testament theme is also preserved there. A project to catalogue the collections has been ongoing since the 1960s. The monastery was an important centre for the development of the hybrid style of

Crusader art Crusader art or the art of the Crusades, meaning primarily the art produced in Middle Eastern areas under Crusader control, spanned two artistic periods in Europe, the Romanesque and the Gothic, but in the Crusader kingdoms of the Levant the Goth ...

, and still retains over 120 icons created in the style, by far the largest collection in existence. Many were evidently created by Latins, probably monks, based in or around the monastery in the 13th century. Kurt Weitzmann in ''The Icon'', Evans Brothers Ltd, London (1982), pp. 201–07 (trans. of ''Le Icone'', Montadori 1981),

Icons

File:Encaustic Virgin.jpg, Icon of the enthroned Virgin and Child with saints and angels, 6th century Image:Spas vsederzhitel sinay.jpg, The oldest known icon of ''

'', encaustic on panel File:Crucifixion Icon Sinai 13th century.jpg, Crucifixion, 13th century File:Holy Doors.jpg, Holy doors File:Mary & Child Icon Sinai 13th century.jpg, Madonna and Child, 13th century File:Mikharkhangel.jpg, 13th century Byzantine icon of

Saint Michael the Archangel Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), a ...

File:Transfiguration of Christ Icon Sinai 12th century.jpg, Transfiguration, 12th century File:The Ladder of Divine Ascent.jpg,

Ladder of Divine Ascent ''The Ladder of Divine Ascent'' or ''Ladder of Paradise'' (Κλίμαξ; ''Scala'' or ''Climax Paradisi'') is an important ascetical treatise for monasticism in Eastern Christianity, written by John Climacus in AD; it was requested by John, Abb ...

File:John VIII Palaiologos, Sinai.jpg, Emperor

John VIII Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, Iōánnēs Palaiológos; 18 December 1392 – 31 October 1448) was the penultimate Byzantine emperor, ruling from 1425 to 1448. Biography John VIII was ...

File:Icon of Saint Catherine.jpg, Icon of Saint

File:Icon Iakovos Moskos.jpg, The monastery, 18th century File:Vethiy Denmi (Icons from Saint Catherine's Monastery).jpg, Christ as the Ancient of Days, 7th century

Historical images

File:Saint Catherine's Monastery, Carsten Niebuhr, 1762.jpg, Carsten Niebuhr (1762) File:Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai- drawing from the Description de l'Égypte (1809).jpeg, ''

Description de l'Égypte The ''Description de l'Égypte'' ( en, Description of Egypt) was a series of publications, appearing first in 1809 and continuing until the final volume appeared in 1829, which aimed to comprehensively catalog all known aspects of ancient and m ...

'' (1809) File:David Roberts - Convent of St. Catherine with Mount Horeb - 1927.90 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, David Roberts, 1839, published in '' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia'' File:Die Gartenlaube (1861) b 060.jpg,

Ernst Keil Ernst Victor Keil (6 December 1816 – 23 March 1878) was a German bookseller, journalist, editor and publisher. His early publications promoted liberal views and satirized famous politicians leading up to the German revolutions of 1848–49, resul ...

(1861) File:Adolf Von Meckel - The Saint Catherine Monastery in Sinai.jpg, Adolf Meckel von Hemsbach (1892)

Explanatory notes

References

External links

Official Website of the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai

Saint Catherine Area/ World Heritage Listing on UNESCO's Website

Saint Catherine Foundation

St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, Egypt

St Catherine Project (digitisation) video

Digitized palimpsests in St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai

Getty exhibit

St. Catherine's Monastery (Sinai)
(OrthodoxWiki article) * The text of the Charter from

can be rea
here
o

article from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''
Information about the town of St. Catherine
*

* ttp://www.sacredland.org/mount-sinai/ More on Saint Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai
Caucasian Albanian Alphabet: Ancient Script Discovered in the Ashes
t. Catherine's Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), pp. 38–41.
Article on the Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai by Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA web site

t. Catherine's Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), pp. 44–51.
Map showing the Monastery, 18th century
Eran Laor Cartographic Collection. The National Library of Israel * Pope Gregory X's Privilege for the Holy Monastery of St Catherine of Sinai (24 September 1274)
Engineering Historical Memory
Interactive scholarly edition, Diplomatics and Historical Commentary, Deep zoom, English translation, multimodal resources mashup (publications, images, videos). {{Authority control 6th-century churches Archives in Egypt Buildings and structures in South Sinai Governorate Byzantine sacred architecture Christian monasteries established in the 6th century Churches completed in 565 Eastern Orthodox churches in Egypt Eastern Orthodox pilgrimage sites Buildings of Justinian I Mount Sinai Palimpsests Places associated with hesychasm Tourist attractions in Egypt World Heritage Sites in Egypt