Church of Sinai

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Saint Catherine's Monastery
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The Church of Sinai is a

autocephalous or merely autonomous. The church is headed by the Archbishop of Mount Sinai and Raithu, who is traditionally consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and also serves as abbot
for the monastery. The current hierarch is Archbishop Damian.

History

The Church of Sinai owes its existence to the Monastery of the Transfiguration (better known as St. Catherine's Monastery). The monastery's origins are traced back to the Chapel of the

relics
were miraculously transported there.

St. Catherine’s monastery, as it has been known since the 9th century, was originally part of the

monotheletism
in AD 681, the see was transferred to the monastery itself, the abbot becoming the bishop of Pharan. With the subsequent union of the diocese of Raitho with the monastery, all the Christians in the Sinai peninsula came under the jurisdiction of the Abbot-Archbishop.

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 and the rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and their respective courts.

In 1575, the

consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; in recent centuries he has usually resided in Cairo
.

Today, in addition to the 20 or so monks in the monastic community, this church includes a few hundred

Bedouins and fishermen who live in the Sinai. Since the Israeli invasion in 1967, perhaps the greatest problem facing the community has been maintaining an authentic monastic lifestyle while dealing with a massive influx of tourists. This problem has continued after the area’s return to Egypt in 1982, and the population of the area has been increasing. Pope John Paul II visited the monastery on February 26, 2000.[5][full citation needed
]

Features

The monastery’s library is renowned for its great antiquity and its

Eastern Roman Empire during the iconoclast
controversy when many icons in the empire were destroyed.

Currently the monastery in addition to the library has a guest house and a hospital for the local population. The monks have also administered a school in Cairo since 1860. The monastery has historically had many dependent churches and monasteries in other countries. In 2006, there were monasteries in Cairo (where the Abbot often resides) and Alexandria, nine in Greece, three in Cyprus, one in Lebanon and one in Istanbul.

Locations of interest

References

  1. ^ The official Website describes the Church as "διοικητικά "αδούλωτος, ασύδοτος, ακαταπάτητος, πάντη και παντός ελευθέρα, αυτοκέφαλος" or "administratively 'free, loose, untresspassable, free from anyone at any time, autocephalous'" (see link below)
  2. ISBN 0-385-17110-2
  3. ^ Ware, Kallistos (Timothy) (1964). "Part I: History". The Orthodox Church. Penguin Books. Retrieved 2007-07-14. Under Introduction Bishop Kallistos says that Sinai is "autocephalous"; under The twentieth century, Greeks and Arabs he states that "There is some disagreement about whether the monastery should be termed an 'autocephalous' or merely an 'autonomous' Church."
  4. CNEWA Canada, "A papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support" Archived May 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "CNEWA - the Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai". Archived from the original on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2015-04-20.

Sources

Further reading
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