Saint Catherine's Monastery

Coordinates: 28°33′20″N 33°58′34″E / 28.55556°N 33.97611°E / 28.55556; 33.97611
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Saint Catherine's Monastery
General view of Saint Catherine's Monastery, looking down from Mount Sinai
Saint Catherine's Monastery is located in Sinai
Saint Catherine's Monastery
Location within the Sinai Peninsula
Saint Catherine's Monastery is located in Egypt
Saint Catherine's Monastery
Location within Egypt
Monastery information
Full nameSacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai
Greek: Ιερά Αυτόνομος Βασιλική Μονή Αγίας Αικατερίνης του Αγίου και Θεοβαδίστου Όρους Σινά
Other namesMonastery of Saint Katherine
Moni tis Agias Aikaterinis
OrderChurch of Sinai
DenominationGreek Orthodox Church
EstablishedAD 565
People
Founder(s)Justinian I
Site
LocationSaint Catherine, South Sinai Governorate, Egypt
CountryEgypt
Coordinates28°33′20″N 33°58′34″E / 28.55556°N 33.97611°E / 28.55556; 33.97611
Visible remainsCatherine of Alexandria
Websitewww.sinaimonastery.com
Arab States

Saint Catherine's Monastery (

Arabic: دير القدّيسة كاترين Dayr al-Qiddīsa Katrīn; Greek: Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai, it was built between 548 and 565, and is the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery.[1][2][3]

The monastery was built by the orders of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, enclosing what is claimed to be the burning bush seen by Moses.[4][5] Centuries later, the purported body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, said to have been found in the area, was taken to the monastery; Saint Catherine's relics turned it into an important pilgrimage site, and the monastery was eventually renamed after the saint.

Controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai, which is part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, the monastery became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 for its unique importance in the traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.[6][7]

The site also holds the world's oldest continually operating library,[8] with unique or extremely rare works, such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the Syriac Sinaiticus,[9][8] as well as possibly the largest collection of early Christian icons, including the earliest known depiction of Jesus as Christ Pantocrator.

Saint Catherine's has as its backdrop the three mountains it lies near: Ras Sufsafeh (possibly the Biblical Mount Horeb, peak c.1 km (0.62 mi) west); Jebel Arrenziyeb, peak c. 1km south; and Mount Sinai (locally, Jebel Musa, by tradition identified with the biblical Mount Sinai; peak c. 2 km (1.2 mi) south).[10]

Christian traditions

The monastery was built around the location of what is traditionally considered to be the place of the burning bush seen by the prophet Moses.[11] Saint Catherine's monastery also encloses the "Well of Moses", where Moses is said to have met his future wife, Zipporah. The well is still today one of the monastery's main sources of water. The site is sacred to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.[12]

Centuries after its foundation, the body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was said to be found in a cave in the area. Catherine was a popular saint in Europe during the Middle Ages; her story says that, for defending Christianity,[13] she was sentenced to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, the wheel shattered.[14] It was then ordered that she be beheaded.[15]

The relics of Saint Catherine, kept to this day inside the monastery, have made it a favourite site of pilgrimage.[11] The patronal feast of the monastery is the Feast of the Transfiguration.

  • Saint Catherine's Monastery with Willow Peak (traditionally considered Mount Horeb) in the background
    Saint Catherine's Monastery with Willow Peak (traditionally considered Mount Horeb) in the background
  • The monastery's centuries-old bramble is considered to be the biblical burning bush.
    The monastery's centuries-old bramble is considered to be the biblical burning bush.
  • "Well of Moses", where Moses is said to have met his future wife, Zipporah
    "Well of Moses", where Moses is said to have met his future wife, Zipporah
  • Skeleton of the monk Stephanos, in his robe, in front of the ossuary
    Skeleton of the monk Stephanos, in his robe, in front of the ossuary

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; Saint Sylvia of Aquitaine) about 381/2–386.[16][17]

The monastery was built by order of Emperor

Empress Consort Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush.[4] The living bush on the grounds is purportedly the one seen by Moses.[5] Structurally the monastery's king post truss is the oldest known surviving roof truss in the world.[18]

Biblical Mount Sinai
" (peak c. 2 km south)

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. Throughout the Middle Ages, the monastery had a multiethnic profile, with monks of Arab, Greek, Syrian, Slavonic and Georgian origin. However, in the Ottoman period the monastic community became almost exclusively Greek, possibly due to the decline and depopulation of Transjordanian Christian towns. From the 1480s onwards, the Wallachian princes started sending out alms to the monastery.[19]

For most of the time of the

Martin Baumgarten visited the monastery in 1507 and noticed its decline.[19]

Saint Catherine's Monastery by Leavitt Hunt, 1852
Saint Catherine's Monastery, 1968

A

Mamluk Sultanate in the 13th century and is still in use today on special occasions. During the Ottoman Empire, the mosque was in desolate condition; it was restored in the early 20th century.[20]

During the seventh century, the isolated Christian anchorites of the Sinai were eliminated: only the fortified monastery remained. The monastery is surrounded by the massive fortifications that have preserved it. Until the twentieth century, access was through a door high in the outer walls.

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

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

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.[25]

Manuscripts and icons

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

Hebrew[29] and Coptic books.[8]

Ashtiname of Muhammad, granting protection and other privileges to the followers of Jesus

In May 1844 and February 1859,

Syriac) and took them with him to St. Petersburg and Leipzig, where they are stored today.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40]

In February 1892,

Arabic manuscripts.[42][43][44] Only among the New Finds two additional palimpsest manuscripts came to light containing additional passages of the Old Syriac Gospels.[45]

External videos
video icon The Icons of Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, Egypt (Archived), J. Paul Getty Museum

The Monastery also has a copy of the Ashtiname of Muhammad, in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad is claimed to have bestowed his protection upon the monastery.[46]

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.[47]

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.[48][49][8]

Sinai Palimpsests Project

Since 2011, a team of imaging scientists[50][8] and experienced scholars in the decipherment of palimpsest manuscripts[51][8] from the U.S. and Europe have photographed, digitized, and studied the library's collection of palimpsests during the international Sinai palimpsests project.[52][8][4][53]

multispectral imaging techniques and technologies to reveal features that were difficult to see with the human eye, including ink residues and small grooves in the parchment.[4][27] These images have subsequently been digitized and are now freely available for research at the UCLA Online Library for scholarly use.[8]

As of June 2018, at least more than 160 palimpsests were identified, with over 6,800 pages of texts recovered.

Transitus Mariae) of which most of the Greek text is lost;[62] a previously unknown martyrdom of Patriklos of Caesarea Maritima (Israel), one of the eleven followers of Pamphilus of Caesarea; some of the earliest known Georgian manuscripts;[63] as well as insight into dead languages such as the previously hardly attested Caucasian Albanian[64][65] and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, the local dialect of the early Byzantine period, with many unparalleled text witnesses.[8]

Works of art

The complex houses irreplaceable works of art: mosaics, the best collection of early

Crusader art, and 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.[66]

Icons

Historical images

Panoramic view

A panorama of St Catherine's Monastery

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0814722032
  2. ISBN 978-1-59333-276-1
    .
  3. ^ "St Catherine Monastery – The Oldest in the World". KEEP CALM and WANDER. 2016-05-24. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  4. ^
    ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Is the Burning Bush Still Burning?". Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  6. ^ Georgiou, Aristos (December 20, 2017). "These spectacular ancient texts were lost for centuries, and now they can be viewed online". International Business Times. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018.
  7. ^ "Saint Catherine Area". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Sinai Palimpsests project". sinai.library.ucla.edu.
  9. ^ Sebastian P. Brock, Two Hitherto Unattested Passages of the Old Syriac Gospels in Palimpsests from St Catherie's Monastery, Sinai, Δελτίο Βιβλικῶν Μελετῶν 31A, 2016, pp. 7–18.
  10. ^ "Visit Saint Catherine Monastery, Egypt". visitafrica.site. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  11. ^ a b "Saint Catherine's Monastery". Encyclopedia Britannica. July 1998. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  12. ^ "The Monastery". St-Katherine-net. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  13. ^ "Saint Catherine of Alexandria". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. March 2017 [First published July 1998].
  14. ^ Clugnet, Léon (1908). "St. Catherine of Alexandria" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  15. ^ Morton, James (1841). The legend of St. Katherine of Alexandria. Abbotsford club. Publications,no. 20. London: Abbotsford club. p. 133 – via Cornell University Library.
  16. ISBN 978-0-85668-710-5
  17. ^ "The Pilgrimage of Egeria". www.ccel.org. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
  18. ISBN 0750658630
  19. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-46583-1
    . Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  20. ^ "Saint Catherine Area".
  21. ^ 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)
  22. ISBN 0-385-17110-2
  23. ^ 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."
  24. CNEWA Canada, "A papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support" Archived May 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ "Deadly attack near Egypt's old monastery". BBC News. April 19, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  26. ^ Esparza, Daniel (19 August 2019). "The library of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai has never closed its doors". Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  27. ^ a b Macdonald, Fleur (June 13, 2018). "Hidden writing in ancient manuscripts". BBC News. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018.
  28. ^ Jost Gippert, The Creation of the Caucasian Alphabets as Phenomenon of Cultural History, in Referate des Internationalen Symposiums (Wien, 1.-4. Dezember 2005), ed. by Werner Seibt, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, pp. 39–50, Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2011.
  29. ^ Bo Isaksson, "The Monastery of St. Catherine and the New Finds", in Built on Solid Rock: Studies in Honour of Professor Ebbe Egede Knudsen on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday April 11th 1997, edited by Elie Wardini, pp. 128–140, Oslo: Novus forlag, 1997.
  30. ^ The History of the acquisition of the Sinai Bible by the Russian Government in the context of recent findings in Russian archives (english Internetedition) Archived 2019-12-21 at the Wayback Machine. The article from A.V. Zakharova was first published in Montfaucon. Études de paléographie, de codicologie et de diplomatique, Moscow–St.Petersburg, 2007, pp. 209–266) see also Alexander Schick, Tischendorf und die älteste Bibel der Welt. Die Entdeckung des Codex Sinaiticus im Katharinenkloster (Tischendorf and the oldest Bible in the world – The discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus in St. Catherine's Monastery), Muldenhammer 2015, pp. 123–128, 145–155.
  31. ^ "Fragment from world's oldest Bible found hidden in Egyptian monastery". The Independent. 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
  32. ^ "Oldest known Bible to go online". 2005-08-03. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
  33. ISBN 9780712358033
  34. ^ M. F. Brosset (1858), Note sur un manuscrit géorgien de la Bibliothèque Impériale publique et provenant de M. Tischendorf, Mélanges Asiatiques 3, pp. 264–280.
  35. ^ N. Pigoulewsky (1934), Fragments syro-palestiniens des Psaumes CXXIII-IV, Revue Biblique 43, pp. 519–527.
  36. ^ N. Pigoulewski (1937), Manuscrits syriaques bibliques de Léningrad, Revue Biblique 46, pp. 83–92; N. Pigoulewski, Manuscrits syriaques bibliques de Léningrad (suite), Revue Biblique 46, 1937, pp. 225–230; 556–562.
  37. ^ Julius Assfalg (1963), Georgische Handschriften (= Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, III) (Wiesbaden); Julius Assfalg (1965), Syrische Handschriften (= Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, V) (Wiesbaden).
  38. ^ Sebastian P. Brock (2012), Sinai: a Meeting Point of Georgian with Syriac and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, in The Caucasus between East & West (Tbilisi), pp. 482–494.
  39. ^ Grigory Kessel (2016), Membra Disjecta Sinaitica I: A Reconstitution of the Syriac Galen Palimpsest, in André Binggili, et al. (eds.), Manuscripta Graeca et Orientalia: Mélanges monastiques et patristiques en l'honneur de Paul Géhin (Louvain: Peeters), pp. 469–498.
  40. ^ Paul Géhin (2017), Les manuscrits syriaques de parchemin du Sinaï et leur membra disjecta, CSCO 665 / Subsidia 136 (Louvain: Peeters).
  41. ^ The text was deciphered by Francis C Burkitt and Robert L. Bensly, see Gibson, Margaret Dunlop (1893). How the Codex was Found. Cambridge: Macmillan & Bowes. pp. 36–38.
  42. ^ Gibson, Margaret Dunlop (1893). How the Codex was Found. Cambridge: Macmillan & Bowes. pp. 60–67.
  43. ^ Agnes Smith Lewis (1894), Catalogue of the Syriac MSS. in the Convent of S. Catharine on Mount Sinai, Studia Sinaitica, I (London: C. J. Clay and Sons).
  44. ^ Margaret Dunlop Gibson (1894), Catalogue of the Arabic mss. in the Convent of Saint Catharine on Mount Sinai. Studia Sinaitica, III (London: C. J. Clay and Sons).
  45. ^ a b 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.
  46. ^ Brandie Ratliff, "The monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Christian communities of the Caliphate." Sinaiticus. The bulletin of the Saint Catherine Foundation (2008) Archived 2015-02-13 at the Wayback Machine.
  47. ^ Kavtaradze, Giorgi (2001). "The Georgian Chronicles and the Raison D'ètre of the Iberian Kingdom". Journal of Historical Geography of the Ancient World.
  48. ^ "Building renovation | The St. Catherine's Project". www.ligatus.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-07-22.
  49. ^ "Egypt Reopens Ancient Library at St. Catherine Monastery". Voice of America. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  50. ^ Keith Knox (Chief Science Advisor, EMEL, USA); Roger Easton (Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester, New York, USA); William Christens-Barry (Chief Scientist, Equipoise Imaging, LCC, Maryland, USA); David Kelbe (Centre for Space Science Technology, Alexandra, New Zealand)
  51. ^ Zaza Aleksidze (Tbilisi, Georgia); André Binggeli (Paris, France); Sebastian Brock (Oxford, UK); Michelle Brown (London, UK); Guglielmo Cavallo (Rome, Italy); Steve Delamarter (Portland, Oregon, USA); Alain J. Desreumaux (Paris, France); David Ganz (Cambridge, UK); Paul Géhin (Paris, France); Jost Gippert (Frankfurt, Germany); Sidney Griffeth (Washington DC, USA); Getachew Haile (Minnesota; New York, USA); Dieter Harlfinger (Hamburg, Germany); Hikmat Kashouh (Metn, Lebanon); Vasilios Katsaros (Thessaloniki, Greece); Grigory Kessel (Vienna, Austria); Daniela Mairhofer (Princeton, New Jersey, USA); Heinz Miklas (Vienna, Austria); Christa Müller-Kessler (University of Jena, Germany); Panayotis Nicolopoulos (Athens, Greece); Pasquale Orsini (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Central Institute for Archives, Italy); Bernard Outtier (Paris, France); Claudia Rapp (Vienna, Austria); Giulia Rossetto (Vienna, Austria); Alexander Treiger (Nova Scotia, Canada); Agammenon Tselikas (Athens, Greece); Nigel Wilson (Oxford, UK).
  52. ^ The project's original heads were the professor of Byzantine studies Claudia Rapp of the University of Vienna and Michael Phelps of the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), Los Angeles, California.
  53. ^ Hsing, Crystal (April 15, 2011). "Scholars use tech tools to reveal texts". Daily Bruin. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  54. ^ Reviel Netz and William Noel (2008), The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest (London, UK: Phoenix), pp. 120–124.
  55. ^ Marchant, Jo (December 11, 2017). "Archaeologists Are Only Just Beginning to Reveal the Secrets Hidden in These Ancient Manuscripts". Smithsonian. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  56. ^ Ioannis E. Meïmaris (1985), Κατάλογος τῶν νέων ἀραβικῶν χειρογράφων τῆς ἱερᾶς Μονῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης τοῦ Ὄρους Σινᾶ, Ἱερὰ Μονὴ Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης (Athens).
  57. ^ Ioannis C. Tarnanidis (1988), The Slavonic Manuscripts Discovered in 1975 at St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai (Thessaloniki).
  58. ^ Sebastian P. Brock (1995), Catalogue of the Syriac Fragments (New Finds) in the Library of the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai (Athens).
  59. ^ Panayotis G. Nicolopoulos (1999), The New Finds of Sinai. Holy Monastery and Archdiocese of Sinai (Athens).
  60. ^ Zaza Alekzidse, M. Shanidze, L. Khevsuriani, M. Kavtaria (2005), The New Finds of Sinai. Catalogue of Georgian Manuscripts Discovered in 1975 at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai (Athens).
  61. ^ Philothee du Sinaï (2008), Nouveaux manuscrits syriaques du Sinaï (Athens).
  62. ^ Christa Müller-Kessler, Three Early Witnesses of the «Dormition of Mary» in Christian Palestinian Aramaic. Palimpsests from the Cairo Genizah (Taylor-Schechter Collection) and the New Finds in St Catherine's Monastery, Apocrypha 29, 2018, pp. 69–95.
  63. ISBN 9781851244959
    .
  64. ^ Zaza Alekzidse and Jean-Pierre Mahé, "Découverte d'un texte albanien: une langue ancienne du Caucase retrouvée", Comptes rendus des séances l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 141:2 (1997), pp. 512–532.
  65. ^ Zaza Aleksidze and Jean-Pierre Mahé, "Le déchiffrement de l'écriture des Albaniens du Caucase", Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 145:3 (2001), pp. 1239–1257.
  66. ISBN 0-237-45645-1

Further reading

External links

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