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Saint Catherine's Monastery
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Saint Catherine's Monastery
Saint Catherine's Monastery (Arabic: دير القدّيسة كاترين Dayr al-Qiddīsa Katrīn, Greek: Ιερά Μονή Αγίας Αικατερίνης Όρους Σινά, romanized: Iërá Moní Ayías Ekaterínis Órus Siná), 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.
The monastery was built by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, enclosing what is claimed to be the burning bush seen by Moses. Centuries later, the purported body of Catherine of Alexandria, said to have been found in the area, was taken to the monastery; Catherine's relics turned it into an important Christian pilgrimage, 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 World Heritage Site in 2002 for its unique importance to the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The monastery includes a Fatimid mosque built in 1106 AD that is still preserved.
The monastery library holds unique and rare works, such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the Syriac Sinaiticus, as well as a collection of early Christian icons, including the earliest known depiction of Christ Pantocrator.
Saint Catherine's has as its backdrop the three mountains it lies near: Willow Peak (possibly the biblical Mount Horeb, peak c.1 km (0.62 mi) west); Jebel Arrenziyeb, peak c. 1km south; and Mount Sinai (locally, Jabal Musa, by tradition identified with the biblical Mount Sinai; peak c. 2 km (1.2 mi) south).
The monastery was built around the location of what is traditionally considered to be the place of the burning bush seen by the Hebrew prophet Moses. 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 considered sacred by the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Centuries after its foundation, the body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was said to be found in a cave in the area. The relics of Saint Catherine, kept to this day inside the monastery, have made it a favourite site of pilgrimage. The patronal feast of the monastery is the Feast of the Transfiguration.
The oldest record of monastic life at Mount Sinai comes from the Itinerarium Egeriae, a travel journal written in Latin by a female Christian pilgrim from the Atlantic coast of Galicia or Roman Gaul named Egeria about 381/2–386.
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Saint Catherine's Monastery
Saint Catherine's Monastery (Arabic: دير القدّيسة كاترين Dayr al-Qiddīsa Katrīn, Greek: Ιερά Μονή Αγίας Αικατερίνης Όρους Σινά, romanized: Iërá Moní Ayías Ekaterínis Órus Siná), 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.
The monastery was built by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, enclosing what is claimed to be the burning bush seen by Moses. Centuries later, the purported body of Catherine of Alexandria, said to have been found in the area, was taken to the monastery; Catherine's relics turned it into an important Christian pilgrimage, 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 World Heritage Site in 2002 for its unique importance to the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The monastery includes a Fatimid mosque built in 1106 AD that is still preserved.
The monastery library holds unique and rare works, such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the Syriac Sinaiticus, as well as a collection of early Christian icons, including the earliest known depiction of Christ Pantocrator.
Saint Catherine's has as its backdrop the three mountains it lies near: Willow Peak (possibly the biblical Mount Horeb, peak c.1 km (0.62 mi) west); Jebel Arrenziyeb, peak c. 1km south; and Mount Sinai (locally, Jabal Musa, by tradition identified with the biblical Mount Sinai; peak c. 2 km (1.2 mi) south).
The monastery was built around the location of what is traditionally considered to be the place of the burning bush seen by the Hebrew prophet Moses. 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 considered sacred by the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Centuries after its foundation, the body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was said to be found in a cave in the area. The relics of Saint Catherine, kept to this day inside the monastery, have made it a favourite site of pilgrimage. The patronal feast of the monastery is the Feast of the Transfiguration.
The oldest record of monastic life at Mount Sinai comes from the Itinerarium Egeriae, a travel journal written in Latin by a female Christian pilgrim from the Atlantic coast of Galicia or Roman Gaul named Egeria about 381/2–386.
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