Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai

Saint Catherine Area*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Egypt
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iii, iv, vi
Reference	954
Region**	Arab States
Inscription history
Inscription	2002  (26th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Saint Catherine's Monastery (Greek: Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης) lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of an inaccessible gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in Saint Katherine city in Egypt. The monastery is Greek Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO report (60100 ha / Ref: 954) and website hereunder, this monastery has been called the oldest working Christian monastery in the world – although the Monastery of Saint Anthony, situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo, also holds claim to that title.

History

St. Catherine's Monastery possesses some of the earliest icons in existence, including this 6th-century hot wax icon.

The oldest record of monastic life at Sinai comes from the travel journal written in Latin by a woman named Egeria about 381-384. She visited many places around the Holy Land and Mount Sinai, where, according to the Hebrew Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.^[1]

The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush ordered to be built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush; the living bush on the grounds is purportedly the original. It is also referred to as "St. Helen's Chapel." The site is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Though it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the full, official name of the monastery is, The Sacred and Imperial Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount of Sinai, and the patronal feast of the monastery is the Transfiguration. The site was associated with Saint Catherine of Alexandria (whose relics were purported to have been miraculously transported there by angels) and it became a favorite site of pilgrimage.

Saint Catherine's monastery, photographed by Leavitt Hunt, first American to photograph the Middle East, 1852, George Eastman House

Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian martyr initially sentenced to death on the wheel. However, when this failed to kill her, she was beheaded. According to tradition, angels took her remains to Mount Sinai. Around the year 800, monks from the Sinai Monastery found her remains.

The monastery possesses an important historical document, the Achtiname, in which Muhammad is claimed to have bestowed his protection upon the monastery.

In 628 Muhammad (s) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.

An English translation of that document is as follows:

The Patent of Mohammed. granted to the Monastery of Sinai.

This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).

A Fatimid mosque was built within the walls of the monastery, but it has never been used since it is not correctly oriented towards Mecca.

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.

The monastery is depicted as a scene on the back panel of the Modena Triptych by El Greco.

About the monastery

The monastery library preserves the second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts in the world, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library. Its strength lies in Greek, Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Georgian, Syriac and old Udi texts. The Codex Sinaiticus, now in the British Library, left the monastery in the 19th century for Russia, in circumstances that are now disputed.^[2]

St. Catherine's monastery

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 along with several dependencies in the area constitute the entire Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai, headed by an archbishop, who is also the abbot of the monastery. The exact administrative status of the church within Eastern Orthodoxy is ambiguous: by some, including the church itself,^[3] it is considered autocephalous,^[4][5] by others an autonomous church under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.^[6] The archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; in recent centuries he has usually resided in Cairo. During the period of the Crusades, 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 elites. The monastery was an important centre for the development of the hybrid style of Crusader art, 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.^[7] Prior to September 1, 2009, a previously unseen fragment of Codex Sinaiticus was discovered in the monastery's library.^[8]

Gallery of art at Saint Catherine's

Icon of the enthroned Virgin and Child with saints and angels, 6th century	The oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator, encaustic on panel	Crucifixion, 13th century	Holy doors
Madonna and Child, 13th century	13th century Byzantine icon of St. Michael, the Archangel	Transfiguration, 12th century	Ladder of Divine Ascent
Emperor John VIII Palaiologos	Icon of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

See also

• Saint Katherine city
• Apology of Aristides
• Archbishop of Mount Sinai and Raithu
• Greek Orthodox Church
• Charnel House
• Christ Pantocrator
• Codex Sinaiticus
• Eastern Christianity
• Gregory of Sinai
• Hermit
• Ladder of Divine Ascent
• Macarius of Egypt
• Mary of Egypt
• Monastery of Saint Anthony, the oldest monastery
• Poustinia
• Saint John Climacus
• Sümela Monastery
• Kurt Weitzmann

References

External links

• Saint Catherine Area World Heritage Listing on UNESCO's Website
• Official Website of the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai
• Chapel of St. Helen
• St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, Egypt
• Camberwell/St.Catherine's Project
• Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai Getty exhibit
• Early Icons from Sinai, Belmont U
• St. Catherine's Monastery (Sinai) (OrthodoxWiki article)
• The text of the Charter from Muhammad can be read here or here.
• At a Mountain Monastery, Old Texts Gain Digital Life article from New York Times
• Information about the town of St. Katherine
• The Physical Components of the Monastery
• The Icons of St. Catherine's—Gallery
• Gallery of Artifacts in the Monastery's Collection
•  "Monastery of Saint Catherine". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• [1]

Greek Orthodox Christianity Patriarchates Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople | Patriarchate of Alexandria | Patriarchate of Antioch | Patriarchate of Jerusalem Autocephalous and Autonomous churches Church of Greece | Church of Cyprus | Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania | Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai Eparchies Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain | Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Exarchate of Southern Europe | Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America | Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

World Heritage Sites in Egypt Abu Mena · Islamic Cairo · Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur · Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae · Saint Catherine Area · Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis · Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley)