One of the oldest continuously operating Christian monasteries in the world. Founded in the 4th century. in the center of the Sinai Peninsula, at the foot of Mount Sinai (biblical Horeb).
The fortified building of the monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian in the 6th century.
The inhabitants of the monastery are mainly Greeks of the Orthodox faith.

It was originally called the Monastery of the Transfiguration (or the Monastery of the Burning Bush).
Since the 11th century, in connection with the spread of veneration of St. Catherine, whose relics were found by the Sinai monks in the middle of the 6th century, the monastery received a new name - the monastery of St. Catherine.

In 2002, the monastery complex was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Sinai Peninsula is a peninsula in the Red Sea, on the border between Asia and Africa, part of the territory of Egypt.

The land of the peninsula was mastered by the ancient Egyptians in the era of the First Dynasty.
In the 2nd millennium BC. e. Sinai became the place where many of the events described in the Bible unfolded.
From 1260 to 1518, the territory was controlled by the Egyptian Mamluks, then it became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire for several centuries.
In 1906, the peninsula became part of British-controlled Egypt. At the same time, the eastern border of the territory was drawn, which still remains the border between Egypt and Israel.

Basically, the territory of the Sinai Peninsula is occupied by a desert, closer to the south there are mountains (height up to 2637 m) and plateaus.

The valley where the Monastery of St. Catherine is located.

Starting from the III century. monks began to settle in small groups around Mount Horeb - near the Burning Bush, in the Faran oasis (Wadi Firan) and other places in southern Sinai. The first monks in that area were mostly hermits living alone in caves. Only on holidays did the hermits gather near the Burning Bush to perform a joint Divine service.

The monastic life of this period was described in the 5th century. disciple of John Chrysostom, former prefect of Constantinople, Saint Nile, whose works are still studied by priests, monks and believers: “Some ate food only on Sundays, others twice a week, others two days later ... Every Sunday they all from different places gathered in one church, kissed each other, communed the Holy Mysteries, and with conversations about the salvation of the soul they edified, consoled and encouraged each other to high deeds.

During the reign of Emperor Constantine, in 330, the monks of Sinai turned to his mother, Saint Helen, with a request to build a small church dedicated to the Mother of God near the Burning Bush, as well as a tower for the monks to shelter in case of nomad raids.

The monks' petition was granted, and the pilgrims of the end of the 4th century. it was reported that Sinai already had a thriving community of monks, which attracted believers from various parts of the Byzantine Empire.

The monastery received a further impetus for development in the 6th century, when Emperor Justinian I ordered the construction of powerful fortress walls that surrounded the previous buildings of St. Helena, and a church that has survived to this day, and also sent soldiers to Sinai to protect the monks. (The construction of Justinian was reported by his contemporary Procopius of Caesarea.)

The powerful monastery fortifications built by Justinian were maintained by the monks in good condition and delighted the pilgrims.

According to the "Chronicle" of Eutyches of Alexandria, in order to protect and maintain the monastery, the emperor moved to Sinai two hundred families from Pontus of Anatolia and Alexandria. The descendants of these settlers formed the Sinai Bedouin Jabaliya tribe. Despite the conversion to Islam that occurred in the 7th century, they continue to live in the vicinity of the monastery and engage in its maintenance.

During the period of the Arab conquest of Sinai in 625, the monastery sent a delegation to Medina to enlist the patronage of the Prophet Muhammad. A copy of the safe-conduct received by the monks - the Firman of Muhammad (the original has been kept in Istanbul since 1517, where it was claimed from the monastery by Sultan Selim I), exhibited in the monastery, proclaims that Muslims will protect the monastery, and also exempt it from paying taxes.

The firman was written on the skin of a gazelle in Kufic script and sealed with the imprint of Muhammad's hand. However, despite the privileges received, the number of monks began to decline, and by the beginning of the 9th century. there were only 30 of them left.
With the spread of Islam in Egypt, a mosque appears in the monastery, which has survived to this day.

During the period of the Crusades from 1099 to 1270, there was a period of revival in the monastic life of the monastery. The Sinai order of the crusaders took on the task of guarding the pilgrims from Europe heading to the monastery, whose number increased. During this period, a Catholic chapel appeared in the monastery.

After the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Empire in 1517, the Turkish authorities did not reduce the rights of the monks, retained the special status of the archbishop and did not interfere in the internal affairs of the monastery. The monastery conducted extensive cultural and educational activities, in the XVIII century. he opened a theological school on the island of Crete, where the Greek theologians of that time were educated.
Monastery courtyards were opened in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Romania, Russia and even India.

The monastery maintained long-standing ties with Russia. In 1375, Metropolitan Macarius came to Moscow for alms for the monastery, and in 1390, an icon depicting the Burning Bush was brought from the monastery of St. Catherine as a gift to the Grand Dukes, which was placed in the Kremlin's Annunciation Cathedral (first in the iconostasis, and then in the altar to other valuable icons received from the Eastern clergy).
In 1558, Tsar Ivan the Terrible sent an embassy to the eastern patriarchs with a golden veil on the relics of St. Catherine as a gift for the Sinai Monastery.

In 1619, the Sinai archimandrite visited Russia and participated, together with the Jerusalem Patriarch Feofan, in a prayer service before the shrine of Sergius of Radonezh in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
After that, numerous donations from the Russian tsars go to Sinai.

In 1860, the monastery received from Emperor Alexander II a new shrine for the relics of St. Catherine, and for the monastery bell tower built in 1871, the emperor sent 9 bells, which are still used on holidays and before the liturgy.

The main temple of the monastery (katholikon), a three-aisled basilica, is dedicated to the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. Its construction dates back to the reign of Emperor Justinian.

The entrance to the narthex is decorated with carved doors made of Lebanese cedar, made during the Crusades, and the doors to the main nave of the basilica date back to the 6th century and are of the same age.

In each of the twelve columns crowned with Corinthian capitals and separating the naves of the basilica, the relics of saints are kept in special recesses, covered with bronze plates, and on the columns themselves are placed 12th-century menaean icons according to the number of months of the year.

Two rows of carved wooden stasidia are installed along the columns. The columns are connected by arches, above which there are windows.

In 1714 a new marble floor was laid in the basilica.

The ceiling of the basilica is made of Lebanese cedar and painted in the 18th century with stars on a blue background.

The main decoration of the basilica is the mosaic of the Transfiguration of the Lord located in the conch of the apse, which is in very good condition.
The mosaic was made in the first half of the 6th century. court craftsmen sent by Justinian to decorate the monastery.

The mosaic of the Transfiguration of the Lord is framed by medallions with sixteen half-figures of apostles and prophets. In the center of the composition is the monumental figure of Jesus Christ, enclosed in an azure mandorla, which is connected by rays of divine light with the figures of the prophets and three disciples, made on a golden shimmering background.

For viewing from the central nave, the mosaic is covered by a wooden carved iconostasis of the 17th century, but from the side naves at the level of the altar, the mosaic is available for viewing.

In the altar of the basilica, two silver shrines with the relics of St. Catherine (head and right hand) are kept in a marble reliquary. Another part of the relics (finger) is in the reliquary of the icon of the Great Martyr Catherine in the left nave of the basilica and is always open to believers for worship.

Behind the altar part of the Basilica of the Transfiguration is the Chapel of the Burning Bush, built on the spot where, according to the biblical story, God spoke to Moses (Ex. 2:2-5).
The chapel has an altar, located not as usual over the relics of the saints, but over the roots of Kupina. (For this purpose, the bush was transplanted a few meters from the chapel, where it continues to grow further.)

There is no iconostasis in the chapel that hides the altar from the faithful, and pilgrims can see under the throne the place where Kupina grew: it is indicated by a hole in the marble slab, covered with a silver shield.

Fulfilling the biblical directive, all entering here should take off their shoes. The chapel is one of the oldest monastic buildings.

Since the monastery has never been conquered and devastated since its foundation, at present it has a huge collection of icons and a library of manuscripts, second in historical importance only to the Apostolic Library of the Vatican.
The monastery has 3304 manuscripts and about 1700 scrolls. Two-thirds are written in Greek, the rest in Arabic, Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian and Slavic.

In addition to valuable manuscripts, the library also contains 5,000 books, some of which date back to the first decades of printing.
In addition to books of religious content, the library of the monastery contains historical documents, letters with gold and lead seals of Byzantine emperors, patriarchs and Turkish sultans.

The monastery has a unique collection of icons of exceptional spiritual, artistic and historical value. Twelve of the rarest and oldest icons were painted in the 6th century with wax paints - these are the oldest icons in the world.

Part of the monastery collection belongs to the early Byzantine period up to the 10th century (including Syro-Palestinian icons of the 8th-9th centuries). These icons are made by Greek, Georgian, Syrian and Coptic masters. The icons have been preserved because the monastery, being outside the Byzantine Empire since the 7th century, did not suffer from iconoclasm.

Numerous Russian scientists have contributed to the study of the Sinai Monastery. The Russian hieromonk Samuil in 1837 for the first time cleared and strengthened the 6th-century mosaic "The Transfiguration of the Lord", which adorns the katholikon of the monastery.
In 1887, researcher Aleksey Dmitrievsky compiled a catalog of icons from the monastic collection and considered questions about the Cretan school of icon painting and the role of Sinai in the preservation of cultural traditions in the 16th-18th centuries.
The Orthodox Palestine Society played an important role in the study of the monastery of St. Catherine, publishing Russian and Greek materials about these places.

The monastery, as before, is a traditional place of Christian pilgrimage. Every day after hours, believers are given access to the relics of St. Catherine.

The monastery of St. Catherine is the center of the autonomous Sinai Orthodox Church, which, in addition to this monastery, owns only a number of monastic farmsteads: 3 in Egypt and 14 outside Egypt - 9 in Greece, 3 in Cyprus, 1 in Lebanon and 1 in Turkey (Istanbul).

The abbot of the monastery is the Archbishop of Sinai. His ordination from the 7th century. is performed by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, under whose jurisdiction the monastery passed in 640 due to difficulties that arose after the conquest of Egypt by Muslims in communication with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The affairs of the monastery are currently managed by a general assembly of monks, which decides economic, political and other issues. The decisions of the Assembly are executed by the Council of the Fathers, which includes four people: the deputy and assistant of the archbishop, the monastery sacristan, the housekeeper and the librarian.

First mention 4th century Foundation date 6th century Main dates 330 - construction of the first church
557 - construction of monastery walls
Building Basilica of the Transfiguration Chapel of the Burning Bush Known Inhabitants John of the Ladder, Nil Postnik Relics and shrines relics of St. Catherine, Burning Bush abbot since 1973 - Damian, Archbishop of Sinai Status included in the list of World Heritage Sites State current Website sinaimonastery.com Media files at Wikimedia Commons

One of the oldest continuously operating Christian monasteries in the world. Founded in the IV century in the center of the Sinai Peninsula at the foot of Mount Sinai (biblical Horeb) at an altitude of 1570 m. The fortified building of the monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. The inhabitants of the monastery are mainly Greeks of the Orthodox faith.

It was originally called the Monastery of the Transfiguration or the Monastery of the Burning Bush. Since the XI century, in connection with the spread of the veneration of St. Catherine of Alexandria, whose relics were found by the monks of Sinai in the VIII century, the monastery received a new name - Monastery of Saint Catherine.

History of the monastery

Base

In the story about the Holy places of the East, written at the end of the 4th century by the noble pilgrim Sylvia (or Eteria), the monastic community that formed around the Burning Bush is also reported:

It was necessary for us to go to the beginning of this valley because there were many cells of holy men, and the church in the place where the bush is located: this bush is alive to this day and gives offspring. And so, descending from the mountain of God, we came to the bush, about the tenth hour. And this bush, as I said above, is the one from which the Lord spoke to Moses in the fire, and is located in an area where there are many cells and a church, at the beginning of the valley. And in front of the church there is a lovely garden, with an abundance of excellent water, and in this garden there is a bush.

Buildings of Justinian the Great

The monastery received further impetus for development in the 6th century, when Emperor Justinian I ordered the construction of powerful fortress walls that surrounded the previous buildings of St. Helena, and a church that has survived to this day, and also sent soldiers to Sinai to protect the monks. Justinian's construction is reported by his contemporary Procopius of Caesarea:

On this Mount Sinai live monks whose life consists in continual contemplation of death; fearing nothing, they enjoy the desert dear to them. Since they do not want anything, and above all human passions they do not care about any acquisition and do not look after their bodies and in all other respects do not want any benefit for themselves, the emperor Justinian built a church for these monks in the name of the Mother of God, so that they could spend your life praying in this church and officiating. He built this church not on the very top of the mountain, but much lower: it is impossible for a person to spend the night on the top of this mountain, since constant noises and all sorts of other phenomena that cause religious fear are heard there during the night, terrifying the mind and will of a person. They say that Moses once brought the laws he received from God from here. At the foot of this mountain, the emperor built a very strong fortification and placed a significant military garrison here, so that the barbarian Saracens could not break into the regions of Palestine completely unnoticed from here, since this country, as I said, was deserted.

Procopius of Caesarea. About buildings(Book 5:VIII)

There is an inscription above the main monastery gate: “ This sacred monastery of Mount Sinai was erected from the foundation, where God spoke to Moses, the humble king of the Romans Justinian, for the eternal commemoration of him and his wife Theodora. Finished after the thirtieth year of his reign. And an abbot named Dula was appointed in it in the year from Adam 6021, from Christ 527» . Based on this inscription, the Russian scholar Bishop Porfiry (Uspensky) dated the completion of the construction of the monastery to 557.

The powerful monastery fortifications built by Justinian were maintained by the monks in good condition and delighted the pilgrims:

It's time to enter the monastery ... Do you see how the fortress wall is built - long, skillfully built, highly revered? The king, nicknamed Justinian, gave out at the expense, and it was built very diligently. It has a circumference of two hundred sazhens, and its height is nineteen and a half ...

Paisios Hagiapostolite.

Among the abbots of the monastery was John of the Ladder. Until the end of the 7th century, the monastery belonged to the Diocese of Faran and was headed by an abbot in the rank of archbishop (the materials of the Chalcedon Cathedral testify to the antiquity of the Sinai Archdiocese, where in " Metropolitan and Archbishopric Orders of the Apostolic See of the Holy City"in the 24th place the archdiocese is mentioned" mountains of sinai» ). In 681, when the bishop of Faran was deprived of his see for monothelitism, the episcopal see was transferred to the monastery, and his abbot became the bishop of Faran. A little later, the diocese of Raito came under his control. At the beginning of the 8th century, all Christians of the Sinai Peninsula were under the jurisdiction of the Sinai archbishop.

Arab and Turkish conquests

During the period of the Arab conquest of Sinai in 625, the monastery sent a delegation to Medina to enlist the patronage of the Prophet Muhammad. A copy of the security certificate received by the monks - firman of Muhammad(the original has been kept in Istanbul since 1517, where it was claimed from the monastery by Sultan Selim I), exhibited in the monastery, declares that Muslims will protect the monastery, and also exempt it from paying taxes. The firman was written on the skin of a gazelle in Kufic script and sealed with the handprint of Muhammad.

... let not the bishop or priest change from their places and the monk from his monastery not get married.
... let not a single one of their churches or chapels be destroyed and let none of the belongings of their churches be used for the construction of mosques or Muslim houses .

Safeguard of Muhammad

However, despite the privileges received, the number of monks began to decline, and by the beginning of the 9th century there were only 30 of them left. With the spread of Islam in Egypt, a mosque appears in the monastery, which has survived to this day: “ Behind the church there is a stone hut, where the Turks, Arabs worship Mohammed» .

Relations with Russia

The monastery maintained longstanding ties with Russia. In 1375, Metropolitan Macarius came to Moscow for alms for the monastery, and in 1390, an icon depicting the Burning Bush was brought from the monastery of St. Catherine as a gift to the Grand Dukes, which was placed in the Kremlin's Annunciation Cathedral (first in the iconostasis, and then in the altar to others valuable icons received from the Eastern clergy).

Numerous Russian scientists have contributed to the study of the Sinai Monastery. The Russian hieromonk Samuil in 1837 for the first time cleared and strengthened the 6th century mosaic “The Transfiguration of the Lord”, which adorns the katholikon of the monastery. In 1887, the researcher Aleksey Dmitrievsky compiled a catalog of the icons of the monastery collection and considered questions about the Cretan school of icon painting and the role of Sinai in the preservation of cultural traditions in the 16th-18th centuries. In the study of the monastery of St. Catherine, the Orthodox Palestine Society played a large role, which carried out the publication of Russian and Greek materials about these places.

Current state

The monastery of St. Catherine is the center of the autonomous Sinai Orthodox Church, which, in addition to this monastery, owns only a number of monastic farmsteads: 3 in Egypt and 14 outside of Egypt - 9 in Greece, 3 in Cyprus, 1 in Lebanon and 1 in Turkey (Istanbul).

The affairs of the monastery are currently managed by the general assembly of monks, which decides economic, political and other issues. The decisions of the Assembly are implemented fathers council, which includes four people: the deputy and assistant of the archbishop, the monastery sacristan, the housekeeper and the librarian.

The monastery, as before, is a traditional place of Christian pilgrimage. Every day after hours, believers are given access to the relics of St. Catherine. In memory of the worship of the relics, the monks give a silver ring with a heart and the words ΑΓΙΑ ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ (Saint Catherine).

monastery buildings

Basilica of the Transfiguration

Mosaic Transfiguration framed by medallions with sixteen half-figures of apostles and prophets. In the center of the composition is the monumental figure of Jesus Christ, enclosed in an azure mandorla, which is connected by rays of divine light with the figures of the prophets and three disciples, made on a golden shimmering background. On the sides of the mosaic on the apse arch there are two images of the prophet Moses: standing in front of the Burning Bush (left) and receiving the Tablets of the Covenant at Sinai (right). The apse is also decorated with medallions depicting a lamb between two flying angels, the Mother of God and John the Baptist.

The mosaics of the basilica delighted pilgrims and are mentioned in various descriptions of the monastery:

Look first of all at the vastness of the conch and at the host of prophets all around standing on high. There, in the dome, a host of prophets shining with gold, together with the apostles, is clearly depicted, by means of mosaics and gold mixed with lapis lazuli, scarlet, red and purple. In the middle is the venerable Transfiguration, painted with exquisite art, along with a cloud.

Paisios Hagiapostolite. Description of the Holy Mount Sinai and its environs

Mosaic Transfiguration was cleaned of dirt and soot by American restorers in -1965. For viewing from the central nave, the wooden carved iconostasis of the 17th century closes the mosaic, but from the side naves at the level of the altar, the mosaic is available for viewing.

Library

The library in the monastery was created only in 1734 under Archbishop Nikifor, until that time there had been no work on the study of books and manuscripts. The Russian pilgrim A. Umanets, who visited the monastery in 1843, writes about the state of the library:

« … is located in a special small room with shelves around the walls. The books on the shelves are in complete disarray, piled in heaps in places, and it is very noticeable that the people who sometimes sorted through them were not the local owners, but were in a hurry to finish this sorting as soon as possible, and therefore threw them anywhere: no doubt the business of travelers, of which each, not at all caring about maintaining order here, and being the hundredth visitor to the library, sorted through the books in turn with the desire and hope to find some hitherto unknown manuscript, and by truth or not, take it with him» .

Such a situation contributed to the plundering of the collection, in particular, the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest texts of the Bible, was taken out of the monastery.

Part of the monastery collection belongs to the early Byzantine period up to the 10th century (including Syro-Palestinian icons of the 8th-9th centuries). These icons are made by Greek, Georgian, Syrian and Coptic masters. The icons have been preserved, since the monastery, being outside the Byzantine Empire since the 7th century, did not suffer from iconoclasm. There are few works of Western European writing in the collection, but there are unique icons of the period of the Crusades that combine the features of " Western Latinism" and " Greek Byzantineism» .

The only miraculous icon venerated in the monastery is a 13th-century triptych depicting the Mother of God Bematarissa with scenes from the cycle of the Mother of God. The icon does not have a separate day of celebration and a special service, it is located in the altar of the catholicon to the left of the high place.

Christ Pantocrator, one of the oldest icons of Christ, VI century		Apostle Peter, encaustic icon, VI century		Virgin on the throne, 7th century		Avgar receives the Icon Not Made by Hands from the Apostle Thaddeus, late 10th century

Influence

see also

Notes

1. Monastery of Saint Catherine in Egypt (indefinite) (unavailable link). Retrieved July 6, 2013. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013.
2. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
3. Evangelos Papaioannou. Monastery of Saint Catherine. (Edition of the Sinai Monastery) b. g., s. 7.
4. Pyatnitsky Yu. Sinai, Byzantium, Russia.
5. , with. 8-9.
6. , with. eight.
7. Pilgrimage to the Holy Places of the late 4th century
8. Procopius of Caesarea. About buildings(Book 5)
9. Orthodox shrines of the East. Pilgrimage to Sinai (indefinite) (unavailable link). Retrieved March 24, 2008.

Founded in the 6th century AD e. By decree of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, the monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai (Moses of Moses) is one of the most visited places by pilgrims. It so happened that for the entire time of its existence, the greats of this world patronized the monastery, and this always saved it from plunder or destruction during wars and conflicts.

In the X century, after the Islamization of Egypt, a mosque was erected here. This "political" step at that time also prevented the destruction of the monastery. And although now the rapists of the monastery are mainly Greeks of the Orthodox faith, but among the pilgrims to these places there are no less Jews and followers of Islam.

From the history of the monastery of St. Catherine

The history of the creation of the monastery contains interesting facts. Heeding the numerous requests of the monks who lived in the desert mountains of Egypt, Emperor Justinian (527-565) ordered his representative to build a reliable abode on the mountain of Moses, where God gave him 10 commandments.

But the imperial assistant, having studied the indicated place and made his calculations, disobeyed the ruler. He built a monastery with thick walls not on the top of the mountain, but at the foot, in the gorge. Here it was much safer to repel barbarian raids and withstand a long siege. As a result, as a reward for this “good” deed, the emperor cut off the assistant’s head, and history did not even save his name for posterity.

Immediately after its foundation, the monastery was called the Monastery of the Transfiguration or the Monastery of the Burning Bush.

It began to be called the Monastery of St. Catherine in the 11th century, in honor of the Great Martyr Catherine (287-305), a beautiful and smart girl beyond her years. She believed in Christ from a young age, converted many people around her to Christianity, and suffered many troubles and persecutions for her faith throughout her life, including from her own father. After many unsuccessful attempts to return her to the worship of pagan gods, Emperor Maximin executed Catherine by cutting off her head.

The body of Catherine, according to legend, after the execution was transferred by angels to a high peak in Sinai, and the monks of the monastery of the Transfiguration, who found the remains of the saint, identified him by the ring given to Catherine by Jesus Christ. Since then, the relics of St. Catherine are in the church of the monastery, and the monastery itself began to bear her name.

How to get to the monastery

From Sharm el-Sheikh, you can get to the monastery of St. Catherine on your own or book an excursion at any hotel or tour desk. Usually such an excursion is “double” and includes a night climb to Mount Moses and in the morning, after the descent and breakfast, a tour of the monastery.

A tour with a tour of the shrines and sights of the monastery is held from 8 am to 12 pm. Then the gate for tourists is closed.

The main shrines of the monastery

• Relics of Saint Catherine. They are the greatest shrine, and are available for worship to pilgrims daily. At certain hours, silver shrines with her relics (head and right hand) are taken out of the altar of the Basilica of the Transfiguration, where they are kept permanently. After worship, the monks give each pilgrim a silver ring with an engraved heart and the inscription "ΑΓΙΑ ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ".

• Bush of the Burning Bush, a cemetery and a crypt under the chapel of St. Tryphon with the skulls of the monks who lived in the monastery, ancient mosaics, icons and the famous Sinai Library - these shrines can be seen by tourists and pilgrims during a tour of the monastery. Each of them is worthy of a separate story.

The monastery of St. Catherine in 2002 was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The monastery of St. Catherine is rightly called the stronghold of Orthodoxy on the Sinai. He was repeatedly subjected to raids by Bedouins, robbers, resisted numerous heresies that dominated around him, but he managed to survive and remain a stronghold of the true faith. For many centuries the monastery also remained a famous theological center of the entire Christian East.

Sinai is mentioned more than once in sacred history and is associated with the greatest events of the Old Testament. And the oldest Christian shrine - the monastery of St. Catherine - is located in a place directly related to the exodus of Jews from Egypt.

According to the Book of Exodus, the future prophet Moses, after the murder of an Egyptian who oppressed a Jew, fled from Egypt here to Sinai. Here he married and was a shepherd for many years. But one day, at the foot of Mount Horeb (the modern name is Mount Sinai), “the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from the midst of a thorn bush. And he saw that the bush of thorns was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (Ex. 3:2). And then God called Moses to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. And Moses fulfilled the first order of the Lord and brought his people to the place where God spoke to them. And on the top of the sacred mountain Horeb, he received from God the stone tablets with the ten commandments, which became the basis of the moral foundations of mankind.

These holy places began to attract the first Christians. And many were saved here, in the mountains, during the times of numerous persecutions. Very soon, dozens of sketes, monasteries and temples arose in Sinai. IV century. near the thorn bush, the Burning Bush, Empress Elena erected a small church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, and under the emperor Justinian, in 527-530, the basilica of the Transfiguration was built, where the church of St. Helena was organically included. At the same time, the main buildings of the monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord, also called in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, were erected. And the second name of the monastery was given by the relics of the saint located here, kept in the altar of the cathedral church. It was once a revelation from an angel for the monks of the monastery to go and take the relics of the saint, located on the highest Mount Sinai and transferred there by angels after her death. The monks climbed to a distant peak and indeed found holy relics there. Since then, both the monastery itself and the mountain where the shrines were found have been named after St. Catherine.

The Holy Martyr Catherine lived at the beginning of the 4th century. in Alexandria of Egypt and, according to one of the legends, was the daughter of the ruler of the city of Konsta. She was a smart and prominent girl, endowed with rare beauty and well educated. But she refused all noble suitors, because she could not choose a worthy one for herself, who would be equal to her in wealth, beauty and learning. But one day she had a vision in a dream. The Most Holy Theotokos with the Child in her arms appeared before her, and when Catherine wanted to talk to Jesus, He turned away from her, not wanting to talk. The next morning, although being a pagan, she turned to a Christian priest, who suggested an explanation for her dream. Soon she was baptized. And then she had a new vision. Jesus, sitting in the arms of the Mother of God, himself spoke to her and held out a wedding ring with the words: “I choose you as a bride.” When the girl woke up in the morning, the ring from the dream was inexplicably on her finger. So she became the betrothed of Christ. In remembrance of this event, when the monks take out the relics of St. Catherine from the altar to worship the pilgrims, each of them is given a ring with her name.

Once, when Emperor Maximus was in Alexandria and praying in a pagan temple, Catherine approached him in order to convince him to renounce idols. Wanting to convince the stubborn girl himself, the emperor invited 50 pundits to the discussion. Catherine boldly entered into a controversy with the pagan sages and shamed them with her righteous speeches. And many of them converted to Christianity. Then, in anger, the emperor ordered the execution of the saint.

Now the relics of the Great Martyr Catherine (head and right hand) rest in a white marble shrine in the altar. Several silver arks sent by the Russian tsars and grand dukes for the relics of the martyr are also kept there. One of them with a dedicatory inscription from “the great sovereigns Tsars John and Peter Alekseevich and Princess Sophia” was sent in 1689. There are many other precious relics donated to the monastery by Russian autocrats.

But the main symbol of the monastery is still the Burning Bush - a symbol of the Most Holy Theotokos and a symbol of the Church of Christ, burning and unburned. Interestingly, the thorn bush refers to one of the types of mimosa or acacia growing in the rocky desert. In the cathedral church there is a chapel in honor of the Burning Bush, and the life-giving thorn bush itself is located on a hill next to the temple. In her name, there is a widespread, especially in Russia, Orthodox icon-painting plot - “The Burning Bush”, which has an interpretation of the purity and purity of the Virgin Mary. In folk tradition, the icon protected houses from the elements of fire.

The monastery of St. Catherine stands between two powerful mountain ranges, towering in the valley like a medieval fortress. In plan, it is almost a square (the length of the sides is from 75 to 88 m), with the height of the walls - from eight meters on the south to twenty-five on the north side and a thickness of up to three meters. Several times the walls were damaged by earthquakes, but each time they were restored. For security purposes, the central gate to the monastery was walled up in the early centuries, and only in modern history a low passage was made to the left of it, closed with heavy doors. But even in the 19th century, in order to get to the monastery, pilgrims were lifted to the walls on a rope. This is how the first head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in the Holy Land, Archimandrite Porfiry (Uspensky), who opened the richest book collection of the monastery to the world, describes his visit to the monastery: “A thick rope with a log looped on it was let down from the wall. Having crossed myself, I sat down on it, and they began to quietly lift me up. I ascend, resting my feet on the granite stronghold, and look up. Such security measures were urgently needed here, because. the monasteries of Sinai were repeatedly raided by Bedouins and robbers. The memory of these terrible events is honored in the circle of church holidays, when on January 14 all the Local Orthodox Churches commemorate the First Massacre of the Venerable Fathers Sinai and Raifa in the 4th century. and the Second Massacre of the Reverend Fathers in Raif.

The Sinai monastery, with its prayerful deeds, earned respect from many Muslim conquerors, including by virtue of their veneration of the prophet Moses. The Arabs even freed the monastery from taxes, and under the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century. the monastery was also not damaged. Although a Muslim mosque was erected on the territory of the monastery in later times. Napoleon Bonaparte also gave a safe-conduct to the monastery during his Egyptian campaign in 1798.

The cathedral church of the monastery, like all Byzantine buildings, is quite modest on the outside, but majestic on the inside. Already in the vestibule you can see with amazement over a dozen precious icons of the 6th-14th centuries, many of which are made in the ancient painting technique - encaustic. They also generously decorate the main interior of the temple. The three naves of the basilica are separated by seven marble columns, on each side of which are hidden the relics of the holy martyrs. Along the columns there is a row of so-called stasidia, high chairs with folding seats and armrests, in which, during a long service, one can sit or lean on one's elbows while standing to perform a long prayer vigil. A carved cypress iconostasis, with a large crucifix above the royal doors, separates the altar into which the oldest part of the temple, the original church, is built. At the end of the apse, where you can look through a special side corridor, you can also see one of the most ancient mosaics on earth of the Transfiguration of the Lord, created in 534. On the right side of the central nave is the throne of the Archbishop of Sinai, who heads the autocephalous church, which is an autonomous part of the Jerusalem Orthodox churches.

The rector of the Sinai monastery was once the Monk John of the Ladder (526-606), who created the famous "Ladder", spiritual tablets, where he described the difficult path of climbing the steps of virtues to the heights of God-knowledge. The image of the spiritual staircase was developed by him but by analogy with climbing the famous staircase, cut down by the first Sinai monks and leading to the holy Mount Sinai, where Moses saw God. With the wisdom of a true seer, he wrote that even “each of the virtues can turn into a sin: moderation - stinginess, generosity - wastefulness, mortal memory - despondency, humility - pride. That is why they talk about victory over passions: passions are suffering, diseases of the soul. The path of his ascent was not very easy. Coming to the monastery at the age of seventeen, he humbly performed monastic obedience for twenty years, after which he received a blessing for hermitage. But his solitary residence was soon interrupted, because. he was elected abbot by the brethren. But only for 4 years did St. John lead the monastery and, having blessed the monks, he again went into seclusion, where he remained for forty years and wrote a great book about ascent to spiritual heights. It is interesting that in Russia the book was first published in 1647, with explanations by Nil Sorsky and Maxim Grek. In the deserted desert of Fola, a cave has been preserved in the rock, where the venerable elder labored.

The monastery is famous all over the world for its library collection, which stores rare Greek, Syrian, Arabic, Ethiopian and many other ancient manuscripts, incl. and Slavic. The oldest Greek manuscript of the Gospel, dating back to 717, the period of the reign of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius III, is also kept here. Its book fund has more than five thousand items. The richest icon-painting collection is stored in the monastery, which would be the glory of any museum. By the way, Archimandrite Porfiry, who was the first to describe many of the spiritual values ​​of the monastery, took with him four ancient icons made in the encaustic technique, which are now in the Kiev Museum of Western and Eastern Art and form the basis of the collection of early Byzantine icons.

Today, the Sinai manuscripts are fairly well described by experts, and the very history of their long study and scientific discoveries requires a special essay. But a few words must be said about the famous Codex Sinaiticus, the Gospel written in Greek on parchment in the 4th century BC. It was discovered by Archimandrite Porfiry when he explored the monastery book depository. By the way, here he also found many documents on the history of ancient Russia, incl. an ancient psalter written in Glagolitic. The Codex Sinaiticus was later presented by Sinai monks to Emperor Alexander II in 1869, but, unfortunately, in the thirties, the Bolsheviks sold the priceless codex abroad for ridiculous money and now it is in the British Museum.

The monastery is home to 30 Greek monks, along with the archbishop, and 12 monks. It should be noted that on the territory of the monastery there is the only source of water in the area, the so-called well of Moses, which made it possible to create a small oasis in a desert place, therefore several garden plots are laid out around the monastery.

To get to the monastery, you can take a pilgrimage bus from Cairo or a local airline. Tourists are allowed into the monastery only at a certain time: from 8 to 12 hours. This is due to the church services that are held in the monastery four times a day. The earliest midnight office begins at dusk, then - matins, turning into the Liturgy. Only after its completion are tourists allowed into the monastery. Before the start of the “hours” service, which begins at noon sharp, tourists leave the monastery. The monastic service ends with a short Vespers. There is nowhere to accommodate pilgrims in the district, there are no hotels. Therefore, arriving groups, as a rule, make the traditional ascent to Mount Moses at night, where they meet the dawn, and return to the monastery again in the morning.

The monastery bells, most of which were brought as gifts from Russia, sound here very rarely, only on major holidays, and on ordinary days the monks use wooden beaters.

The monastery of St. Catherine is one of the greatest monuments of Christian Orthodox culture, which is today under the protection of UNESCO. The undeniable cultural heritage attracts many pilgrims of all faiths. But the centuries-old historical ties of the monastery with Russia, the unity of the Orthodox faith, the priority of scientific research of its spiritual treasures give us, Russians, the opportunity to feel closer that spiritual kinship and the origins of the traditions associated with the holy name of the monastery. Indeed, in honor of the Sinai monasteries - St. Catherine and the Raifa desert - monasteries were also built here, in Russia. And this grace-filled closeness is penetratingly reflected in the special kind-hearted attitude of the monastic brethren towards our pilgrims.

The Monastery of St. Catherine is perhaps the oldest Christian monastery on the planet. It was built almost one and a half millennia ago, around it are Mount Moses, Mount Safsara and Mount Catherine. This holy place welcomes thousands of tourists every year, and since 2002 it has been officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Construction history

The temple was founded in the 6th century AD under the emperor of Constantinople Justinian. Largely due to the fact that the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai was under the auspices of the Prophet Muhammad himself and the Arab rulers, he was not plundered during the Arab conquest of this area and subsequent military conflicts. In the 10th century, a mosque was erected on the territory of the temple, and it was thanks to this legendary fact that it survived until the 21st century. If not for this, the monastery of St. Catherine would have been demolished.

It is worth noting the fact that throughout its existence, the monastery of St. Catherine has never been plundered, destroyed or even damaged. On numerous photos you can easily see how well this ancient structure has been preserved.

Many Christians specially go to the Sinai temple to see the Burning Bush - according to the Biblical legend, this is the place where the Lord God first appeared before Moses. In 324, a chapel was erected here.

For many centuries the monastery of St. Catherine has maintained close ties with Russian Christianity. This is reflected in the interior decoration of the temple: here you can see the bells familiar to us, the faces of saints, old books and church utensils.

Who is Saint Catherine

The real name of this saint is Dorothea. She was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 294 AD. Her family was quite rich, so the girl received an excellent education, and, in addition, she was very beautiful. One day a Syrian monk told her about Jesus. The girl was so imbued that she converted to Christianity, and then tried to convert Emperor Maximius himself to the Christian faith. This only angered the ruler - he ordered Dorothea to be exiled to Alexandria, and some time later to be executed. Her body was not found - it disappeared mysteriously. More than 300 years have passed when the monks climbed Mount Sinai and found the remains of a girl there, which were transferred to the Sinai temple. Since then, the highest mountain on the peninsula has been named after Catherine.

Buildings of the monastery of St. Catherine

The monastery of St. Catherine today looks the same as it did 14 centuries ago, and only in 1951 another building was added to it. It now houses the monastery library, the icon gallery, the refectory and the residence of the archbishop. On the territory of the temple there are 12 chapels - the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, George the Victorious, the Holy Spirit, John the Baptist, John the Theologian and others. The main entrance to the monastery is now closed. For monks, tourists and pilgrims, the door is located to the left of the main entrance. You can easily find out what the main and emergency entrances look like by looking at the photo of the monastery.

• Church
  The Church of St. Catherine is made of granite and its appearance resembles an oblong basilica. On both sides there are corridors with a vestibule and an apse. The basilica is supported by 12 columns that symbolize each month of the year. Above each of the columns rises an icon corresponding to the saint who is revered in a particular month. The floor is tiled with marble. On the capitals there are flags, crosses, bunches of grapes and lambs, which, according to tradition, personify Jesus Christ. In general, the church with its architectural style resembles the style of the Italian school of that time.
• Mosaic of the Transfiguration
  The katholikon, the most important temple of the monastery, is decorated with a mosaic depicting the Transfiguration of Jesus. This is one of the most beautiful mosaics of the Orthodox Church, which has survived to our time. In its center is Jesus Christ, on the right and left are Elijah and Moses, at the feet are John, Peter, James.

• Chapel of the Burning Bush
  The chapel is behind the main altar. It is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. Pilgrims must enter here barefoot, as this is said in one of God's commandments to Moses. Another attraction that the monastery of St. Catherine, located in Sinai, has is the Bush of the Burning Bush. It grows near the chapel. It is noteworthy that he cannot grow elsewhere - they tried to transplant him, but these attempts were unsuccessful.
• Library
  The monastery of St. Catherine, or rather, its library, has three thousand manuscripts - such a number and value can only be compared with the library in the Vatican. Most of them are written in Greek, the rest - in Arabic, Coptic, Syriac and Slavic.
• Gallery of icons
  The cathedral has a unique collection, which includes 150 icons of great historical, artistic and spiritual value. There are ancient icons here, painted with wax paints during the reign of the ruler of Byzantium, Justinian.

Information for tourists

The monastery of St. Catherine is available for visits daily - the church is open from 9 to 12 noon. During the tour, tourists are introduced to the history of the monastery. They also visit chapels and, of course, the Burning Bush.

The monastery of St. Catherine is located in the Sinai - about 170 km from the city of Sharm el-Sheikh. The bus leaves from there every day at 6 am and returns at 6 pm. The tour can be booked at the hotel or in the city itself, it will cost about $50 for an adult, $25 for a child.