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History of Religion in Sinai

For Jews, Christians, and Muslims Sinai is holy land and inseparably-bound to their religious traditions. Whoever has been in Sinai's mountains knows that this is not a historical coincidence but partly a contribution of the Sinai landscape. The feeling of boundless loneliness in such a barren but also overwhelming landscape makes earthly things appear unimportant and provides room for thoughts about the beginning and end of the world.

It cannot be determined exactly when the patriarch Abraham came from Ur in Mesopotamia to Sinai and to the region of the present-day Suez Canal. But it was probably during the Twelfth Dynasty, which would mean that Sinai's religious tradition reaches back to almost two thousand years before Christ.

It is certain that Israelite tribes came to Sinai in several waves of immigration only much later, during the Second Intermediate Period (1785-1580 BC). They lived as semi nomads in western Sinai and at the edge of Lower Egypt. It was probably from this area that Joseph came; who the Bible tells us rose to become the pharaoh's adviser.

Moses was probably born in the early Ramesside period (about 1300 BC). As a foundling he grew up in the pharaoh's court. He must have known the Sinai desert well before he was able to lead the exodus of the Israelites. Years earlier he had fled from the pharaoh after a disagreement to the Midianites in Sinai, where he married the daughter of the priest and looked after the herds of his father-in-law. There he also experienced the appearance of the burning bush. Abraham and Moses belong to the foundations of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The Israelites' exodus out of Egypt probably took place during the rule of the Ramses II, at the latest during the rule of his successor Merenptah, so approximately between 1298 and 1230 BC. The exodus through the desert and the revelation in Sinai are basic elements of Old Testament faith. The historical events are still disputed, which is not surprising since wandering groups of nomads - for such were the tribes of Israel at this time-leave few historically readable traces. Thus even those places in Sinai with names referring to Moses -Uyun Musa 'Springs of Moses' south of al-Shatt, Hammam Sayyidna Musa 'Bath of Our Lord Moses) near al-Tur, and Gabal Musa ('Mount Moses': Mount Sinai) are not reliably historical sites. It is also uncertain whether Moses and his people took a northern route along the Mediterranean coast or the southern one through Wadi Feiran. On the other hand, Rothenberg's investigations made it clear that the Ama-lekites, an old desert tribe and the Israelites' traditional archenemies, had settled in the Negev mountains and in northeastern Sinai around Kadesh (today Quseima) even before Abraham's time.

Christian settlement in Sinai began in the third and fourth centuries AD. Hermits and early Christian pilgrims who wanted to settle down in proximity to the biblical places first came from the Coptic desert monasteries of Upper Egypt and the Eastern Desert. Christian settlements arose in al-Tur, the ancient Raithou (which some authors misplace in Wadi Garandel), and in Wadi Feiran. Around Mount Sinai there were numerous hermitages and monastic colonies. Very soon they were raided by Arab Saracens and Nubian Blemyes. In the raids the nomads killed many hermits and monks, who went down in history as martyrs. The 'Garden' and the 'Monastery of Forty Martyrs' still exist today in Wadi Leiga between Mount Sinai and Gabal Katrin. The Saracen queen Mavia converted to Christianity and appointed a converted Saracen monk named Moses first bishop of Pharan, and the Feiran Oasis became the bishop's see.
Aetheria, the nun who made an extremely arduous pilgrimage to the holy places from 393 to 396 AD, gives a very vivid and historically valuable description of the early Christian situation in Sinai. Her records describe monastic life at the Holy Bush and on Mount Sinai long before St. Catherine's Monastery was built.

The attacks on the monks by the surrounding nomads did not end, so in response to the monks' pleading the emperor Justinian had a monasterial fortress built between 548 and 565 AD. Justinian's master builder Stephanus was beheaded after finishing his work because he had chosen for strategic reasons to build at the place of the legendary Burning Bush at the end of Wadi Deir, rather than on a mountaintop as the emperor had wished. The monastery was originally consecrated to the Virgin Mary, but the ever-increasing veneration of St. Catherine in the late middle Ages led the monks to choose her as their patron saint. Only legends tell of the life and death of Catherine of Alexandria. The legends say she was an aristocratic and educated virgin who, as a Christian, denounced the dissipated lifestyle of the Roman emperor. As fifty of his learned philosophers converted to Christianity during debate with her, the emperor became furious and incarcerated her. After a failed attempt to execute her, the emperor had her beheaded with an instrument of torture. Angels took Catherine's body up to the mountain that since bears her name. Furthermore, the legend says that since some partridges followed the angels, God made a spring bubble up for them on the mountaintop, since known as Bir al-Shumar ('Partridge Spring').
The mighty fortress - with its cypress-adorned garden, and surrounded by the red granite peaks of the highest Sinai mountains - is a fascinating sight, and it is the location of simultaneously continuous and changing history. The changing times are directly visible in the monastery, since a mosque from the time of the Fatimids (909 - 1171 AD stands right next to the Christian basilica. And the continuity can be seen in the fact that the basilica is the oldest Christian church in the world, in which die liturgy has been read and chanted for fifteen hundred years without interruption.

Soon after its foundation, the monastery was threatened several times by Muslim warriors in the seventh century. First, the monastery was saved by a letter of protection that the Prophet Muhammad himself allegedly signed for the monastery. Although historians have doubts about the authenticity of this letter, it obviously served its purpose many times. The construction of a mosque in the interior of the monastery is also ascribed to a stratagem of the monks. A former guest house from the sixth century was rebuilt in the twelfth century as the mosque; in the southern walls they set niches to mark its orientation toward Mecca. The interior of the mosque is furnished with a valuable pulpit and other precious works of art from the Fatimid period. Today this mosque is one of only three almost intact mosques preserved from the Fatimid period.

The end of the monastery's golden age began in the eleventh century and by the eighteenth century; the monks had been forced out at least eight times. Only in 1800, during his Egyptian campaign, did Napoleon guarantee the monastery's attested rights. As an enclave of Greek Orthodox Christianity, the monastery was placed then in the care of the Russian tsar. Today, the monastery is independent within the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of the monks come from Greece and live an ascetic life, which today is increasingly disturbed by growing tourism. Unfortunately, this also affects Mount Sinai, which threatens to become a rubbish dump and at times stinks like a latrine.
Not only its religious significance but also its unique art treasures make St. Catherine's Monastery rightly famous. The interior of the basilica, with its consistent architectural and artistic decoration, leaves a memorable impression. The mosaic on the vault, depicting the transfiguration of Christ, belongs to the most important Byzantine mosaics, and the icon collection, with about two thousand items - among them some very rare wax icons from the sixth and seventh centuries - is especially interesting for art enthusiasts. The library contains invaluable manuscripts from the early Christian era. Of special importance is the Codex Sinaiticus from the fourth century.
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