Egypt: Sinai and Monastery of St. Catherine

While we were in Egypt, we took a day trip from Sharm el Sheikh up to the interior of the Sinai peninsula.  Sharm el Sheikh is located on the southernmost tip of the Sinai.  The Sinai peninsula is the area where Moses wandered for 40 years with the children of Israel after they left Egypt. 

The Sinai area is probably the most rugged, rough area that I have ever seen.  It is extremely dry and inhospitable.  Rainfall is rare in this part of the world.  It generally only rains one to two times per year.  The native Bedouins still live scattered throughout the region.  They have tried to keep the old traditions and beliefs--although they do make revenue off of the tourists.

Many of these pictures show the extreme, harsh landscape of the Sinai.  Trying to imagine the Children of Israel living in this region for 40 years makes you realize that it was a tough time for them.  There certainly wasn't enough food for them to survive on--therefore the need for the Lord to send manna from heaven and providing water for them to drink.

 

 

 

 

A Bedouin riding his camel.

 

More camels.

 

Bedouin cemetery near Monastery of St. Catherine.

 

Bedouin woman in traditional dress.

 

Mel and her new friend.

 

 Someone forgot the dental floss.

 

 The Monastery of St. Catherine.

A small chapel was built on this site in the year 330 AD.  Over time, the church was expanded, adding new buildings and a protective outer wall.  It is the smallest diocesis in the world as well as being the oldest Christian monastery still in existence.  It is owned by the Greek Orthodox Church.

The saint whose name is given to the monastery was born in Alexandria in the year 294 to a rich and noble family.  She was converted to Christianity and baptized.  Catherine spread Christianity to those  around her.  The Roman rulers tried to silence her but were not successful.  She was tortured and eventually martyred--one of the virgin martyrs.  She was buried in Alexandria.  Five centuries later, a monk from Sinai had a vision of the Saint's body that was being transported by angels to the summit of a mountain near the monastery.  The monks went up the mountain and found the body of the virgin martyr.  One monk named Simon stayed by her body on the top of the mountain for years.  Eventually, her remains were taken down the mountain and placed in a sarcophagus next to the altar in the Church of the Transfiguration.

During the Crusades, many of the Europeans traveled from the Jerusalem area down to the Sinai to visit the monastery because of its proximity to Mt Sinai, the Burning Bush, and the bones of St. Catherine.

There is a document that is said to be signed by Mohammed himself guaranteeing protection to the monastery by the Muslims.  While many old Christian monasteries have been robbed and plundered of their treasures and artifacts, St. Catherines Monastery has been left intact.  It is in fact, a museum of ancient Christian artifacts and documents.

 

St. Catherine's

 

Proof that we survived the Sinai.

 

This is the trail to Mt. Sinai--Moses' Mountain where he received the Ten Commandments.  We didn't have enough time to walk the 2-3 kilometers which would have allowed us to see the actual mountain.  If we had walked to the ridge in the distance, we could have seen the mountain.

 

The fortress around the Monastery of St. Catherine.

 

During the persecution of the Christians during the Roman period, they buried their dead in mass graves on the tops of the mountains.  The cross that you can see, is one of five crosses--each of them marking an old burial site.  The Christians had to live in hiding in the mountains.

 

 After the persecutions ended, the bones were brought down to the monastery.  At the end of this room are the bones of St. Stephen--a priest that founded an early chapel here.  He died about 580 AD.  Notice the openings in the wall on the right.  They are the bones of some of the church leaders who lived and died at the monastery.

 

 The room of skulls.  These are the skulls of the church members that have died here over the years.

 

Within the walls of the monastery is this well.  Tradition says that this is the well where Moses met the daughters of Jethro when he left Egypt.  He married one of the daughters.

 

This is the stone that capped the well.  Moses moved the stone off of the well allowing the daughters of Jethro access to the water.  The well still provides water for the monastery.

 

This is The Burning Bush--the bush from which God spoke to Moses, telling him to go back to Egypt and free the Children of Israel from Egypt.  I can't authenticate the claims but they believe that this is the actual bush.  (No there is not a fire extinguisher nearby).  Grafts from this bush, when transplanted, will not survive--no matter where they are planted.  Science can't explain why.

 

 Camel jockeys.

 

 This young boy was having trouble getting his camel to go where he wanted.

 

 Another traditional story is that this is the stone base for the Golden Calf that was built by the Children of Israel while Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments.  Legend says that the Children of Israel took gold sheeting and placed it around this rock figure and then worshiped the idol.  Moses came down and destroyed the idol by taking all of the gold down.

 

 A picture showing the terrain in the Sinai.  

 

This oasis is called "Mary's Oasis".  The traditional story is that when Mary was pregnant with the Christ Child, she stopped here to get out of the heat and refresh herself.  It doesn't quite match the Biblical version of the story of the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem while Mary was pregnant.  A more likely story would be that Joseph and Mary could have stopped here when they fled from Herod in Bethlehem and went to Egypt, waiting until Herod died to return to Nazareth.

 

A typical mountain in the Sinai.

 

Rough and beautiful.

 

The Sinai.