St. Catherine’s Monastery
located in South of Sina In Egypt Down Mount Catherine The highest mountains in Egypt, near Musa Mountain.
It is said to be the oldest monastery In the world, It is a shrine Tourist It is a great place for tourist groups from all parts of the world, and it is a retreat, managed by the abbot, who is the bishop of Sinai, who is not subject to the authority of any patriarch or a sacred complex, but has close ties with Patriarch of Jerusalem Therefore, the name of the patriarch of Jerusalem is mentioned in the liturgy, although the guardianship of the monastery was for long periods of the church. Russian Orthodox , monks and priests of the monastery are Greek and not Arabs or Egyptians, just as bishops Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem Controlled by the Greeks from long eras.
Besides the monastery, the Bishop of Sinai runs the holy churches and shrines in South Sinai in an area Phase An oasis Ferran And blink.
History of the monastery:
The monastery was built at the command of Empress Helen, mother of the emperor Constantine , but the Emperor Justinian He actually built between two years 545M To contain the remains of Saint Catherine, who was living in Alexandria.
The Story of Saint Catherine– (Alexandrina Katrina) :
she Saint Egyptian Coptic Christianity It is believed that she was a scholar who lived in Fourth century Gregorian At the beginning Fifteenth century , it is rumored that she spoke with Jan Dark. Considered in Coptic Orthodox Church A martyr , and in The Catholic Church Considered one Fourteen helpers.
The story says that Saint Catherine is from a pagan aristocratic family – she was born in Alexandria 194 AD and described wisdom, reason and modesty . She was raised in the love of Christ, enrolled in schools and educated in the sciences of her time, and she was persistent in reading and contemplating the Bible . By the age of eighteen, she had deliberately studied theology and philosophy at the hands of the greatest Christian scholars . In the year 307 AD, she was called Zorussia , and she was a cultured and beautiful woman who desired her beauty and rejected everyone and believed in Christianity during the oppression of Emperor Maximinus and accused him publicly of making sacrifices to idols and idolatry, but he commanded50preachers from all over his empire to convince her, but on the contrary that was that he converted to Christianity . P persecuted St. Catherine and tortured her until he ordered her beheaded on 25 November307 , m . Five years after her martyrdom, a monk in Sinai saw a group of angels carrying her pure body, flying with him and tenderly laying it on top of a mountain in Sinai . The monk set out at the top of the mountain and found the pure body as seen in the vision, and the light shone from it . The monk carried him to the Church of Moses the Prophet . The sacred body was then transferred to the Transfiguration Church in the monastery built by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, and the monastery was known as the Monastery of Saint Catherine.
Archaeological value :
Contain Monastery Ali a church Historical with ancient gifts from kings and princes thereof Chandeliers From Silver It has a well they say is the well of Moses, just as it was built around a tree said to be Moses tree That the fire caught, so Moses guided her to speak to his Lord, and they say about her that attempts were made to cultivate her outside the monastery, but they were unsuccessful and that she did not grow anywhere outside Monastery.
The monastery represents a piece of the art Multiple historical, there Mosaic Arabic Icons Russian And Greek And paintings Mural Oily And the inscription Ali Wax And more.
The monastery also contains a library For scripts It is said to be the second largest library of manuscripts yet Vatican , and hostel for visitors And tower archaeological Distinctive bells . Some members of the monastery are served by the monastery Bedouins.
In addition to the remains Saint Catherine , found in the monastery ( Mudam ) containing the remains of all The monks Those who lived in the monastery and are permitted to visit from early morning until noon after that closes its doors to visitors so that the monks devote themselves to their religious duties..
All tourists are obligated Westerners Others are dressed decently when entering the monastery, and there are loose gowns that are worn by people who wanted before entering the monastery..
The only entrance to the monastery was a small door 30 feet high , and was designed to protect the monastery from strangers and intruders, as people were hoisting and piling with a box driven by a system of winches and pulleys . Now there is a small door below the monastery wall.
Al-Dir Mosque :
It is worth noting that there is Mosque Small, rose The ruler by the command of God It is one of the rulers of Egypt in The Fatimid period By building it inside the monastery so that it protects the monastery from the attacks that the monastery was exposed to from time to time, that some, especially orientalists, interpret this as a form of imposing Islamic control at that time, as it Napoleon Bonaparte during French campaign Egypt must strengthen the wall – which is 40-200 feet high – and mount it and set up defenses after monks’ complaints that the monastery has suffered some attacks..
Saint Catherine Monastery Library:
Library of value in St. Catherine’s Monastery in a Sinai , Egypt. The library dates back to the sixth century and includes an important and unique collection of religious and historical documents and documents.
The library has copies The Bible , however, was stolen and quoted For Russia Caesarean section and sold out Of the British Museum in a London.
Between1949 and1950 an Egyptian – American mission photographed the contents of the library on a microfilm and placed copies of it in Alexandria University , and published important researches and indexes by scientists and researchers.
The well of Moses:
Upon exiting the altar, and heading to the door to the right, you find yourself in front of a hole, surrounded by a small fence and topped with a glass barrier, to prevent those who want to climb from going down to the well, this is the “well of Moses”, with whom the Prophet of God Moses met his wife for the first time, when The help student asked him to fill her with water from the well, which she returned to, inviting him to her father’s house.
And the Holy Qur’an tells us this story, when the girl returned to the Prophet Moses to ask him because her father wanted to see him, the Prophet went with her, and he had met another prophet who was Shoaib, with whom he agreed to work with him for 8 years in exchange for his daughter’s marriage, and it was when Moses married her And he worked for her father for 10 years, before taking her and returning to his people.
Church of the “Transfiguration”:
When you cross the front yard, and through a side ladder parallel to a newly designated car ramp, you find yourself at the door of the Church of the “Transfiguration”, which is the most important place in the monastery, and that you lower your head from crossing its entrance, if you are tall, in order to enter. To the left of the door you find another door that leads you to a ladder that leads down, there you find a door to the right, which contains hundreds of decorations and crosses, and inside it you find the door of the altar, topped by a huge platform on which Christ stands crucified.
And the records preserved inside the monastery library predict that the Transfiguration Church was built by order of the Byzantine Emperor “Justinian”, who was dedicated to it by the most skilled artists, who built it in an impressive style, where its wooden door is carefully engraved, and it includes 3 heavy columns made of granite, separating the corridors of the church From each other, and its walls are decorated with paintings of saints from top to bottom.
The Church of the Transfiguration also includes a great mihrab of the mosque, which contains an ornate coffin. Surrounded by prophets, saints and messengers.
The sacred blackberry tree:
When the Prophet Moses returned, and in almost the same place, and it was dark, he witnessed a fire, so he asked his wife and his family to wait for him, because he saw a fire and will come from her with a socket, or he might find someone to guide him, but when he went to this place, he found that the fire was Grabbed in a tree that did not burn, and the goal of this fire was to attract him alone for God to speak, and it is the meeting that all the heavenly books spoke about.
A few meters after the well, you find this tree, which is a rare plant that grows only in the Monastery of Saint Catherine only, and has a special place among Christians and Jews, but its importance and rarity lies in the fact that it is always green and never wither .. The builders of the monastery have built a wall from ancient times Around the tree to protect it.
This tree, according to historians, has a very strange feature, as some botanists have their roots for cultivation in other regions of the world, but the plant that came out differs in its characteristics and characteristics from the plant found in the original trees, although it is similar to it, but when planted in soil St. Catherine was similar to him.
This is a tourist airspace in one of the greatest palaces of Egypt, and follow us to meet in the upcoming tours with tourist tours to get to know the most important monuments and features of ancient Egypt .
With greetings from the Star Shine Tourism team .
