THE ROUTE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL 



1025 



pie waited below. And just to the left of 

 this peak, Jebel Sufsaf, is the valley of the 

 Deir, in which stands the monastery of 

 St. Catharine, the goal of our long jour- 

 ney and one of the most fascinating 

 places in human history. 



About the middle of the fourth cen- 

 tury when the Byzantine Christians began 

 the exploitation of the holy places the 

 Peninsula of Sinai was peopled by ancho- 

 rites and coenobites who were bound by 

 a common monastic rule. Traces of their 

 occupation are found in all the mountain 

 valleys dating from the massacres which 

 attended the Saracen invasion. The only 

 spot in the Peninsula which was not sub- 

 merged in the advancing tide of Islam is 

 the monastery of St. Catharine, which 

 thus becomes an interesting relic of those 

 early Christian centuries. 



This picturesque monastery standing 

 in a sublime valley of the Sinai group oc- 

 cupies the site of a fort built by the 

 Emperor Justinian in 527 A. D. It is a 

 hoary pile of old buildings, entirely en- 

 closed by a high wall, on one side of 

 which toward the mountain a few old 

 rusty cannon still do sentinel duty. A 

 lower wall encloses the adjoining delight- 

 ful gardens which have been wrung by 

 incessant toil from the rocky mountain 

 side below. The fortress-monastery has 

 witnessed many a thrilling event in his- 

 tory, has withstood many an attack and 

 siege, and bears the. marks inside and out 

 of its stormy history. 



The present entrance for all purposes, 

 after the traveler has been admitted to an 

 outer courtyard, is a low door with two 

 sharp turns within the passageway and 

 capable of being barricaded successfully 

 against the most determined invader. At 

 the first sign of clanger this door is still 

 closed and partially walled up, and then 

 the only means of entrance and exit is the 

 windlass, 2 1 /2-inch rope, and the basket 

 which is let down from a portcullis on 

 the high wall towards the north. This 

 primitive elevator is in good working 

 order and is a grim reminder of the 

 strenuous conditions of life through all 

 the passing centuries. 



ITS FAMOUS LIBRARY 



The monastery is now a pilgrim 

 shrine of the Greek orthodox church and 

 under the protection of Russia is safe 

 from molestation. Out of its now famous 

 library came the Codex Sinaiticus, easily 

 the most precious of all the Bible manu- 

 scripts in existence. It was discovered by 

 Tischendorf, a German scholar in 1844, 

 and dates from the fourth century. 

 Alexander II, of Russia, succeeded in 

 purchasing this priceless manuscript and 

 it was carried to St. Petersburg in i86g. 



The kindly monks, now about 30 in 

 number, are all Ionian Greeks and live 

 under a very severe monastic rule. The 

 accommodations of the monastery are 

 sorely taxed by the bands of Russian 

 pilgrims, sometimes 100 in number, which 

 come from Suez once or twice a year. 



The main church is an early Christian 

 basi!ica_containing a wealth of detail and 

 symbolism of intense interest to the 

 archaeologist. The oldest part of the 

 structure is undoubtedly "The Chapel of 

 the Burning Bush," said to mark the spot 

 where God appeared to Moses. All visit- 

 ors are obliged to remove their shoes be- 

 fore entering. The dim light scarcely 

 reveals the wealth of porcelain, chased 

 silver, fresco, and handsomely wrought 

 lamps. 



A ray of the sun is said to enter this 

 sanctuary once a year only, gaining ad- 

 mission through a cleft in the mountain 

 ridge on the opposite side of the valley. 

 With a fine sentimentality the monks 

 have erected a large cross on the moun- 

 tain ridge, so that the shadow of the cross 

 must touch this site of the Burning Bush 

 once a year, and the ridge is called The 

 Mountain of the Cross. 



Behind the church is the well from 

 which Moses is said to have watered the 

 flocks of Jethro, and where he met his 

 future wife. 



THE MOUNTAIN Or" THE LAW 



But the great shrine is the ascent of 

 Jebel Musa, the Mountain of the Law, 

 which rises 2,350 feet above and behind 



