Saint Catherine’s Monastery is located on the slopes of Mount Sinai. It is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the whole world. This monastery was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2002.
The Saint Catherine’s Monastery It is famous Saint Catherine’s Monastery, but its original name was Sacred Monastery of the God Trodden; this monastery gets its name from Saint Catherine of Alexandria, who was martyred in the early 4th century AD. They found her corpse on nearby Mount Saint Catherine, as it is said the angels transferred her body to this place.
The history of Saint Catherine’s Monastery
The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I commanded to construct this monastery in 527 AD to house the monks of the Sinai Peninsula.
- The buildings of the monastery includes many buildings as:
- The Church of the Transfiguration of Christ the Savior. This church houses nine other smaller churches. One of these nine churches is the Burning BushChurch, where the god spoke to the prophet Moses.
The Scripture mentioned that the god ordered the prophet Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt by speaking to him from this bush. The fire was set into this bush, although it was unaffected by the fire.
Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, established a church on the site of the Burning Bush in the 4th century AD. Emperor Justinian I rebuilt this small church and included it in the Church of the Transfiguration of Christ the Savior, the larger church.
- The monks’ rooms.
- The refectory.
- The olive press.
- Ossuaries.
- The Fatimid Mosque dates back to the 12th century AD in 500 AH / 1106 AD during the reign of the Fatimid Caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah. This mosque was the fruit of the harmonious relationship between Muslims and Christians. This mosque became a stop for pilgrims on their way to Mecca.
- The library of Saint Catherine’s Monastery houses rare books and 6,000 manuscripts, so it is considered one of the most important libraries attached to the monastery. The project of restoring the library in 2017 detected many manuscripts, among them a Greek medical manuscript dating back to the fifth century.
