A Peak of Faith: Travel to the Top of Mt. Sinai
After crossing the border from Eilat in Israel to Taba in Egypt, here we are on the road traveling south into the Sinai peninsula. The northern Sinai has areas of flatland which gives way to a more rocky, mountain-dominated landscape as one moves south.
Near the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula is St. Catherine's monastery. Helena, the mother of Constantine, first ordered the building of the Chapel of the Burning Bush here around 300 CE. The monastery was then built around Helena's chapel in about 550 CE by order of emperor Justinian I. Initially known as the Monastery of the Transfiguration, the name later changed to reflect association with the Christian martyr and Saint known as Catherine.
An icon of St. Catherine in the monastery.
As is the practice of many monasteries, the bones of monks who have died are all kept together, a notion not unrelated to the Old Testament concept of one being "gathered to one's ancestors" after death. This practice is a very concrete way of expressing that belief. (Example: Genesis 49:29, Judges 2:10) A small building outside the main monastery complex holds the bones of deceased St. Catherine's monks.
One of the many treasures of St. Catherine's is what the tradition says is the burning bush in which God appeared and spoke to Moses (Exodus 3).
Likewise, this is identified as the well where Moses first met Zipporah (Exodus 2). The monks still use this well for their water supply (they recently installed, for the first time, an electric pump - the old manual pump is standing against the wall.)
St. Catherine's has some of the oldest icons (5th century CE) and biblical manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus - 4th century CE) in the world. Although most of Codex Sinaiticus is now in Great Britain, the library at St. Catherine's, pictured above, still boasts an impressive collection of ancient Christian books and manuscripts.
From the roof of the library, one can partake of several great views. The above image has us looking to the left (west). In the distance is a valley where the Hebrews may have camped here at Mt. Sinai while Moses made the several treks up and down the mountain as recorded in the book of Exodus. The small white dot near the middle of the photo is a marker commemorating the place of the crafting of the golden calf (Exodus 32).
Rotating our view clockwise, the above image looks down at the center of the monastery. The long, dark colored roof with the attached bell tower on the left is the monastery chapel. The burning bush pictured earlier is just outside the back (right in the photo) of the chapel and the well is just beyond the bell tower. The dark brown area which is in the center right of the photo and part of the exterior wall is the location of the original monastery library where Constantin von Tischendorf "discovered" Codex Sinaiticus around 1850.
Looking now to the right (east) from atop the library one can see the beginning of the path which leads to the top of Mt. Sinai.
A short way into the hike to the top of Mt. Sinai the monastery beings to disappear into the distance.
The path meanders along the hillsides with a constant up-hill incline. The hike from the monastery to the top of the mountain is about 3 miles. The first two thirds of the hike consists of a path, part of which is shown in the picture above.
About one hour into the hike, Mt. Sinai, or Jebul Musa in Arabic ("Mountain of Moses"), finally comes into full view.
Just as the path portion of the hike ends, one can look down the slope to the right and see a small oasis in the otherwise barren steeps of the mountain. The tradition refers to the oasis as Elijah's Basin, where he could have been sustained during his solitary time near the peak of Mt. Sinai (1 Kings 19).
The final one-third of the hike consists of steps like those pictured here. The bedouin say there are about 750 of them.
As the steps finally reach the top a small chapel comes into view.
The chapel commemorates the giving of the law to Moses by God atop the mountain.
Inside the chapel are icons and an iconostasis, both representative of the orthodox tradition of the monastery.
Outside, the back of the chapel joins a rock formation with a space identified with the "cleft" in which God places Moses as God passes by (Exodus 33:22).
These final two images are samples of the view from atop Mt. Sinai, an elevation of about 7500 feet above sea level.
It is not difficult for one to imagine why this place of solitude and profound silence, apart from the noise and distractions of society, might be chosen by God as the location for events as profound as those recorded in the book of Exodus, a place to which the prophet Elijah would later return and rediscover the desert roots of his faith (1 Kings 19).