Of all Egypt's many wonders and historical monuments, Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula is truly unique. Lying in a remote valley at the foot of Mount Sinai, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments, “the monastery of the god-trodden Mount Sinai" has existed for seventeen centuries and is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery. The Greek Orthodox Church in Egypt traces its origins to even earlier than that, believing that Saint Mark brought his Gospel to Egypt, written in Greek, in the first century. The present leader of that Church in Egypt, Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, claims descent from him The monastery as we know it was founded in the year 527 by the Emperor Justinian, but an earlier building had been constructed in the year 300 when monks appealed to the Empress Helena for help. Since that time, this monastery of Greek Orthodox monks belonging to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem has had an uninterrupted history of prayer, witness and pilgrimage. The very idea of monks living in seclusion away from the affairs of the world seems rather strange to us and is somehow at odds with modern ideas of community living, but even this has given the monastery an air of mystery down through the ages. In our own age, racked by both religious intolerance and religious indifference, the monastery has a role to play in uniting people of Faith and has a message even for those with no faith at all. Christians, Muslims and Jews all adhere, in their different ways, to the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. The scriptures of all three religions recount how Moses, having killed an Egyptian, goes off to the land of Midian to work as a shepherd. Whilst there tending the flocks he comes across a Burning Bush, from which God speaks to him. He is told, according to one account, to take off his shoes because the place on which he stands is holy ground. Muslims read in the Holy Qur'an the words spoken to Moses: “O Moses! Verily! It is I, Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise." Holy Qur'an 27:9
Saint Catherine's Monastery is built on the spot where Moses is believed to have seen the Burning Bush, which still purports to grow within the grounds of the monastery, although no other bush of its type is found anywhere in the entire Sinai Peninsula. Built as a fortress with impenetrable, high walls, protecting the monks from attack by marauding tribes. This monastery of Greek Orthodox monks was granted protection by Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. The monks will show you a copy of this document, granting protection and commanding Muslims everywhere to protect the rights of their Christian neighbours. As well as the Burning Bush, the monastery has another claim on pilgrims' devotion. It is alleged that in the ninth century the relics of Saint Catherine of Alexandria were miraculously transported there by angels, from which time the site became popular. Crusaders travelling to and from Palestine took back stories of the monastery to Europe, making it a part of the popular imagination and one of the places visitors to the Holy Places in Jerusalem wanted to stop off and see. The monastery library, too, is world famous and is believed to be second only to that of the Vatican Library in Rome for its collection of ancient manuscripts and religious texts, comprising some 3,500 volumes in Greek, Coptic, Arabic and other languages. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the monastery also has a priceless collection of icons and mosaics, as well as vestments, chalices and reliquaries in gold and silver, drawing visitors from all over the world for this reason alone. The monastery itself, which is said to be the oldest functioning Christian monastery in the world, is made up of a number of buildings within the walled enclosure. The monastic church dates from the time of the emperor Justinian and has seen little change since that time. The great West door of the church is fourteen hundred years old and still hangs on its original hinges after all those years. The sacred bush grows just behind the church and there is a separate Chapel of the Burning Bush to honour the incident when God spoke to Moses. So what, then, can we learn from this monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai? Is it merely an interesting curiosity, a relic of the past, or does it have a message for us today? Well, first of all, it reminds us that people of different faith have lived together in peace in Egypt for the last fourteen hundred years. It reminds us, too, that Amr Ibn Al-As guaranteed security to the Christians of Egypt when he conquered Egypt in 642 and that they have lived here peacefully since then. Where, then, does the notion come from which is spread by many in the world, that Islam is a religion of intolerance? We have seen that Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) himself guaranteed the safety of the Christian monks of Saint Catherine's and there is even a mosque to this day within the monastery walls, whose key is entrusted to the local Bedouin tribesmen. The other message, though, which Saint Catherine's speaks to us is that there are miracles around us every day, but we fail to notice them because we are too busy. The monks' life of contemplation reminds us that sunshine, rain and the people around us are all blessings which we fail to recognise. We are just too busy to see them. If we ponder on what is really important in life we, like Moses, would take off our shoes, realising that the place on which we stand is holy ground. It is not just the religious places, like mosques and churches, which are holy, but all places, since they are all created by Allah. All the activities of life become opportunities to meet the Creator. Seen in this light, we are showered with blessings every day, but our lives are just too busy for us to see. The example of the monks of Saint Catherine's, like the example of so many honest and simple people who pray each day, reminds us who it is that provides us with all these blessings: “It is I, Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise." British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, is a lecturer at Al-Azhar University. The author of eight books about Islam, he divides his time between Egypt and the UK as a speaker, writer and broadcaster. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com.
