Sint Catherine Monastry

Mount Sinai in Arabia?

nuweiba — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:03:45 +0000

The Byzantine Anglo-Catholic

nuweiba — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:47:34 +0000

href=”http://thebyzantineanglocatholic.blogspot.com/2009/07/sinai-pantocrator.html”>Sinai Pantocrator

Christ Pantocrator (Christ the Ruler of All) is one of the most popular genres in Byzantine iconography. The oldest known example, believed to date from the sixth or seventh century, is found at the monastery of St Catherine located in the Sinai peninsula. Ironically, the icon arguably owes its existence to Islam, since the Sinai had come under Muslim control by the time iconoclasm erupted within the Byzantine Empire. The Muslim authorities were content to let the monks live in peace, and to this day the monastery maintains cordial relations with the nomadic Bedouin who are its immediate neighbors.

Luiz Coelho, a Brazilian Anglican seminarian and artist, has an interesting two-part article (available here and here) on Episcopal Cafe. I include an excerpt below.

Symbolism emerges in the use of light. In the Sinai Pantocrator, the light moves from left to right creating a sense of mystery on the right side of the image. In fact, although the figure is pretty much centered in the picture frame, there is a very noticeable asymmetry between the left and right sides of Jesus’ face. The left side, bright and shiny, shows relaxed eyebrows and lips. On the right side, Jesus’ face is contracted and shadows make it even more mysterious. This duality of a serene and compassionate Jesus, and a dark and severe one are very appropriate at a time when the concept of the dual nature of Jesus Christ was being discussed by the Church. The use of light, and also of different facial expressions, reinforce the human and divine natures orthodox Christians believe exist in Jesus Christ. He is simultaneously Mercy and Judge.

from : http://thebyzantineanglocatholic.blogspot.com/

Visa to Sint Catherine Monastry – Tourism report for Egypt released

nuweiba — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:37:33 +0000

Over the past year Egyptian tourism has grown at rates not seen since 2004, according to a Companies and Markets report.
The growth in foreign arrivals in Egypt has been attributed to the weakness of the Egyptian pound against the Euro, the development of tourism products and operations, successful marketing campaigns and success in key markets.

Europeans are still dominating the international visitor market in Egypt, who now comprise 74 per cent of all tourists in the country (up from 69 per cent in the previous year). Arrivals from India and China were also on the rise, reports PR-inside.com.

An Egypt visa is a permit issued by the Egyptian visa authorities to a person for entry, exit or transit through Egypt. Tourist and Business visas are issued according to the applicant’s status, purpose of visit and passport type.

British and other EU nationals travelling to Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba resorts only, for up to 14 days, do not require a visa but can instead receive a free entry stamp upon arrival.

The Egypt tourist visa (or Egypt visit visa) is issued with a validity of three months, and is intended solely for applicants wishing to visit the country for the purposes of tourism. However, applicants must leave upon the visa’s expiry and must not engage in any form of employment while on their visit. Additionally, Egyptian tourist visas can be issued for either single entry or multiple entries.
——————————————————————————–

The Worldwide Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in Egypt visa and immigration services.

Article by Jessica Bird, Worldwide Visa Bureau.

http://www.visabureau.com/worldwide/news/26-09-2008/tourism-report-for-egypt-released.aspx

A free entry stamp upon arrival allows you to visit the Monastry

Works were stolen from Sinai monastery in 19th century by Ukrainian priest

nuweiba — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:17:10 +0000

Nine-hundred-year-old icons for Royal Academy

Martin Bailey | 25.9.08 |

Christ with Saints Sergios and Bacchos

LONDON. Two of the world’s oldest icons are to go on show in “Byzantium”, which opens at the Royal Academy on 25 October.

Both probably date from the 6th century. Although painted in Constantinople for St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, they are coming on loan from the Ukraine.

The icons are Virgin and Child and Christ with Saints Sergios and Bacchos. It was originally planned to display the image of the two saints at the Getty Museum’s major exhibition of Sinai icons in 2006 and it is reproduced in their catalogue. However, the loan never went ahead since there were concerns that the monks of St Catherine’s would be offended if the Ukrainian works hung in the same gallery with their own icons. This was because the icons now in Kiev had been removed from Sinai in questionable circumstances.

Both icons had been taken from St Catherine’s by a Russian priest, Porphyrij Uspenskij, in around 1850. A recent study of his diaries suggests the works may have been stolen or acquired for money paid to a lowly monk. Uspenskij later became a bishop, and eventually bequeathed his icons to the ecclesiastical academy in Kiev. Following the Russian Revolution, they passed to what became the Khanenko Museum of Art. However, the Royal Academy has established that the monks of St Catherine’s are now content for the Ukrainian icons to hang with their own.

Originally it was hoped to borrow around forty icons from Sinai, but a very substantial financial sum was demanded, both for the monastery (for conservation of its buildings and artworks) and the Egyptian authorities (for overseeing security protection throughout the exhibition). At one point a sum in excess of $10m was mentioned. Reluctantly, the RA decided to reduce its loan requests to nine, for a very considerably lower payment.

Even now there remain some difficulties over the loan from Egypt, although the expectation is that the nine icons will arrive. The UK-based St Catherine Foundation is being particularly helpful over facilitating the arrangements. All nine icons are from the 12th and 13th centuries. The most of important is of the Heavenly Ladder of St John Klimakos, a unique representation of this subject in a Byzantine icon.

The St Catherine’s icons will be displayed in climate-controlled cases, keeping the humidity down to 25 per cent, close to that of the Sinai desert. “Byzantium”, which runs until 22 March 2009, will include 300 objects, such as ivories, detached wall paintings, micromosaics, enamels and metalwork.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=16124

Scholars plan to reunite ancient bible online

nuweiba — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:24:08 +0000

The oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, a 4th century version that had its Gospels and epistles spread across the world, is being made whole again — online. The British Library says the full text of the Codex Sinaiticus will be available to Web users by next July, digitally reconnecting parts that are held in Britain, Russia, Germany and a monastery in Egypt’s Sinai Desert. A preview of the Codex, which also has some parts of the Old Testament, will hit the Web on Thursday — the Book of Psalms and the Gospel of Mark. “Only a few people have ever had the opportunity to see more than a couple of pages of the (Codex),” said Scot McKendrick, the British Library’s head of Western manuscripts. The Web site will give everyone access to a “unique treasure,” he said. Discovered at the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai by German Bible scholar Constantine Tischendorf in the mid-19th century, much of the Codex eventually wound up in Russia — just how exactly the British Library won’t say, citing lingering sensitivity over the circumstances surrounding its removal from the monastery. The British Library bought 347 pages from Soviet authorities in 1933. Forty-three pages are at the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, and six fragments are at the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. And in 1975, monks stumbled on 12 more pages and 40 fragments stashed in a hidden room at the monastery.

Biblical scholars are thrilled at the news that the Codex Sinaiticus — divided since Tischendorf’s trip to the monastery in 1844 — is finally being put back together, albeit virtually. In the past, anyone wishing to examine the document first hand would have had to approach the British Library “on bended knee,” said Christopher Tuckett, a professor of New Testament studies at Oxford University.

codex sinaiticus online

nuweiba — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:07:35 +0000

The famous codex from St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mt. Sinai, Egypt has begun to show up on the Internet. A joint project between the British Library, the University of Leipzig, the National Library in St. Petersburg, and St. Catherine’s Monastery at the base of Mt. Sinai, Egypt, has been underway for some time now. All four institutes own portions of this manuscript (with the BL owning the largest section, the complete New Testament—which, incidentally, is the oldest complete New Testament by half a millennium!). The project to post these images on-line has involved new digital photography and some slick search-capable tools.

One can see the images already posted by going to this site: http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/en/

Unfortunately, only selections from the codex are on-line currently. The entire codex should be up by July 2009.

CSNTM has the complete NT on its site, but our images are digital photographs from the 1911 black-and-white folio photographs (http://www.csntm.org/Manuscripts/GA%2001/).

via dan wallace

Icons and Scrolls

nuweiba — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:36:04 +0000

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Icons and Scrolls

When I go exploring I love finding sites that mirror famous sites that still exist or have existed in RL. One such site is St. Catherine’s Monastery.
What a spectacular build! The real monastery still exists on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt at the foot of Mount Sinai. The outside is unassuming but shows the small windows that allowed food and water to be taken inside during a siege. It dates back to about 525 BC ..
It is said that Mohammed gave protection after meeting with the monks at the conquest of Egypt in 650.
Look for the document granting protection forever that shows his handprint as a signature near the main gate on the wall.. The center area contains the main church and be sure to look up to view the magnificent mosaic of the Transfiguration .
Do some flying to really see and appreciate the mosaic above the main altar.
There are five chapels inside which contain an assortment of rich textures. .
You will find Moses’ Burning bush in the courtyard and as you enter you will see Moses‘ well.
You must not miss the library which is filled with manuscripts and scrolls beautifully displayed with information about each one.
Above the first level is a Gallery with slide shows of precious icons.
Inside the walls you will also find a Mosque and outside the walls the cemetery.
As you progress through the monastery you may take a note card with a wealth of information about each of the exhibits. In the information center you will be able to learn more about the extensive history behind the real monastery and the sl monastery.
Listen to the chants of the monks as you wander through the halls. To tell the whole story would take several pages and I could never do it justice.
Visit the site and collect the note cards to understand it all and you may also find several websites telling the history of St Catherine’s
This website will give you more links. http://www.touregypt.net/Catherines.htm .
To reach the sim in sl go to Odessa Captivating (174, 160, 21 )
By Gemma Cleanslate

Italian professors working to put oldest New Testament online

nuweiba — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:50:21 +0000

Rome, Jul 10, 2008 / 11:35 am (CNA).- According to the “L’Osservatore Romano,” a group of Italian professors are working to put online the entire Sinaiticus Codex, the oldest complete New Testament text and “one of the testimonies on which our knowledge of Biblical Greek is based.”

In an interview with the Vatican newspaper, Franceso D’Auito, professor of Philology and Byzantine History at Rome’s Tor Vergata University and a specialist in ancient and Medieval Greek manuscripts of the Bible, explained that the work so far has been a joint effort between the British Library, the Monastery of St. Catherine of Sinai, the National Library of St. Petersburg and the University Library of Leipzig.

D’Auito said the project should be completed in 2010, when the entire Codex will be available online, free of charge, for any user to access.

He pointed out the importance of the Sinaiticus Codex, which “is one of the few very ancient manuscripts that are the basis of all of our Greek editions of the Bible. Copied in four columns (in two poetic books), it also contains two patristic texts: the Letter of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermus.”

Together with the Vaticanus Codex and Alexandrinus Codex, the Sinaiticus Codex “allows us to get as close as possible to the date of the translation from Hebrew to ancient Greek,” said D’Auito.

More information on the Project can be found at: www.e-manuscripts.org

The Icons

nuweiba — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:57:19 +0000

St. Peter

A 6th ( Yes, that’s 6th ) century icon from St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai.

Ancient Christian “Holy Wine” Factory Found in Egypt

nuweiba — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:28:45 +0000

By Andrew Bossone
for National Geographic News

June 18, 2008

Two wine presses found in Egypt were likely part of the area’s earliest winery, producing holy wine for export to Christians abroad, archaeologists say.

Egyptian archaeologists discovered the two presses with large crosses carved across them near St. Catherine’s Monastery, a sixth-century A.D. complex near Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula.

(See a map of the area.)

More presses are likely to be found in the area, which was probably an ancient wine-industry hub, according to Tarek El-Naggar, director for southern Sinai at Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Weeks after discovering the first wine press, excavators unearthed a nearly identical press with limestone walls, about 340 feet (100 meters) away. The find that may indicate the presence of many other presses in the area, El-Naggar said.

The discoveries so far include the presses, clay vessels called amphorae, and grape seeds. Archaeologists reported red residue on some walls.

Although the presses have not yet been conclusively dated, archaeologists believe the tools were made between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D.

Several gold coins picturing the Roman Emperor Valens, who ruled from A.D. 364 to 378, were also found near the presses. The wine presses could date to the same period, archaeologists say.

Holy Wine Sent Abroad

El-Naggar said the coins were produced in Antioch in today’s southeastern Turkey. Similar coins have been found in Lebanon and Syria—the areas of origin for many of the grape varieties used for wine in ancient Egypt.

The wine made near Sinai was stored in the amphorae, standard vessels of the time for shipping wine, olive oil, grain, fish, and other items.

The wine would have been considered to be from a holy site and used in religious ceremonies—such as the Christian Eucharist—at St. Catherine’s Monastery and abroad.

(See a map of the area.)

The discoveries so far include the presses, clay vessels called amphorae, and grape seeds. Archaeologists reported red residue on some walls.

Although the presses have not yet been conclusively dated, archaeologists believe the tools were made between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D.

Several gold coins picturing the Roman Emperor Valens, who ruled from A.D. 364 to 378, were also found near the presses. The wine presses could date to the same period, archaeologists say.

Holy Wine Sent Abroad

The wine made near Sinai was stored in the amphorae, standard vessels of the time for shipping wine, olive oil, grain, fish, and other items.

The wine would have been considered to be from a holy site and used in religious ceremonies—such as the Christian Eucharist—at St. Catherine’s Monastery and “I think the monastery was using [these presses] to make the holy wine, because it’s near to Mount Moses [Mount Sinai],” El-Naggar said, referring to the site where some believe the prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

Roots of Wine

The wine presses have 4-foot-square (1.2-meter-square) basins, where monks would have used their feet to smash grapes. A hole at one end of each press likely fed into a lower basin, which caught the pressed juice.

The structures are similar to presses used by ancient Egyptians, beginning as early as 3,000 B.C., when pharaohs started a royal winemaking industry in the fertile Nile Delta.

There is no evidence, however, that ancient Egyptians produced wine in this part of the Sinai Peninsula.

Early Christians likely managed to grow grapevines and palm trees at the winery site because—at more than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) above sea level—it would have been cooler than the surrounding desert.

“The reason the wild grape did not grow [in Egypt] originally is because the climate was not conducive to it. But if you manage it with irrigation, you can grow grapes in these hot climates,” said Patrick McGovern, of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, who was not involved in the new discovery.

An expert on ancient wine, McGovern said ancient Egyptian wine jars and stoppers often indicated the product’s vintage, vintner, quality, and place of origin. “Egypt,” McGovern said, “has the earliest wine labels.”

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/081618-egypt-wine_2.html