Monastery of Saint Katherine

In AD 337, the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, ordered the building of a sanctuary around the site of the biblical Burning Bush at the base of Mount Sinai, attracting pilgrims and other visitors ever since. The monastery was built around the sanctuary by Justinian in a spectacular setting at the foot of Mount Sinai which looks over the Plain of Ar Raha where the Israelites waited for Moses. In continuous occupation since the 6th century, for hundreds of years the monastery survived in comparative isolation from the world and remaining virtually unchanged until recent times. Still emanating a sense of solitude and mystery, the site contains the world’s most important collection of icons, some dating to the 4th century, and its library of religious manuscripts in ancient Greek, Sianatic, and Arabic scripts is second only to that of the Vatican. Interestingly, the Bishop has great personal standing and influence among the Gebeliya Bedouin who regard him as an honorary sheikh (Sheikh El Deir) to settle disputes.