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Show - 2 - been known as the Monastery of St. Catherine. After the Arab conquest of Egypt in 6>+0 A.D,, it is said that the Prophet Muhammad granted the monks of Mount Sinai a covenant whereby their lives and property became secure under Muslim rule. The existing tradition is that the original charter was taken from the Monastery by Sultan Selim I after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. The Sultan, however, gave the monks a copy of it and sanctioned its terms. On the other hand, it Is clear from the monumental collection of ancient and modern scrolls preserved in th the Monastery Library that the Covenant of the Prophet, whether authentic; or forged, was in some way or other renewed, and the privileges of protectio and safe-conduct for the monks of St. Catherine were upheld by the successive dynasties in the Islamic polity. Three of these documents were issued by the Sultan himself and we have found them among the Turkish Firmans, The route to the Convent of St. Catherine is long and uneasy. In olden times, caravans took eight days to reach the Monastery from Suez and six from Akaba. Now with specially equipped cars and a good guide, the whole distance from Cairo to the Monastery totalling 392 kilometers or239 miles may be covered with less discomfort, fatigue and hazard in two days. The expeditioners spent the night at Abu Rudeis on the Red Sea shore facing Wadi Sidra which led to the interior of the Peninsula. Mid-way from Abu Rudeis to the Monastery, the traveler may halt for a while at the pleasant little Faran Oasis where the remains of ancient Christian churches including a cathedral are still visible. Faran was the seat of a Christian Bishop in the fourth century even before the foundation of the Monastery. Like all the great cenobitic centers of Egypt in the early centuries of the Christian Era, the Monastery of St. Catherine has the form and appearance of a Roman or Byzantine fortress. Its old, big gate, known in history as the Bishop's Gate was blocked later for reasons of defence, and a substitute was provided ,ba a small rectangular entrance just wide enough for the passage of one person or hardly two. This again is fortified by a triple portal lined with thielf iron plates and studded with mighty iron nails. Above this entrance is the famous dual inscription in Greek and Arabic often quoted by writers and stating thet the Monastery ofMount Sinai was founded by fiHBJlnian and his wife Theodora in the year 6021 after Adam or 527 A.D. This is a late inscription, probably seventeenth century, and the date is of course incorrect. From within, the Monastery has all the characteristics of a typical medieval-.establishment. With its circuitous passages, vaulted corridors and flights of wM half-worn stone stairways, with its basilica and numerous chapels, its chapter-house, refectory, scriptorium or library, its monastic cells, guest-house, mills, store-rooms, work-shop, oil-Dress, distillery, water wells, and several other features, this Monastery'constitutes a real labyrinth where every inch of the interior is or has been utilised to its full capacity. It is a quaint cluster of buildings, sometimes rising to two or three stately storeys high, sometimes sinking below ground level, and sometimes Its diminutive chambers or chapels are built or inserted inside Its massive walls. This irregular conglomeration of structures where every stone can tell a long tale is centered around the ancient Chapel of tl Burning Bush which has always been regarded as th- Sanctum Sanctorum (the OoiTHfumho ptelvrsy iMei nosodensfeia vsaHtnetohde le rci yayewg psaerg)ldea l srosodfl, e i nttvrth eeiah eslests rrog ee-r ee asaxtr ttaseel tC nlaosd,nnst dvs asealb nlelaotne n.dswge hr fi totaherne d bc nuaeimvrleredroligwsnr ,geH eogonlof.ya tVwsaAolm liafednlysdot ow lriaistnv h weo irsitcthsoa crkd. < |