THE GREEK ORTHODOX MONASTERY OF THE GOD-TRODDEN MOUNT SINAI – ST. CATHERINE’S

The Greek Orthodox Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai – St Catherine’s (A.R.Egypt), on a holy site connected to great biblical events, is considered as the oldest Christian monastery still in use for its initial function, a holy site for the believers of the three Abrahamic religions, and an arc of great spiritual and cultural heritage.

Monastic life in the area of the Monastery is dated earlier than the 4th century, but the monastery itself was founded in its present form by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in 548-565, and since then has been marked out as a spiritual center with prolific spiritual fathers and authors, and a pole of pilgrimage for its biblical tradition and for the relics of St. Catherine which are treasured in it.

In the isolation of the desert, where different nations and traditions cohabit in an exemplary peaceful way, the Sinai Monastery, as an autonomous Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, preserved to a great extend its original architectural form, with its main church and the protecting walls. In the same time, in the Sinai monastery there are treasured: a) The most important and numerous icon collection, with examples dating back to the 6th-7th c., before the iconoclastic controversy. b) One of the most important libraries worldwide (it is considered as the second library after that of the Vatican) with thousands of manuscripts and books in different languages (Greek, Arabic, Syrian, Georgian, Armenian etc). c) Rich archives of documents, heirlooms of silversmith and embroidery, etc. The monastery is inscribed in  the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Catalogue (no 954) of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and a selection of the Sinai treasures is exhibited in the sacristy of the monastery.

The Sinai monastery is traditionally involved in a many-sided charitable and educational activity, especially in Greece and Egypt, through its numerous monastic dependencies, supervises the Ambeteios College in Cairo, and supports the Bedouin people of the Sinai peninsula (medical care etc). In parallel, under the auspice of the Monastery, a broad scientific work is carried out focused on the Sinai spiritual and cultural heritage, with works of restoration, seminaries, congresses, publications, dissertations, international exhibitions worldwide, scientific projects etc.

Address: Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai – St Catherine’s
c/o 18, Midan el Daher, 11271 Cairo, A. R. Egypt
Tel/fax: +20 69 3470349