St. Catherine's monastery, Egypt

Saint Catherine's Monastery is a monastery on the Sinai peninsula, at the foot of Mount Sinai, in Egypt. It was built by order of the Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565 enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush ordered built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush. the bush is purportedly alive and on the grounds. Though it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the actual name of the monastery is the Monastery of the Transfiguration. st. ... st. ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 The Sinai Peninsula (in Arabic, Shibh Jazirat Sinaشبه جزيرة سيناء) is a triangle-shaped peninsula lying between the Mediterranean Sea (to the north) and Red Sea (to the south). ... For other places named Mount Sinai, see Mount Sinai (disambiguation) Sunrise on the Mount Sinai Sinai Peninsula, showing location of Jabal Musa Mount Sinai (2,285 meters) is a mountain in the southern Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. ... Justinian may refer to: Justinian I, a Roman Emperor; Justinian, a storeship sent to the convict settlement at New South Wales in 1790. ... This article is about the year. ... Events January 22 - Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus. ... Flavia Iulia Helena, also known as Saint Helena and Helena of Constantinople, (AD c. ... Constantine. ... Moses or Móshe (מֹשֶׁה, Standard Hebrew Móše, Tiberian Hebrew Mōšeh, Arabic موسى), son of Amram and his wife, Jochebed, a Levite. ... Burning bush at St. ... The upper part of The Transfiguration (1520) by Raphael, depicting Christ miraculously discoursing with Moses and Elijah The word Transfiguration means a changing of appearance or form. ...

The monastery library preserves the second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts in the world, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library. A codex (Latin for book; plural codices) is a handwritten book from late Antiquity or the Early Middle Ages. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... The Vatican Library (Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. ...

The site was associated with St. Catherine of Alexandria (whose relics were purported to have been miraculously transported there) and it became a favourite site for pilgrimages. Saint Catherine of Alexandria, known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel, is an apocryphal figure claimed to have been a noted scholar in the early 4th Century who, at the age of only 18, is said to have visited the Emperor Maximinus II and to have convinced him of the... A pilgrimage is a journey by a religious person to a place that is sacred according to his or her religion. ...

The monastery also comprises the entire Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai, an autonomous (as distinct from autocephalous) Orthodox Christian church headed by an archbishop, who is also the abbot of the monastery. The archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. In hierarchical Christian churches, especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. ... The Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem ranks fourth of nine patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. ...

the monastery is surrounded by massive fortifications that have preserved it. Until the 20th century, access was through a door high in the outer walls.

See also

• OrthodoxWiki:St. Catherine's Monastery (Sinai) (http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/St._Catherine%27s_Monastery_%28Sinai%29)
• Codex Sinaiticus