St. Catherine's Monastery

If there is a bucket list for people interested in church history, this place is surely on it. It has certainly been on mine. It is a privilege to be here.
The monastery dates to the 6th century and is one of the oldest active monasteries in the world. It also has the oldest library that contains many extremely important manuscripts and church art. It is located at the foot of Mt. Sinai or Jebel Musa (see another post), the traditional place where Moses received the 20 Commandments. The site is sacred to all 3 monotheistic religions.
The 1st picture is taken from outside through the door into the church as photography isn't allowed inside. The place is spectacularly beautiful.
The 2nd picture is a large shrub that is believed to be the burning bush that attracted Moses' attention, and the 3td picture is an ancient well called Moses's Well. This is believed to be the well where Moses rested after fleeing pharaoh and where he met Jethro.
St. Catherine's is also famous for its collection if religious art and icons, a few if which are in the 4th picture. Some of these date to the 6th century. Of equal importance is the library with critically important manuscripts in many languages. The 5th picture shows 4 manuscripts, one each in Slavonic, Georgian, Latin and Syriac.
Perhaps the most important document that had been kept by the monastery library is the Codex Sinaticus, one of the most important books in the world. It dates back over 1600 years and contains what is probably the oldest known complete copy of the New Testament. The last picture is of part of that.Read more