Saint Polybios, Bishop of Rhinocorura (the disciple and biographer of Saint Epiphanios of Salamis)

 

 

Saint Polybios probably came from Phoenicia (Lebanon). Information about his life comes from the Life of Saint Epiphanios of Salamis (Constantia), to whom he was a disciple and biographer. He became a monk from a young age, and "he was pious man and perfect in temperance", according to his biography. While Epiphanios was still in Phoenicia, and when he was a simple monk, the bishops of Palestine gathered in a Synod and decided to ordain him a bishop. So they sent to him the monk Polybios, to inform them how Epiphanios was doing in his monastery in the area of Spanhydrion, but was told not to inform him of his election, so that he could have an excuse to escape. But Saint Epiphanios recognized from divine revelation the truth, called on Polybios to remain with his brotherhood, and thus left the bishops to investigate the worthiness of another bishop.

Venerable Stephen the Chorebite, Whose Incorrupt Relics Rest in the Ossuary of Saint Katherine's Monastery of Mount Sinai

The Ossuary of the Monastery of Saint Katherine, at the foot of Mount Sinai, occupies the ground floor beneath the Chapel of Saint Tryphon. When bones have been disinterred from the cemetery, they are placed in the Ossuary in an orderly manner. Memorial services are regularly held in the ossuary, commemorating those who have gone before to their rest. It is edifying to recall that our life here has its appointed end. It is also important to remember that these are the bones of those who have fallen asleep, and who lie here awaiting the Resurrection and the Second Coming of Christ.

The Elements of Foolishness for Christ in the Sinaite Monk Fr. Ioannis Aleiferis

 By John Fourtounas,
Professor of the University of Cairo

On November 29th, 40 days have passed since the death of Fr. Ioannis Aleiferis, a monk of the Sacred Monastery of Saint Katherine of Mount Sinai.

Originally from Vatika of Laconia, Fr. Ioannis Aleiferis became a monk in the Monastery of Sinai and served the brotherhood there as an ecclesiarch for many years.

The most important gift he acquired was foolishness for Christ, which he preserved as the apple of his eye appearing to people as insane.

Saint Paisios and the Hermitage of Saints Galakteon and Episteme at Sinai

The mountain to the north of the Monastery of Saint Katherine at Sinai is called Mount Episteme, which derives its name from Saints Galakteon and Episteme, who lived in asceticism at Sinai before their subsequent martyrdom in the reign of the Emperor Decius (250-252), and who are commemorated by the Church on November 5. On Mount Episteme is the surviving Skete of Saint Galaktion for males and the female Skete of Saint Episteme which is in ruins about 200km away. According to tradition, this is where the married couple separated to live a life of asceticism, thus making it the oldest monastic site of Sinai. The surviving Hermitage of Saint Episteme dedicated to their memory is a small complex with a chapel of that period, two cells, and a kitchen area, located some forty-five minutes from the monastery. From the complex, the pilgrim has a commanding view of the summit of Mount Sinai (or Mount Horeb) opposite.

 

Fr. Ioannis Aleiferis, a Holy Monk of Mount Sinai Known as a Fool for Christ, Has Reposed

 By Ioannis Fourtounas

Fr. Ioannis Aleiferis (+ 10/19/2021), who after a brief illness departed for the heavenly dwelling place, was a Sinaite monk of the God-trodden Monastery of Saint Katherine.

Hailing from the region of Neapolis (Vatika) in Lakonia, Fr. Ioannis joined the monastic brotherhood of Mount Sinai and served as an ecclesiarch for many years.

He was found worthy of the rare gift of foolishness for Christ, which he preserved as the apple of his eye, appearing to people as a supposedly real fool in the world and not for Christ.

The Chapel of the Burning Bush at Mount Sinai

The Chapel of the Burning Bush is the most ancient shrine in the Monastery of Saint Katherine at the base of Mount Sinai, and it was around this site that the first community of Sinai anchorites gathered. The bush was mentioned by Egeria, who came to Sinai in 383-384 AD. The chapel is behind the sanctuary of the Basilica of the Transfiguration. Pilgrims enter this most holy place without shoes, in keeping with God’s command to Moses.

According the oldest monastic tradition, this chapel sits atop the roots of the same biblical bush "that burned with fire, and was not consumed" (Exodus 3:2) when God spoke to Moses for the first time. A few feet away from the chapel is the reputed bush itself, a rare species of the rose family called Rubus Sanctus. This species is endemic to Sinai and extremely long-lived, a fact that lends scientific credence to the site. The sprawling bush is said to have been transplanted in the tenth century, when the chapel was given a roof and the bush needed sunlight to survive. Today, it is very large in size, even though it is trimmed and its remains are ironically burned in flames.

Pilgrimage to the Holy Peak of Mount Sinai

 

At 2400 meters and after a three hour walk and an ascent of 750 stairs from the Monastery of Saint Katherine, a pilgrim arrives at the Holy Peak of Mount Sinai, where he is greeted by the Chapel of the Holy Trinity on the spot where the Prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from the Lord. As he enters the chapel and shows us the iconography of the chapel, mainly related to the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness led by Moses and Aaron, the priest leads the faithful in chanting the dismissal hymns to Saint Katherine and the Prophet Moses. Exiting the chapel, he takes us to the cave where Moses stayed for many days on the peak (around the four minute mark). Then he shows us the peak opposite the mountain where the body of Saint Katherine was found, and then the area where the Israelites set up their camp at the foot of Mount Sinai. He concludes by showing their next destination as they descend the mountain - the Monastery of Saint Katherine.

 

Saint George the Arselaites of Sinai

St. George Arselaites (Feast Day - March 11)

Verses

How did you swiftly make such a long journey?
If you weren't fleshless, then what were you in life Father?

Our Venerable Father George was an ascetic of Sinai who lived in the remote area known as Arselaou (or the Lavra of Arsela), which today is known as Wadi Remhan (or Rumhan, Rimhan), a tributary valley of Wadi Isla (which is why he is sometimes called Saint George the Islaelites). In the Ladder of Divine Ascent, Saint John Climacus mentions him as being a contemporary of his and even a spiritual father, who advised him before he embarked on holy solitude as follows (Step 22.57):

The Discovery of the Relics of Saint Katherine at Sinai

By John Sanidopoulos

In the account of the Life and Passion of Saint Katherine of Alexandria from the tenth century written by St. Symeon the Metaphrastes, we read in her final prayer before her martyrdom her request that God would hide her body so that it could not be divided up for relics. It is believed by many scholars that this request was added by St. Symeon to account for the fact that no relics of St. Katherine existed. Like Moses in the Old Testament, the place of her burial was unknown. According to St. Symeon, angels took the body of St. Katherine and buried it at Mount Sinai. If the relics of St. Katherine would ever be found, you would have to go to Mount Sinai to find them.

Dionysius the Areopagite and the Apse Mosaic of the Transfiguration in Sinai

By Hieromonk Alexander (Golitzin)

Let me conclude this essay by turning to an artifact constructed within two or three decades of the first public mention of the Dionysian corpus. In the mid-sixth century, the same emperor who convoked the colloquium of 532, Justinian I, built a fortress monastery in the Sinai at the foot of Jebel Musa, the by-then traditional site associated with the theophanies of Exodus and, in consequence, already a longtime haunt of Christian ascetics. In the monastery church, imperial artisans assembled several mosaics, including one depicting the Transfiguration. The latter is located in the apse, directly above the altar. Here already, as Jas Elsner has pointed out in a remarkably perceptive essay in his recent book, Art and the Roman Viewer, we find the assemblage in a single glance of the major Dionysian themes: the God-man Christ in light, the altar of the eucharist, the Sinai of Moses' ascent, the Tabor of the Transfiguration, and the suggestions at once of mystical vision in this life open to the monks (and pilgrims) who form the worshipping body, and of the eschaton.

Eldress Mary Magdalene (Marie Madeleine Le Beller), Hermitess of Sinai (+ 2013)

The most-venerable Eldress Mary Magdalene, known in the world as Marie Madeleine Le Beller, was from Paris and went to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage and was baptized an Orthodox Christian when she was forty years old at the Jordan River in 1986. There she prayed to St. John Climacus, to show her the way of her salvation and the place for her solitary life of total dedication to God. She went to the Sinai desert, and lived near the cave of St. John Climacus in the Valley of Tholas (Wadi Et-Tlah) approximately 8km from Saint Katherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai (about a 100-minute hike from the monastery).

Commemoration of the Dreadful Earthquake at the Sinai Monastery on May 1, 1212

Monastery of Saint Katherine, Sinai

On May 1, 1212 a damaging earthquake took place in south Palestine that also affected Egypt, where it was strongly felt in Cairo and Fustat and destroyed a number of houses. At al-Shaubak and al-Karak near the Dead Sea, towers and houses were destroyed, killing a number of women and children.

In the Sinai Peninsula, the shock caused severe damage to the Monastery of Saint Katherine, destroying a major part of its fortifications and damaging the church. The northern wall of the monastery, with its northwest and northeast corners, collapsed. Of the cells, some were destroyed completely and others lost their roofs, apparently without loss of life. This was possibly due to the fact that the earthquake, which struck at dawn, was preceded by a foreshock at sunset the previous evening (Monday 30 April), which might have served as a warning. The shock triggered rockfalls from the mountains behind the monastery, and was followed by aftershocks that continued for a year.

Narrations Concerning the Holy Fathers in Sinai (St. Anastasios of Sinai)

By St. Anastasios of Sinai

1. Ten years ago a certain two of the fathers of Holy Mount Sinai went up to worship on the Holy Summit. One of them is still alive. When they arrived at a distance of about two bow-shot from (the chapel of) Saint Elias they smelled a fragrance unlike any worldly fragrance. Then the disciple thought that the one who dwelt there was offering incense. The elder, his spiritual guide who is still living said, “The fragrance is not of this earth.”

Therefore, approaching the church, behold they saw within it like a fiery flaming kiln with tongues of fire coming from all the doors (and windows). Then, seeing this the disciple feared the sight. But the elder reassured him saying, “Why are you afraid, my child. It is an angelic power and our fellow servant; don’t lose courage. They venerate our nature in heaven; not we theirs.” Thus they fearlessly entered the church as if (going) into a kiln. They prayed and thus they ascended to the summit in the morning.

Beholding them, the guardian (of the peak) saw their faces glorified and shining like the face of Moses and he said to them, “Did you see anything unusual coming up?” Wanting to conceal the matter, they said, “No”. Then he said to them, Believe me, you saw some vision for behold your faces are radiant with the glory of the Holy Spirit.” They bowed to him and related the matter, asking that he tell nobody.

Is the Burning Bush Still Burning?

Ascent to Holy Mount Sinai

After the passage of fifteen centuries, does the Sinai brotherhood still feel the presence of Saint John Klimakos, author of the renowned Ladder of Divine Ascent?

“As though he were here yesterday!” says Saint Catherine’s Geronta Pavlos, adding that the saint’s words continue to guide the Monastery in modern times as of old.

Hundreds attended John’s enthronement as abbot – not least, Prophet Moses, who appeared once more tending God’s people in Sinai, directing servers in the Monastery refectory. And amidst the Arab conquests which roiled the region, pilgrims continued to arrive in large numbers to remove their shoes before kneeling on the holy ground where Moses met God at the Burning Bush.

Saint Paisios the Athonite at Saint Katherine Monastery in Sinai (Documentary)

Bride of Christ, Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine is depicted with the symbols of her wisdom and martyrdom in this icon of the 17th century Cretan school on the imposing iconostasis of the Monastery basilica.

A graceful silver ring bearing the monogram of Saint Catherine of Alexandria betokens the most ancient of societies, its earliest membership predating Christianity itself. Presented to pilgrims at Mount Sinai by the monks of St. Catherine's Greek Orthodox Monastery, the ring signifies pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain – a custom whose preservation in the memory of local populations led the earliest ascetics to settle at the Burning Bush. Saint Helena visited in the fourth century, and others followed, enthusiastically noting the hospitality that rewarded arduous journey through the desert by camel caravan.

The Ladder of Heavenly Unity

http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/donate/

St. Catherine’s Greek Orthodox Monastery, located in the shadow of Mt. Sinai and the oldest continuously inhabited monastery in the world, needs assistance to sustain its sacred legacy.

In the following article, a monastic supporter shares personal experience of St. Catherine’s patristic spirit, alive with the fragrance of early Christianity.

Information on the financial crisis and how to help is located at the end of the article.

The Ladder of Heavenly Unity

Moses approached the divine fire of the Burning Bush with the footsteps of his mind bare, completely free from any human train of thought, wrote Saint Maximos the Confessor.

Continuing Orthodox monasticism’s oldest unbroken tradition, Sinai monks still liturgize, shoeless, over the roots of the Burning Bush. On the holy ground where Moses was commanded to remove his sandals – together with all earthly logic – monks turn diversity’s polarizing forces to unity – some of the ways St. Catherine’s Monastery brings Byzantium’s patristic spirit into the modern era as living tradition.

A Synoptic View of the Orthodox Ascetical Tradition of Mount Sinai

By Archimandrite Isaias Simonopetritis

As we approach the beginning of the third Millenium of the Christian era, we would do well to orientate ourselves meditatively, spiritually, to that sacred place, where many centuries before the Incarnation of the Second Person of God the Holy Trinity, He Who is above and beyond time and space and all created things, He Who is ever God and everywhere present, the Creator and the Icon of the Invisible Father (Col. 1:15), made His appearance to His prophet Moses, in the form of a burning bush, burning but not consumed by fire (Exodus 3:2-6).

This was the historic moment, when the Mountain of Sinai was consecrated to the unceasing worship of the Living God, the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob", the God of our fathers. This was also the beginning of a meta-historic experience, whereby man approached God, so as to know himself better, and ascending in stages, reached the summit of perfection, of which the craggy peak of Sinai was, and is, such an eminent and inspiring symbol.

But, theologically also, the appearance of the Incomprehensible Divinity in a bush, burning but not consumed, was an important symbol of the visit from on high of the pre-eternal Son of God, born of a Virgin, whose womb remained intact as before.

Sinai's mystical consecration as the Mountain on which God walked and talked with his chosen servants, is contrasted with an episode of a very different kind, also in the Book of Exodus.

The Consecration of the First Church Dedicated to the Prophet Moses in Greece

According to Romfea.gr, on Wednesday 4 September 2013, which is the day we commemorate the Holy Prophet Moses, the first church in Greece will be consecrated that is dedicated to this great prophet of Sinai.

This grand three-domed church is located at the Eurosinaitic Centre of Studies and Communications and Exhibitions in the area of Tragana of the Municipality of Atalanti of the Region of Fthiotida in the central Greek mainland (132 km from Athens). It was built by the Mount Sinai Foundation.

The consecration will be performed by Metropolitan Nicholas of Fthiotida, with the participation of Archbishop Damianos of Sinai (Abbot of the Monastery of Sinai and Chairman of the Mount Sinai Foundation, who celebrates 40 years of primacy), among other Hierarchs and Clergy.

During these difficult times as they are being experienced in the Middle East and Egypt,  as they strongly demand for a well-intended democracy, the Monastery of Sinai with this consecration ceremony, among other things, reminds everyone of their experience in their dialogue and peaceful co-existence with peoples of different religious communities as they have cohabited harmoniously over the centuries with their Muslim Bedouin neighbors.

But with the difficult situation Greece finds itself in, with a long-range development project like the Eurosinaitic Center, we wish to emphasize the need for an optimistic perspective and to struggle in the belief that this is a spiritual, cultural and humanitarian project and is not an ornament and luxury, but a necessity and a priority.

The Mount Sinai Foundation

The Mount Sinai Foundation in Athens, Greece is a non-profit organization that helps the Holy Monastery at Sinai in the coordination of activities aimed at the protection, the study, and the appreciation of the monuments of Sinaitic heritage. For the materialization of a part of the forementioned objectives of the Mount Sinai Foundation, it is building the complex of The Eurosinaitic Centre of Studies and Communications and Exhibitions in the area of Tragana of the Municipality of Atalanti of the Region of Fthiotida in the central Greek mainland, from where it will be easy to have access to the data of the Sinaitic Monuments Archive in digital form, and in combination with the organization of exhibitions of Sinai monuments, elements of the popular Bedouin tradition along with relative scientific and educational one-day meetings and programmes in parallel with projections of virtual reality productions in multimedia that will make reference to the Sinaitic tradition and heritage. In northern Greece, in Macedonia and more particularly in the area of Thessaloniki, it reinforces the activities of the Association of The Friends of the Monastery of Sinai in its endeavors aiming at the creation of a cultural and a spiritual Sinaitic centre.

Where St. John Climacus Lived in Asceticism (photos)

According to tradition, the place where St. John Climacus lived in asceticism was in a desert cave located in Wadi Et-Tlah of Sinai, approximately 8 kilometers from the Holy Monastery of Saint Katherine at the foot of Mount Sinai. This is why St. John Climacus is also known as "the Sinaite".



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