A special delegation including Imams from Al-Azhar University in Egyp visits Saint Catherine’s Monastery as part of a peace initiative. Read more....
In April 2015 the Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University mounted an international conference on the icons at the Monastery of St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai (A New Look: Sinai and its Icons in Light of the Digitization of the Weitzmann Archive). See more...
Liturgizing at the Saint's Cave and Around the Desert
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Today, as in ancient times, the Sinai desert rang with praises to the glory of God, as three separate Liturgies took place simultaneously. As the fourth Sunday in Great Lent is dedicated all over the world to Saint John Climacus, the author of the famed Ladder of Divine Ascent, monks liturgized at the cave where the saint spent four decades in solitary prayer. Another was celebrated at another ancient hermitage whose Feast happened to fall today, and the third Liturgy of course took place in the great basilica of St. Catherine’s. See more...
The Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery (FMSM) is being launched today to support Saint Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai, Egypt. Though the new Egyptian government, elected last year, has worked hard to restore stability to the country, the economic situation of the South Sinai in particular continues to be tenuous in the aftermath of Egypt’s political upheavals.
FMSM was founded in response to the many supporters of the Monastery who wish to address its current needs. As an IRS 501(c)(3) charity, donations to FMSM are tax deductible. The FMSM board/staff is entirely volunteer. See more...
The Elder and Sinai
The much beloved Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos was recognized as a Saint by a unanimous decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople on January 13. Elder Paisios was a Sinai hermit from 1962 to 1964, when a chronic pulmonary condition forced his return to Mt. Athos due to the harsh climate at his hermitage.
His Eminence Damianos I, Abbot of St. Catherine’s and Archbishop of Sinai, Pharan, and Raitho, had close ties with Elder Paisios over many decades, and read the prayer for the departure of his soul during his last moments in this life, when visitors were no longer allowed in to see the elder. See more...
[Cairo, Egypt, Nov 29-30, 2014]. A Multidisciplinary Sinai Conference, organized by the Netherlands-Flemish Institute (NVIC) in Cairo, was held today, with topics such as archaeology and history of the Sinai Desert, restoration of the walls of Saint Catherine's Monastery and conservation of manuscripts and mosaics, socio-cultural aspects of Bedouin society, and early pilgrim routes. See more...