Last Week’s Memory Verse Psalm 52 (51) “I trust in the steadfast love of God for ever and ever.”

  Messages  for our Life in Christ drawn from Psalm 53 (Septuagint 52)

  Selection of Memory Verse:

II  SINAI, MOSES, MONASTERY OF ST. KATHERINE FACT SHEET

l Map of Sinai the location of the Monastery of St. Katherine:

l After the Passover from Egypt to the desert, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai in what is now called the Sinai Peninsula, located between the Gulf of Suez to the West and the Gulf of Aqaba to the East: Exodus 34:27-29 “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”

l Name: St. Catherine's Monastery is commonly known as Saint Katherine's Monastery, though the actual name is the Monastery of the Transfiguration. It is sometimes also known as the Monastery of the Burning Bush. It is believed to be the oldest still functioning Christian monastery in the world.

l History:  Founded by the Emperor St. Justinian the Great in 527, the monastery has weathered numerous changes in the history of the region, including the invasion of Islam, whose founder Mohammed himself guaranteed protection for the monastery. The monastery still has possession of a written document from Mohammed showing his protection.

l Library: In the 9th century, the site was associated with St. Katherine of Alexandria (whose relics were transported there) and it became a favorite site for pilgrimages. Numerous ancient manuscripts have been preserved in the library, which is second only to the manuscript library of the Vatican. The collection consists of some 3,500 volumes in Greek, Coptic, Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Slavic, Syriac, Georgian and other languages.

l Icons: A number of ancient icons are also on the grounds, including the famous Pantokrator of Sinai (6th c.) and The Ladder of Divine Ascent (12th c.), an iconic representation of the book by that name by St. John Climacus who was a monk at St. Katherine Monastery

l The Main Church: The monastic church, or “Katholikon”  dates from the reign of St. Justinian. The basilica has five side chapels, and towers flank the west end of the church. It has seen little change through the centuries. Its great western portal is still closed by the original 1400 year old wooden door, which still functions perfectly on its first pins and hinges. The wood roof of the nave, also of 6th century construction, rests on beams that bear inscriptions honoring Justinian and his famous wife Theodora.

l Other Church Buildings:  There are the remnants of a 10th or 11th century Fatimid mosque within the walls of the monastery, There is also a small chapel called the Chapel of St. Tryphon which serves as an ossuary for the skulls of deceased monastics.  Also, a bush, claimed to be the original burning bush is outside the Main Church.

l  The Church of Sinai: The monastery, the nearby monastery at Raithu, and a handful of dependencies comprise the entire Church of Sinai, an autonomous Orthodox church headed by an archbishop, who is also the abbot of St. Catherine's. The archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Patriarch of the Church of Jerusalem, though he is not the patriarch's subject.

l The Burning Bush: In the Book of Exodus, Moses was forced to flee Egypt and came to live with Jethro. Moses, who shepherded Jethro's flocks, discovered the burning bush while tending the sheep. Moses approached the bush, and discovered that the bush was on fire, but the flames did not consume it. (Exodus 3:2)  God's spirit, in the bush, then declared "I am your father's God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." (Exodus 3:4) God then commanded Moses to remove his sandals, as the land was considered holy. The Chapel of the Burning Bush honors the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin. It is said that this is the only bush of its kind growing in the entire Sinai Peninsula, and that every attempt to transplant a branch of it to another place has been unsuccessful. Pilgrims enter the chapel without shoes, in remembrance of the commandment of God to Moses, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."  (Adapted and Edited from “The Orthodox Wikipedia” website.

III THE VIDEO: “WHERE GOD WALKED ON EARTH: THE MONESTERY OF MT. SINAI

   SOME HIGHLIGHTS

     +Introduction focuses on the Burning Bush;

     +The monastery church;

     +6^th century icon of Christ & other icons; the monks at work;

     +the garden - love for nature and the animals;

     +relationship of monks with Muslim Beduins;

     +bread-making and hospitality;

     +the key-holder;

     +the library & the New Testament Codex Sinaiticus;

     +chapel of the 5 martyrs of Armenia;

     +icons in various historic styles with the unique “rotating nimbus” and the metal semandron;

     +miracle of survival –isolation and self-sufficiency;     

     +rations, and relations with Beduins;

     +worship and spiritual life-saints, St. John of the Ladder, humility, practicing presence of God, living images of Christ, obedience, condemning no one, God in the heart, stillness;

     +story of monk Moses and the voice from the boulder –chapel of St. John of the Ladder (Climacus);    

     +the Jesus Prayer;

     +climbing to the top of “Moses’ mountain”;

     +St. Gregory of Sinai, teacher of Hesychia, “-stillness;

     +well of prophet Elijah -“God in the breeze”; Moses & Elijah foreshadow the Transfiguration of Christ

          –the icon;     

     +The pilgrimage of Egeria to Sinai and the spread of the fame of the monastery in the West;

     +the mosque in the monastery – “peaceful co-existence” of the two religions;

     +the David Roberts Near East Prints – a copy of the book The World Famous Roberts Prints;

     +modern pilgrims;     

     + Sign in cell – “Prov pavntwn, ajdelfev mou, mhv krivnei~” – “Above all, my brother, do not condemn”;

     +Holy Week and Pascha at the Monastery – Good Friday Epitaphion, Resurrection Service, Vespers of

           Love, “Christ is Risen”, Red Eggs, Easter Meal.

     +The Ossuary and the Resurrection.   

IV  SHOWING OF VIDEO – Approximately 55 minutes.

IV  DISCUSSION

CLOSING PRAYER –  Repeat together the Jesus Prayer 12 times:

                                 “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”

Next Week- Friday, November 10, Bible Study – 2 “The Parable of the Ten Virgins”.

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