Mount Sinai Monastery – Sinai – Egypt

Jonny Allegra — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 09:12:11 +0000

“The distance between heaven and earth is not greater than a thought.”

…I first read this proverb in Mongolia, but now, in the light of the headlamp on the nightly way to the mountain peak, nothing better described this unique moment. While the legs in diligent obedience, step by step, overcame the difficulty of the way, the spirit soared towards the glittering sky, illuminated by the thousands of stars of the Milky Way. Not far and it was done. The darkness slowly gave way to the light of the sun and a new day dawned. 2285 meters above sea level the air was particularly clear and the cold air streamed through the lungs and made the heart beat a little faster. Was it the height or the moment? Laughing, we stood on the Djebel Musa (Mount Sinai), at the foot of which the time honered St. Catherine’s Monastery was build, isolated and never destroyed since the 6th century AD. Unreal like the moment, was also the fact, that 1400 years before us supposedly enlightened humans, Islamic rulers in the sign of respect and in the principle of peace, guaranteed the uninterrupted existence of the Christian monastery on Muslim soil.

The orthodox St. Catherine’s Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Christianity and one of the few places in the world where Jewish, Christian and Islamic cultural history meet each other. According to history, this is the place where Moses received the 10 holy commandments after leaving Egypt.

The outstanding and unique library is probably the world’s oldest surviving collection of early Christian manuscripts and icons. The library contains more than six thousand manuscripts in Greek, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, Georgian, Armenian and Ancient Ethiopian, including first editions of Homer (1488) and Plato (1513), and the Comedies of Aristophanes (1498). Also discovered here and dated to the 4th century was the Codex Sinaiticus. Alongside the Codex Vaticanus it is considered to be the oldest almost completely preserved Bible manuscript.

IMPRESSION

>>> Mount Sinai Monastery

>>> The Ashtiname of Muhammad

>>> Saint Catherine’s Monastery

Greece – Orthodox monasteries of Athos

Jonny Allegra — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 20:32:36 +0000

I started my preparations for the trip months before and contacted the pilgrims’ office in Thessaloniki to clarify the entry requirements. After I made the written request, I waited expectantly for the confirmation and the issuance of the “Diamonitirio”. The entry for foreigners was limited to ten visitors per day. If one had finally received a permit, it was advisable to contact especially the small monasteries and to assure their hospitable accommodation for one night.
From Ournoupolis I started at 5 o’clock at night. First to the local ferry office to get a ticket for the transit and then by ferry to Daphni, the only port of entry on Athos. Here Orthodox pilgrims from all over Europe arrived together, waiting, full of hope for the fulfillment of their pilgrimage intentions. First relationships were made, first thoughts were exchanged, and these were taken along the silent, lonely tours from monastery to monastery.

The autonomous monastic republic of Athos is located on the eastern finger of the Halkidikí peninsula and it’s part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage with its orthodox grand monasteries. More than 2000 Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian and Greek monks live in independent ascetic communities, and its first beginnings can be found as early as the 9th century in Byzantine times. The pursuit of complete inner harmony is practiced in a long tradition of constant prayer and eremitical contemplation. Moreover, the painting works of the Athos monasteries are famous, with a great tradition of icon painting dating back to the High Middle Ages.

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IMPRESSION

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>>> WIKIPEDIA AUTONOME MÖNCHSREPUBLIK ATHOS

Monastery – PHOTOS OF HUMAN PERSPECTIVES

Mount Sinai Monastery – Sinai – Egypt

Greece – Orthodox monasteries of Athos