Saint Catherine’s Monastery
Orthodox monastery at the foot of the mountain that Christian tradition identifies as Sinai. Procopius says that Justinian built a church for the monks of Mount Sinai and a fortress at its foot. The Codex Sinaiticus was kept here until the nineteenth century.
The monastery stands below Jebel Musa in the south of the Sinai peninsula. Procopius, writing in the reign of Justinian, says that monks lived on Mount Sina, that the emperor built them a church dedicated to the Mother of God, lower down and not on the summit, and that at the base of the mountain he built a strong fortress with a garrison (Procopius, Buildings 5.8.4–9). The Codex Sinaiticus takes its name from the monastery, where it was preserved until the middle of the nineteenth century (History of Codex Sinaiticus (agreed text) opening and closing paragraphs). Parts of it remain there, among them leaves found on 26 May 1975 in a chamber beneath St George’s Chapel on the north wall (History of Codex Sinaiticus (agreed text) opening and closing paragraphs). See Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus.
What happened here
- 1844 to 1859, firm dateTischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus
On three visits to St Catherine’s Monastery the German scholar Constantin von Tischendorf finds a Greek Bible of the fourth century and takes it away, first in part and then on loan. He and the monastery tell the story differently.
Primary sources
Buildings
- Procopius, Buildings 5.8.4–9penelope.uchicago.edu