A monastery at the burning bush
Christian hermits had settled in the valleys of southern Sinai by the fourth century, drawn by the mountain where, according to the Bible, Moses received the Law and saw God in a bush that burned without being consumed. A small chapel marked the spot of the bush. Between about 548 and 565 the emperor Justinian enclosed it in a fortress, with granite walls that still stand, to protect the monks and the road.
Behind the main church grows a bramble that the monks venerate as the bush itself, or its descendant. The monastery was later named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose relics, according to tradition, were brought there.
Justinian’s basilica
The church inside the walls dates from Justinian’s time. Inscriptions carved on its roof beams name the emperor and his wife Theodora, and an architect called Stephanos of Aila. In the apse, a mosaic of about 565 shows the Transfiguration of Christ, with Moses, Elijah and three apostles, framed by portraits of saints and prophets. It is one of the finest mosaics of Justinian’s age, comparable to those in San Vitale in Ravenna.
The oldest icons
In the eighth and ninth centuries, during the crisis known as Iconoclasm, Byzantine emperors had many holy images destroyed. Sinai had been under Muslim rule since the 630s, beyond their reach, and its icons survived. The monastery keeps a collection of around two thousand, among them a handful from the sixth century painted in encaustic, with pigment mixed in hot wax.
The best known is a Christ Pantocrator, “ruler of all”, holding a book and blessing. The two sides of his face are slightly different, which scholars read as a way to show both his divine and his human nature. A Saint Peter of the same early date holds keys and a cross. These panels show what the icons of Constantinople looked like before Iconoclasm, as described in the guide to Byzantine art.
Books, a mosque and a long survival
The library holds one of the most important collections of early manuscripts in the world, in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Georgian and other languages. Its most famous former book, the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest complete copies of the Christian Bible, was taken to Russia by the scholar Constantin von Tischendorf in 1859; most of it is now in the British Library in London.
Inside the walls there is also a small mosque, built in the Fatimid period in the early twelfth century. The monastery is often described as the oldest Christian monastery still in use, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the surrounding mountains, since 2002.
The monastery today
The monastery belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church and is home to a small community of monks. In May 2025 an Egyptian appeals court ruled that land around the monastery belongs to the state, while recognising the monks’ use of its religious sites. In June 2025 the monks closed the monastery to visitors in protest. On 24 October 2026 Archbishop Symeon announced that he would sign an agreement with the Egyptian government which, according to Greek press reports, leaves the monks in charge of the monastery. At the time of writing it had not been signed, and the archbishop said that the monastery remains open to pilgrims and visitors, but access has changed more than once since 2025, so anyone planning a visit should check the current situation first.
Where to see it
The monastery lies in South Sinai, Egypt, near the town of Saint Catherine, about three hours by road from Sharm el-Sheikh. The Codex Sinaiticus can be seen in part at the British Library in London.
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “Saint Catherine Area”.
- K. Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: The Icons (Princeton, 1976).
- British Library, Codex Sinaiticus.
- France 24 (30 May 2025) and Greek Herald (June 2025) on the court ruling and the closure; GreekReporter, ProtoThema and Orthodox Times (24 October 2026) on the announced agreement and on visitors.
