CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 137 CHAPTER XIV. MOUNT SINAI. Convent of St. Catharine.-Sunrise.-Church of Justinian.-Greek Service in the Church.-The Sanctuary.-Chapel of the Burning Bush.—The Cemetery.-Gebel Mousa.-Ascent of the Mountain.—Monkish Legends. -Chapel of the Virgin.-Spring of Elijah.-Mohammed's Camel-track.— Gebel Mousa not the Sinai of Scripture.-Grounds of this Conclusion.— Ascent of Suksafeh.-The True Sinai. THE Convent of St. Catharine lies, as may be perceived from the accompanying plate, in a very narrow valley, a prolongation of Wady er-Rahah. Indeed, the eastern mountain approaches to within sixty feet of the walls, while the building itself stands partly on the base of the western. The edifice is an irregular quadrangle, some 230 feet in breadth and 260 in length. The walls are strongly built of granite, and flanked by towers. The entrance to the building is a small window, as I have said, some thirty feet from the ground: the great door has been walled up for a long period. There is a garden gate, however, by which ladies are admitted, and which affords egress, also, to the inmates of the building by day. Within the quadrangle are contained the great church, a number of small chapels, and several courtyards laid out in beds of flowers, &c. Fronting on these yards are the chambers of the monks, some two hundred in number, built against the walls of the quadrangle. As I issued from my chamber door on Sunday morning (February 5th, 1843), the sun was just rising over a low hill that closes the head of the gorge in which the convent stands. His full splendour was soon thrown 138 CHURCH OF JUSTINIAN. GREEK SERVICE. upon the desolate hills around me. As Divine service was performed at an early hour, I took a hasty breakfast and descended to the church. It is strongly built, but not very large, though, on the whole, from its proportions and decorations, quite an imposing structure. It was built by Justinian, in the sixth century, but has been frequently repaired. It is divided into nave and aisles by two rows of plastered granite columns, which are surmounted with capitals of various designs. Along the aisles are ranges of wooden stalls, in which the monks stand and worship. The pavement is of marble, in various colours. The walls are hung with old paintings, none of them of any value. The ceiling is flat, painted green, and studded with golden stars; and many lamps, apparently of gold and silver, are suspended around the altar, and in other parts of the church. The altar, where the mass is performed, is enclosed by a screen, with three openings, of which the centre one is closed at bottom with gilded doors, and above by a soiled curtain. The service was long and tedious. In the first place, the Bible, preceded by two lighted tapers, was carried round the church, and all the worshippers bowed as it passed. Then came a priest, bearing the Host in like manner. He carried the chalice in his right hand, and the bread in a gilded urn on his head, supported by his left hand. The urn was surmounted by a cross adoined with precious stones-the ruby, the emerald, and the sapphire. All knelt and crossed themselves. Our aged French companion bowed reverently to the Host, and, indeed, joined very devoutly in the whole worship, although he had received a very repulsive answer from the orthodox Greeks to a meek inquiry which he put before the service as to its catholicity. In a few min CHAPEL OF THE BURNING BUSH. 139 utes after the procession of the Host, the officiating priest appeared at the door of the sanctuary, bearing in his hands a large golden chalice, containing the sacred elements in both kinds. None partook of the sacrament. The service closed with a sort of primitive love-feast: a plate of bread was handed round by the priest, and all that were present partook. On retiring, most of the monks kissed a much-worn picture which lay on a small canopied stand. On a subsequent day, the venerable superior took us into the sanctuary. Over the altar is a mosaic picture of the Transfiguration, a copy of which may be found in Laborde's Travels. The pretended relics of St. Catharine are kept here in a box, which was exhibited to us with much formality: but the most sacred place about the whole mountain, in the estimation of the monks, is a chapel behind the altar, covering the identical spot on which the Burning Bush flamed before Moses! As it was holy ground, we had to put off our shoes at the door of the chapel. It is adorned with rich lamps and other offerings of pious pilgrims, and the precise spot where the bush is reported to have stood, a space of three feet by two, is covered with silver plates. We were then taken to the cemetery of the convent, which consists of two stone vaults, partly under ground, in the middle of the garden. A little air and light is admitted from above by an iron grating. One vault is occupied with two rows of bones and sculls, regularly piled up as in the catacombs of Paris. These are the remains of the priests and lay-brethren of the convent. Along the sides of the vault are boxes containing the crumbling bones of dignitaries of the Church and princely pilgrims. The plebeian dead lie in an indiscriminate heap at the other extremity of the vaults. It was a revolting, 140 GEBEL MOUSA. CHAPEL OF THE VIRGIN. and by no means profitable spectacle. The vaults were filled with incense at the time of our visit. So much, then, for the convent, the centre of observation for all travellers to Sinai. For ages it has been so. The Mount of Moses, or Gebel Mousa, in its immediate neighbourhood, has long been regarded as the real Sinai of the Old Testament, and, indeed, the monks and many others still so regard it. Before our departure from home, I had been tolerably well convinced, by the clear statements and able arguments of Dr. Robinson, that here, as elsewhere, the monkish traditions are very doubtful guides. It will be seen from what follows that my own observations satisfied me still farther of the justice of that eminent traveller's conclusions. Our first object was to visit Gebel Mousa, and compare its position with the statements of Scripture. Taking with us a young monk, an old Moslem, Mohammed, and a young and active one, Abdallah, as guides, and George for interpreter, we set off, after an early breakfast. Four or five half-naked Arab boys followed us. The way was toilsome and difficult. Of course, our monk guide stopped us at all the sacred localities, and gave us the legends which ages of credulity have accumulated respecting them. The first is a fine fountain that bubbles up from beneath a huge rock of granite. I will not detain my reader to repeat the legend. In twenty minutes more we reached the Chapel of the Virgin, now almost in ruins. Two small old pictures still keep their places. I was more interested by some fragments of columns, and slabs of white marble built into the granite wall, than by the legend of the fleas, which our monk gave us with great gusto. It was the old story, that the monks had once upon a time determined to abandon the convent because of the abundance |