A History of Sinai

by Lina Eckenstein

“A few days later,” Ammonius continued, “Saracens, whose sheykh (or king) had died, fell upon the fathers in their cells and slew them, so that I, together with the superior Doulas and others sought refuge in the tower, while the barbarians slew all the hermits who were in Thrambe (Syriac, Gethrabbi),[161] Choreb (Horeb), Kedar (Codar), and other places. They would have dealt the same with us, but a great fire appeared on the mountain which scared them so they fled, leaving behind their women, children and camels. We who saw this from the tower, gave thanks to God, and then sallied forth to the other settlements. We found 38 hermits who were dead. Twelve belonged to Thrambe, including Isaiah and Sabbas who were badly hurt. Isaiah died while Sabbas lamented that he was not in the company of the saints. But he died four days later (on the last day of the year).”

They were lamenting his death when an Ishmaelite brought the news that the fathers who dwelt at Elim (Raithou) had been raided also. Raithou is described as “a level plain, situated at a distance of about twelve miles, with mountains to the east like a wall, which those only could cross who were familiar with the country. To the west was the Red Sea, which extended to the ocean.” The words correctly describe the district about Tur.

The settlement here was attacked by the Blemmyes, a nomad race of Nubia, of whom we now hear in Sinai for the first time. Psoes, a fugitive hermit, who arrived in the wake of the Ishmaelite, gave Ammonius particulars regarding the hermits at Raithou, and their message. He had lived 20 years at Raithou himself, he said; others had lived there 40, 50, and 60 years. There was Abba Moses of Pharan, who had the power of exorcising demons, and who had cured Obedianus, a sheykh of the Ishmaelites, which led to many conversions. There was also Sabbas, of whom Psoes was a disciple, but the way of living of Sabbas was so hard that Psoes left him. Again, there was Joseph from Aila, who built himself a cell with his own hands at a distance of two miles from the springs.

Forty-three hermits dwelt near Raithou, to which place the news was brought that the Blemmyes had seized an Egyptian boat which was bound for Clysma, and were coming across the sea. The men of Raithou at once collected their camels, their women and children, while the hermits sought refuge in the church. The barbarians spent the night on the shore, and then bound the sailors to the boat which they left in charge of one of themselves, and came across the mountain to the springs where they were met by the men of Raithou. But the invaders were the more skilful archers, and killed 140 men, the rest fled. Then they seized the women and children, and rushed to the tower or church, expecting to find treasures, and went round it screaming and uttering threats in a barbarous language while the hermits inside prayed and lamented.

Paul of Petra, who was the superior of the settlement, uttered words which were full of dignity, and concluded with saying: “O athletes of God, do not regret this good conflict; let not your souls be faint, and do nothing unworthy of your cowl, but be clothed with strength and joy and manliness, that you may endure with a pure heart, and may God receive you into His kingdom.”

In the meantime the barbarians, encountering no resistance, heaped tree-trunks against the wall from outside, broke open the door of the church, and rushed in, sword in hand. They seized Jeremiah, who was sitting on the door-sill, and commanded him through one who acted as interpreter, to point out the superior. When he refused, they bound him hand and foot, and tearing off his clothes, used him for a target. “He was the first to gain the crown” (of martyrdom). Then the superior Paul came forward declaring his identity, and they bade him reveal his treasures. In his usual gentle voice he replied: “Forsooth, children, I own nothing but this old hair-cloth garment that I am wearing.” And he held it out, displaying it. But the barbarians hurled stones at him, shouting: “Out with your treasures,” and, after ill-using him, cleft his head in twain with a sword.—“Then I, miserable sinner,” continued Psoes, “seeing the slaughter and the blood and the viscera on the ground, bethought me of a hiding place. A heap of palm branches lay in the left-hand corner of the church. Unnoticed by the barbarians, I ran to it, saying to myself, If they find me, they can but kill me, which they are sure to do, if I do not hide.”

From his hiding place he saw the barbarians cut down the hermits who were in church. He saw them seize the youth Sergius, whom they would have dragged away with them, but he snatched a sword from a barbarian and hit him across the shoulder, whereupon he was cut down himself. The barbarians after killing the hermits, searched for treasures not knowing that the saints own nothing here on earth, their hope being of the world to come. Finally they rushed off intending to embark. But the man who was left in charge of the boat, being a Christian, had cut the rope, so that the boat ran ashore and foundered; he himself escaped to the mountain. The barbarians, who were at a loss what to do, murdered the women and children, and then lit a fire and cut down and burnt nearly all the palm trees of the place.

In the meantime the Ishmaelites from Pharan, some six hundred in number and all of them expert archers, drew near at dawn and attacked the barbarians, who, seeing no chance of escape, met them bravely and perished, to a man. Of the men of Pharan eighty-four were killed, others were wounded. The hermits were all dead except Andrew, who was wounded and recovered, Domnus, who died of his wounds, and Psoes, who was left to tell the tale. The men of Pharan left the dead enemies to the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air. They buried their own dead at the foot of the mountain above the springs, and made a great wailing. Then, led by the sheykh Obedianus, they brought costly garments, in which, with the help of Psoes and Andrew they buried the saints. Psoes himself then left Raithou, which was deserted, for the Bush, where he begged to be allowed to stay with Doulas, a request which was readily granted. The account concludes with saying that Ammonius wrote all this down after his return to Memphis, and the words are added in one MS., “I, presbyter John, found this account written in Coptic in the cell of a hermit near Naukratis, and, knowing Coptic, I translated it into Greek.”

The attacks made on the hermits were part of a wider movement. History relates that Mavia (or Mania), the widow of the phylarch or king of the Saracens, collected her forces and led them in person against Palestine and Egypt. The Romans, because they had to do with a woman, expected to quell the disturbance without difficulty. But the advantage was on her side, and the expedition was celebrated in song among the Saracens. Mavia proffered peace to the Romans on condition that Moses, a converted Saracen, should be consecrated bishop of Pharan, and Moses went to Alexandria under a military escort. But here a new difficulty arose. The patriarch Peter II (372-380), the same to whom Ammonius referred, was still absent. The Arian prelate Lucius (c. a.d. 378) occupied his see, and Moses refused to be ordained by him. The story was told by Sozomenus († 443), and by Socrates († c. 478), both of whom lived soon after the event.

“I account myself indeed unworthy of the sacred office,” Moses said, “but if the exigencies of the state require my bearing it, it shall not be by Lucius laying his hand on me, for it has been filled with blood.” When Lucius told him that it was his duty to learn from him the principles of religion and not to utter reproachful language, Moses replied, “Matters of faith are not now in question: but your infamous practices against the brethren sufficiently prove that your doctrines are not Christian. For a Christian is not a striker, reviles not, does not fight, for it becomes not a servant of God to fight. But your deeds cry out against you by those who have been sent into exile, who have been delivered up to the flames. These things which our own eyes have beheld are far more convincing than what we receive from the report of another.” As Moses expressed these and like sentiments, his friends took him to the mountain, that he might receive ordination from the bishops who lived in exile there. Moses having been consecrated, the Saracen war was terminated, and so scrupulously did Mavia observe the peace thus entered into with the Romans that she gave her daughter in marriage to Victor the commander-in-chief of the Roman army. Such were the transactions in relation to the Saracens.”[162]