The festival took place at the time when the dates ripened, and lasted three days. Tribes from all parts of the peninsula, including women and children, assembled in the Wadi Sheykh near the insignificant-looking tomb which consisted of a domed chamber cemented over, with an empty coffin standing inside. Pieces of cloth, ostrich eggs, tassels and other parts of camel equipment were brought as offerings and suspended from the roof. The first step in the festivity consisted in renovating and whitewashing the tomb. In a large tent erected outside forty to fifty men assembled and sat in a circle, while the first of all the sheykhs barefoot and wearing the white garment (Imam) and a white turban over his red fez, sat near the fire. A procession headed by the women encircled the tomb. The young men then brought out fifty to sixty lambs which were cut on the forehead, and blood was drawn before they were slaughtered, skinned and cut up. While the food was boiling a camel race took place, four to six camels racing at a time. Four to six persons then sat around each lambskin which was spread on the ground, and on it their share of boiled lambs’ flesh was poured out, which they ate using their fingers. Besides the flesh there were meal-cakes (bilaw), and water to drink. A dance followed in which men and women took part, and which was timed to singing and clapping of hands. Besides this, two women danced figures outside the group. Men and women remained conversing in couples till late at night. The celebration struck Tischendorf as dignified. At its conclusion some of the Bedawyn repaired to the summit of the Gebel Musa, where there stood a small and highly revered mosque (mentioned as early as 1335), which they entered, wearing the Imam or white garment. Over the natural hole, called the footprint of the prophet’s she-camel, they sacrificed a sheep.
A further festivity took place in former days near the summit of the Gebel Musa which we hear of in the sixteenth century only and not again. Early writers agree that no hermit or monk ever spent a night on the summit of the mountain. Nilus (c. 400) remarked that the height was generally avoided “since God conferred there with the people,” while Etheria and Antoninus Martyr simply noted that no hermit spent the night there. This fact Procopius (c. 550) connected with “heavenly phenomena.” At a later date the hermit Simeon, for a time, dwelt “on the summit of Mount Sinai, where the Law was given, a place deserted because of the restless Arabs.”
This avoidance of the mountain-top at night by the Christians finds its explanation in the account of Gregor, prior of the Carthusian house of Gaming, who came into Sinai with Martin Baumgarten and others in the year 1507. The party decided to spend the night on the Mount of the Law, where the building that was close to the summit was the scene of a Saracen festivity of so noisy a character, that the Christian pilgrims hardly slept all night. It included “a bestial service in the belief that those who were here conceived were endowed with a holy and prophetic spirit” (proles enim hic concepta, sancto et prophetico spiritu plena ab eis æstimatur).[198] The spot chosen seems to have been a cave between the chapel of Moses and the small mosque. Similar unions led, from the same belief according to Tobler, to the desecration at one time of the holy cave at Bethlehem.[199] This cave, according to a statement of Jerome, was connected with the cult of Adonis in ancient times. Perhaps the hold which the Saracens had on the Gebel Musa in early days was another reason why the convent builder chose the lower site.
No further mention is made of the church of St. Athanasius which the emperor Justinian had constructed at Clysma. The monastery which he built or fortified at Raithou frequently served as a refuge to the monks of the convent in times of stress. Its church was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and continued till the period of Turkish domination when it was destroyed.
The convent of the Bush alone continued. It had an independent standing, perhaps owing to its being originally merged with the bishopric of Pharan. The head of the house was chosen from its inmates, and he called himself bishop. Later he assumed the title of archbishop. Owing, however, to his peculiar standing he was referred to as archbishop at a time when he called himself bishop only, as we shall see later.
The convent at first served as the nucleus of the numerous hermitages in southern Sinai. Later, as these disappeared, it continued in proud isolation. In addition to the house at Raithou, it acquired property and built priories in many outlying districts, and rose to a position of importance that was in every way exceptional.
The convent retains to this day its original appearance. It is enclosed by walls built of well-dressed blocks of grey granite forming an irregular quadrangle, 280 feet at its greatest length, and 250 ft. at its greatest breadth. The walls enclosed the old tower, a church, and the convent buildings, with the cells for the monks, a guest-house, bakeries, stables, and a library. Adjoining these buildings was the garden, which extended on one side, along the valley about 200 feet, with several springs of good water, and plantations of fruit trees, including olive, pomegranate, almond and peach, pear and apple trees. The produce of these remained famous throughout the Middle Ages.
The church was a basilica in the Byzantine style. It was lighted by five windows on either side, and the entablature of the nave rested on round arches which were supported by six pairs of granite columns with leafy capitals. The roof was of cypress wood covered with lead, and contained three contemporary inscriptions. One of these commemorated “our holy king, Justinian the Great;” another was devoted to the memory of Theodora, who died in 548; the third called a blessing on the builder, Stephanos and his family. “Lord God, who didst appear on this spot, save and bless thy slave Stephanos, the builder of this monastery, from Aila, and Nonna (his wife), and give rest to the souls of their children, George, Sergius, and Theodora.”[200]
The church was dedicated to the Virgin, as we learn from Eutychius, whose statement was confirmed by Magister Thietmar in 1217, and by the Papal Bull of 1226. In the Middle Ages it was sometimes spoken of as the church of St. Katherine, and later still as the church of the Transfiguration. The latter name was due to a great mosaic representation on the apse which is shown by its style to belong to the seventh or eighth century. The mosaic was first drawn and described by Laborde and Linant.[201] On this mosaic the youthful Christ was represented soaring towards heaven, with Elijah on one side pointing to Him, while Moses on the other side stands with hand upraised. John is seen kneeling, James also is represented kneeling, Peter is prostrate. Each figure is named. This scene is framed by thirty medallions, which represent the Twelve Apostles, Paul, the superior of the convent, who is not named, and sixteen prophets. Above, to the right, Moses is seen kneeling before the Bush; to the left, he is represented holding the Tables. Below, are two angels with extended wings and two further portraits of which the one shows a bearded man with flowing locks, the other a woman with close-fitting head-dress. They are sometimes pointed out as Constantine and Helena, sometimes as Justinian and Theodora, but their identity remains unknown. Below, stand the words in Greek, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the whole of this work was executed for the salvation of those who contributed towards it by Longinus, most holy priest and superior (τοῦ ὀσιωτάτου πρεσβυτέρον καὶ ἡγουμένου).”[202] The floor was covered with a mosaic which was torn up by the Arab treasure seekers in the fifteenth century, but restored by Bishop Anastasius (1583-1592).
Two crypts inside the convent walls served to house the bones of the dead. Their corpses were first laid for two or three years on an iron grating in a cellar; the skull was then transferred to one crypt and the bones to the other. The bones were sorted and added to the piles of corresponding bones, so that the femurs, the tibias, etc., lie piled together. The archbishops’ corpses were, however preserved intact, and, wearing their robes,[203] were placed in mummy coffins. The use of the iron grating and the crypts dates back to the earliest days of the convent, for among the stories collected by Anastasius, one described how two corpses were laid side by side on the grating, but the one, disliking the proximity of the other, repeatedly moved, throwing it out of place, until it was officially adjured not to do so.