A History of Sinai

by Lina Eckenstein

In 1010 the Saracens bore down on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem and destroyed it. They then moved on to Sinai with the intention of destroying the convent also, but they were warned off by seeing the mountain aglow with fire. The chronicler, Ademar, stated that when the report of the proposed attack reached the Sultan, he and his Saracens repented.[240] An attack on the port of Aila may have caused a further deviation of trade to Tur. Makrizi († 1441) recorded that Aila was pillaged by Abd Allah ben Edirs ben Dgofair, governor of El Korah, with the help of the Benu el Garrah.[241] This put a stop to the transit of goods via Aila to Damascus, and the Eastern goods for Syria as well as those for Egypt were now disembarked at Tur. This change is reflected in the fact that Tur, sometime between 1020 and 1050 took the place of Kolzoum as a customs station, although it remained for some time so poor a place that the appointment there was considered equal to a disgrace.

The rule of the Moslim until now had brought endless burdens and oppression to the Christians in Egypt. The churches had been robbed, the convents had been mulcted and their inmates had been disgraced by the emir who acted for the Sultan. But a change now took place. Bononius, a Benedictine monk from Bologne, came to Cairo in 1025, having obtained an interview with the Sultan to request that the Christian prisoners should be set at liberty. Bononius also visited Sinai and Jerusalem.[242] In 1045 the patriarch who had hitherto dwelt at Alexandria, removed to Cairo, and we now hear, in the sparse annals of the convent, of direct relations between the monks and the Sultan.

In the year 1069 John the Athenian, bishop of Sinai, was killed during his stay in Egypt under circumstances that are not recorded. He was canonised at the convent. In the year 1103 the bishop Zacharias was mentioned in a firmân (εἰς ἕνα ὁρισμόν) of Emir Elmoumne, a term explained as imperator fidelium; perhaps it was Amir Abu Mansur (1101-1130). The next bishop, George, was also recognised by the Sultan in 1133. His successor at the convent named Gabriel, who was mentioned in 1146, was learned in Arabic, and wrote sermons as is shown by an Arabic book in the convent. He was in touch with the Sultan “Kaim Impnes Rhaila,” who was perhaps Zafir Abu el Mansur Ismael (1149-1151). The next prelate was John, whose date is fixed at 1164 by an Arabic letter which he addressed to the monks at Raithou. The next bishop was Simeon.[243]

Fig. 18.—El Arish. (Times History of the War.)

Of the religious life of the cities along the Mediterranean coast little is known at this period. The last bishop of Ostracine known by name was Abraham, of the year 431. At Rhinocorura called El Arish by the Moslim, later bishops were Ptolemæus and Gregorius. Lequien made the mistake of identifying Rhinocorura with Farma, and mentioned the Jacobite prelates of Farma as prelates of Rhinocorura. Farma, famous for its palm groves, was near the ruins of the ancient Pelusium. El Arish continued an important city under Moslim rule, but its architectural features were not respected. Abu Saleh, the Armenian, who wrote an account of the churches and monasteries of Egypt about the year 1071, mentioned El Arish or Rhinocorura. “In this region there are two large churches which have stood from ancient times and are now in ruins, but their walls remain up to our time; and the wall of the city which ran along the side of the Salt Sea, is still existing. It is said that of all the marble and columns which are to be found at Misr (i.e. Cairo) the greater part and the largest specimens came from El Arish.”[244] ([Fig. 18].)

The connection of the monks and the Sultan attracted the attention of Arab writers to the convent. Edrizi (c. 1153), Ibn Zobeir (c. 1183), mentioned its existence in general terms. Benjamin of Tudela, the Jewish rabbi who acted for a time as vizier to Adid († 1171), the last of the Fatimite rulers, held that it was occupied by Syrian monks, who were subject to the Sultan. He also remarked that at the foot of the mountain lay Tur Sina, a large town, the inhabitants of which spoke the language of the Targum (i.e. Syriac). It was close to a small mountain and five days’ journey from Egypt.[245]

The trade via Tur naturally brought the monks into contact with the Further East. Fretellus of Antioch (c. 1130) declared that the monks of Sinai, “from the confines of Ethiopia to the utmost bounds of the Persians, were venerated in every tongue, possessing their property freely and quietly among themselves. They had cells throughout Egypt and Persia, around the Red Sea and Arabia, from which all they required flowed most liberally.”[246] In addition to this, grants were made to them by the Crusaders in the lands which they conquered.

The Pope, from the first, had favoured the Crusades as a means of extending the influence of Latin Christianity. When Jerusalem was conquered in 1099, the Greek patriarch happened to be absent. He was passed over and a Latin patriarch was appointed in his stead. The authority of this prelate was extended with the advance of the Crusaders. Godfrey was proclaimed king of Jerusalem in 1099. He was succeeded by Baldwin, who, in 1115, made an expedition to “Mount Oreb, commonly called Orel,” i.e. Mount Hor near Petra, the present Gebel Haroun. “Starting from here, Baldwin overcame the desert places and vast solitudes by conveying a quantity of food on mules, and reached Aila, which he found deserted, and of which he took possession. Here he heard of the monks, who dwelt in Sinai, and served God, and he desired to go to them across the mountain in order to pray. But he was prevented by a message from the monks who feared that their Moslim master might be annoyed by the king’s visit, so he gave up the idea.”[247] He turned back, and on his way to Syria he conquered Petra, near which he erected the fortress of Monreale. He then moved along the shores of the Mediterranean as far as Farma, where he died in 1117. According to Makrizi he burnt down the mosque and perished in its flames. Roger of Sicily in 1155 completed the work of destruction by a descent on Farma, which he set on fire and pillaged.

When Baldwin, disappointed of his visit to Sinai, seized Petra, this became a Latin bishopric, and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem eventually had under him four bishops, of Tyre, Cæsarea, Nazareth, and Petra.[248] The name of the Latin bishop of Petra is not preserved.[249] According to Jacques of Vitry († 1244) the bishop of Petra had one suffragan, i.e. “the bishop of Sinai, superior to the convent of St. Katherine the Virgin, and the monks of that convent.”[250] In Sinai itself no record of a Latin prelate was preserved. But irregularities in the succession suggest that the Latin bishop of Sinai was Simeon, who advocated the cause of the monks with the Pope.