“When I inquired about her translation from the mountain to the church,” wrote Thietmar, “I was told that a certain hermit who dwelt in another part of Mount Sinai from that on which the body of St. Katherine was laid by the angels, frequently saw, by day and by night, a light of great brightness in or near the place where the body lay. Wondering what it was, he went to the church at the foot of the mountain, and described the sight that he saw and the place where he saw it. The monks, after fasting, ascended the mountain, in a procession that was led by him. When they found the body, they greatly wondered whose it was, whence it had come, and how it was taken there. As they stood there wondering, an aged hermit from Alexandria declared, like Habakkuk the prophet who spoke to Daniel, that the body had been brought to Sinai by the grace of God, and he assured those who doubted, that it was the body of the blessed Katherine, and had been carried there by angels. At his instigation, the bishop and the monks translated the body to the church because the place where it lay was quite inaccessible (c. 19).
Thietmar then asked to be taken to the height on Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Law, and on his way thither he saw the chapel where the Virgin met the monks who, on account of the lack of food, and the verminous condition of the convent, were about to leave, but she bade them turn back (c. 22). He also saw the spot where the Virgin promised the monks a plentiful supply of oil for their lamps; likewise the chapel of Elijah on Horeb; the imprint on the rock of the body of Moses; and the place where the body of St. Katherine was laid by the angels (c. 23). Before leaving the convent he received some of the precious oil (c. 27). His home and the place to which he went are unknown. An account of the Moslim faith which he added to his narrative, reflects a liberal spirit, and, taken together with his Latinity, indicates a man of learning and understanding.
The call of Pope Innocent III, in 1211, stirred up anew the spirit of the Crusaders, but efforts were now directed, in the first place, against the Sultan in Egypt. Damietta, which lay on the Tanitic mouth of the Nile, where the Moslim had a fort, was the scene of many struggles. From January, 1218, to November, 1219, it was occupied by the Franks. In the meantime, the emperor Frederick invaded Palestine on his own account, and in 1229 secured a truce by which the Christian pilgrims were once more enabled to travel to Jerusalem. The advantages which he received were forfeited, however, owing to quarrels among the Christians themselves. The Sultan marched on Gaza in 1244, and attacked Jerusalem, which was finally lost to the Christians. It was in vain that the French king Louis IX, in 1249, occupied Damietta and pillaged Ostracine, which altogether disappeared. But Louis was taken prisoner and the restoration of Damietta was part of his ransom. Changes among the Moslim rulers hurried on events. The Mongols, pressing in from the East, overthrew the Caliph of Baghdad and destroyed the Syrian kingdom. A descendant of the true Prophet was established on the throne of Egypt as a nominal ruler, while the general, Bibars († 1277), with the title of Sultan, extended his authority over the greater part of Arabia and Syria. Bibars successfully led the campaign against the Crusaders. Antioch fell in 1268, Tripoli in 1289, Acre in 1291. By these losses the spirit of the Crusaders was broken.
Of the bishops of Sinai during this period, little is known. In succession to Simeon (I or II), John III ruled from 1265 to 1290, and was followed by Arsinius, who was a book lover. Several books in Greek which are now in the convent library were written at his instigation, and one of them was owned by him.[260] The next bishop was Simeon (II or III), who ruled from 1306 to 1324, and was followed by Dorotheus (1324-1333), who secured a firmân from the Sultan,[261] and a bull from Pope John XXII, who was at Avignon at the time. In this bull, dated 1328, the pope called upon Hugh, king of Cyprus, to respect the rights which former kings of Cyprus had granted to the monks of Sinai. He also recognised their right of burial in the church of St. Simeon at Famagusta in Cyprus, and granted one year’s indulgence to pilgrims who visited the shrine of St. Katherine in Mount Sinai.
It was presumably Bishop Dorotheus who received Duke Henry II of Brunswick in Sinai in 1330, who came bearing a letter from the Greek emperor to his “dear relatives,” the Greek prelates. According to the German record, the “archbishop of Sinai” received the duke in person, and bestowed on him, among other relics, a thorn from the crown of Christ, which he had himself received from the king of France to whom he was sent as envoy. Duke Henry received also oil, and perhaps a bone, from the shrine of St. Katherine, which, together with the thorn, he deposited in the church of the monastery of Walkenried after his return to Germany.[262]
The ruler in succession to Dorotheus was Germanus III, and he was followed by Marcus who is named in an Arabic MS., and went to Rome in 1376 to collect alms for his convent. It was probably owing to his influence that a bull had been granted to the monks by Pope Innocent VI in 1360.[263]
Later bishops included Job, whose name appears in an inscription in the convent church, and the following, who were named in a Arabic MS. without record of their date: Athanasius (I); Sabbas; Abraham; Gabriel (II); Michael; Silvanus; Cyrillus. Mention is also made of one Solomon, whose name is not otherwise recorded.