The prelate in succession to Joannicus was Cosmas I of Chalcedon, who became patriarch of Constantinople within a year of his election, but he soon abdicated and returned to the convent where he spent the rest of his days under Athanasius II of Bari (1706-18). The next prelate was Joannicus II of Mytilene (1718-22), during the term of whose rule Jeremiah, patriarch of Constantinople, was deposed by the vizier and exiled to Sinai. He was staying there at the time of Bishop Pococke’s visit (i. 150).
It was probably Athanasius of Bari who received the Franciscan prefect Claude Sicard of the mission De Propaganda Fide, wearing an exquisite crown. The Franciscan prefect wrote a short account of his visit which attracted the attention of Bishop Pococke and was translated into English by Bishop Clayton in 1753. This translation was addressed to the Society of Antiquaries in London, and Bishop Clayton offered the sum of £500, spread over five years, to assist in an exploration of Mount Sinai. But no definite step was taken in the matter, its chief result being to add to the Biblical explorers of the peninsula.
Chief among these was Bishop Pococke, whose Description of the East, first published in 1743, attained considerable celebrity. Several chapters were devoted to an account of Sinai and the progress of the Israelites. It contains a careful description of the monastic buildings with several plans. Bishop Pococke, like other travellers before and since, accepted the sites pointed out by the monks as the actual spots mentioned in the Biblical narrative, regardless of the impossibilities implied. He only questioned the spot where Dathan and Abiram were swallowed, remarking that when this happened they had left the desert of Sinai (i. 145).
Owing to the difficulties of dealing with the claims of the Bedawyn, the prelates of Sinai now found it preferable to take up their residence in one of the dependencies of the convent.
Nicephorus Mortales, surnamed Glaukos (1729-49), was from Crete, to which he returned and where he died. His body was conveyed to the convent for interment. The next prelate was Constantius (1749-59), who resided for the most part in Moldavia under Vaivode Michael, paying an occasional visit to Sinai. On one occasion he was accompanied by Khalil Sabag, who wrote an account of his visit. The next prelate Cyrillus II (1759-90) dwelt in Smyrna, Jerusalem and Moldavia. He was in contact with Carsten Niebuhr, who visited Sinai in 1762, where he was the first European to visit and describe the great ravines at Serabit. Cyrillus was in relation also with the traveller Volney, who visited the convent in 1783, where he found fifty monks.
It was owing to the efforts of Cyrillus II that the standing of the convent of Sinai as an independent centre was definitely established. A synod met in Constantinople in 1782, which declared in favour of its autonomy. The archbishop is elected by a council of the monks, who manage the affairs of the convent in Sinai and its branch establishment in Cairo. The archbishop is always selected from the priests of the monastery. He is consecrated as bishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem in consequence of the ancient connection, and he becomes one of the four independent archbishops of the Greek Church, the others being at Cyprus, Moscow and Ochrida.[302]
Cyrillus II was the last prelate who paid a visit to the convent for over a hundred years. The reason was that large sums and gifts had to be presented to the Arabs by the new prelate on his installation. These were so considerable that the monks, in their impoverished state, were unable to raise them. Perhaps owing to this difficulty, there was an interregnum of four years, between the death of Cyrillus in 1790 and the establishment as prelate of Dorotheus of Byzantium (1794-96), after whose death there was again an interregnum of eight years.