Church of Sinai

Last updated
Saint Catherine's Monastery Katharinenkloster Sinai BW 2.jpg
Saint Catherine's Monastery

The Church of Sinai is a Greek Orthodox autonomous church whose territory consists of St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt, along with several dependencies. There is a dispute as to whether the church is fully autocephalous or merely autonomous. The church is headed by the Archbishop of Mount Sinai and Raithu, who is traditionally consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and also serves as abbot for the monastery. The current hierarch is Archbishop Damian.

History

The Church of Sinai owes its existence to the Monastery of the Transfiguration (better known as St. Catherine's Monastery). The monastery's origins are traced back to the Chapel of the Burning Bush that Constantine the Great's mother, Helena, had built over the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush. Between 527 and 565, Emperor Justinian I ordered the monastery built to enclose the chapel. The monastery became associated with St. Catherine of Alexandria through the belief that her relics were miraculously transported there.

St. Catherine’s monastery, as it has been known since the 9th century, was originally part of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, within the diocese of Pharan. After the bishop of Pharan was deposed for the heresy of monotheletism in AD 681, the see was transferred to the monastery itself, the abbot becoming the bishop of Pharan. With the subsequent union of the diocese of Raitho with the monastery, all the Christians in the Sinai peninsula came under the jurisdiction of the Abbot-Archbishop.

During the period of the Crusades, which was marked by bitterness between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, the monastery was patronized by both the Byzantine emperors and the rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and their respective courts.

In 1575, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople granted Mount Sinai autonomous status. This was reaffirmed in 1782. The exact administrative status of the church within the Eastern Orthodox Church is ambiguous: by some, including the church itself, [1] it is considered autocephalous, [2] [3] by others an autonomous church under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. [4] The archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; in recent centuries he has usually resided in Cairo.

Today, in addition to the 20 or so monks in the monastic community, this church includes a few hundred Bedouins and fishermen who live in the Sinai. Since the Israeli invasion in 1967, perhaps the greatest problem facing the community has been maintaining an authentic monastic lifestyle while dealing with a massive influx of tourists. This problem has continued after the area’s return to Egypt in 1982, and the population of the area has been increasing. Pope John Paul II visited the monastery on February 26, 2000. [5] [ full citation needed ]

Features

The monastery’s library is renowned for its great antiquity and its manuscripts. In 1859, Tischendorf discovered the Codex Sinaiticus here. Today it contains about 4,000 manuscripts, and some of the world’s most ancient icons are also found in the monastery, which was already outside the Eastern Roman Empire during the iconoclast controversy when many icons in the empire were destroyed.

Currently the monastery in addition to the library has a guest house and a hospital for the local population. The monks have also administered a school in Cairo since 1860. The monastery has historically had many dependent churches and monasteries in other countries. In 2006, there were monasteries in Cairo (where the Abbot often resides) and Alexandria, nine in Greece, three in Cyprus, one in Lebanon and one in Istanbul.

Locations of interest

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Orthodox Church</span> Second-largest Christian church

The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church and officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptised members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the head of the Catholic Church—the pope, although the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by them as primus inter pares. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Western Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is a communion composed of up to seventeen separate autocephalous (self-governing) hierarchical churches that profess Eastern Orthodoxy and recognise each other as canonical (regular) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople</span> First among equals of leaders in the Eastern Orthodox Church

The ecumenical patriarch is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul) and New Rome, and primus inter pares among the heads of the several autocephalous churches which compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as the representative and spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide. The term ecumenical in the title is a historical reference to the Ecumene, a Greek designation for the civilised world, i.e. the Roman Empire, and it stems from Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriarchate</span> Jurisdiction and office of an ecclesiastical patriarch

Patriarchate is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, designating the office and jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical patriarch. According to Christian tradition three patriarchates were established by the apostles as apostolic sees in the 1st century: Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria(recognized by the Council of Nicaea). Constantinople was added in the 4th century and Jerusalem in the 5th century. Eventually, together, these five were recognised as the pentarchy by the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriarch of Alexandria</span> Archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt; includes the designation "pope"

The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coptic Catholic Church</span> Eastern Catholic particular church which uses the Coptic Rite

The Coptic Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. Along with the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church, it belongs to the Alexandrian liturgical tradition. Uniquely among the Alexandrian Rite Eastern Catholic liturgies, the Coptic Catholic Church uses the Coptic Rite and the Coptic language in its liturgy; the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church use the Ge'ez Rite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Catherine's Monastery</span> Greek Orthodox monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, Egypt

Saint Catherine's Monastery, officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai, it was built between 548 and 565, and is the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem</span> Eastern Orthodox church

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, is an autocephalous church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Established in the mid-fifth century as one of the oldest patriarchates in Christendom, it is headquartered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and led by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, currently Theophilos III. The Patriarchate's ecclesiastical jurisdiction includes roughly 200,000 to 500,000 Orthodox Christians across the Holy Land in Palestine, Jordan and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgarian Orthodox Church</span> Autocephalous jurisdiction of the Eastern Orthodox Church

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox jurisdiction based in Bulgaria. It is the oldest Slavic Orthodox church, with some 6 million members in Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2 million members in a number of other European countries, Asia, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. It was recognized as autocephalous in 1945 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mar Saba</span> Monastery in Palestine

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of Eastern Christianity–related articles</span>

Alphabetical list of Eastern Christianity-related articles on English Wikipedia

Kallistos I was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for two periods from June 1350 to 1353 and from 1354 to 1363. Kallistos I was an Athonite monk and supporter of Gregory Palamas. He died in Constantinople in 1363.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meletius Metaxakis</span> Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1921 to 1923

Meletius was primate of the Church of Greece from 1918 to 1920 as Meletius III, after which he was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as Meletius IV from 1921 to 1923 and Greek Patriarch of Alexandria as Meletius II from 1926 to 1935. He is the only man in the history of the Eastern Orthodox Church to serve successively as the senior bishop of three autocephalous churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria</span> Autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church based in Africa; one of the original Churches of the Pentarchy

The Greek OrthodoxPatriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa, also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, is an autocephalous patriarchate that is part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Its seat is in Alexandria and it has canonical responsibility for the entire African continent.

The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the highest Orthodox authority in the Coptic Orthodox Church. It formulates the rules and regulations regarding matters of the Church's organisation and faith.

The history of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the formation, events, and transformation of the Eastern Orthodox Church through time. According to the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the history of the Eastern Orthodox Church is traced back to Jesus Christ and the Apostles. The Apostles appointed successors, known as bishops, and they in turn appointed other bishops in a process known as Apostolic succession. Over time, five Patriarchates were established to organize the Christian world, and four of these ancient patriarchates remain Orthodox today. Orthodox Christianity reached its present form in late antiquity, when the ecumenical councils were held, doctrinal disputes were resolved, the Fathers of the Church lived and wrote, and Orthodox worship practices settled into their permanent form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Christian monasticism</span>

Eastern Christian monasticism is the life followed by monks and nuns of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East and Eastern Catholicism. Eastern monasticism is founded on the Rule of St Basil and is sometimes thus referred to as Basilian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem</span> Autonomous Armenian Oriental Orthodox Church in Jerusalem

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, also known as the Armenian Patriarchate of Saint James, is located in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem. The Armenian Apostolic Church is officially recognised under Israel's confessional system, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese of Jerusalem</span> Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Coptic Orthodox Church

The Holy and Ancient Archdiocese of Jerusalem, All Palestine, and All the Near East or the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, is a Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Coptic Orthodox Church, which is part of the wider communion of the Oriental Orthodox Church. It is headed by the Coptic Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Jerusalem, the incumbent being Metropolitan Archbishop Antonious of Jerusalem since 2016. Its jurisdiction covers those Coptic Orthodox Christians living in the Near East; with churches and monasteries in the State of Palestine, the State of Kuwait, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Lebanese Republic, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Republic of Iraq. The adherents are largely of Coptic Egyptian descent, mainland Coptic migrants and their descendants. The archdiocese is based at St Anthony's Monastery, in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, beside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Theophilus,, was the 18th metropolitan of the Holy and Great City of Our Lord, Jerusalem, Archbishop of the Holy and Ancient Archdiocese of Jerusalem, all Palestine and the Near East from 1935 until his death in 1945. During his reign, the Archdiocese of Jerusalem also possessed Jurisdiction over the eastern most provinces of Egypt in Al-Sharqyia, Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez. He was also the abbot of the Monasteries of Saint Anthony and Saint George in Jerusalem.

References

  1. The official Website describes the Church as "διοικητικά "αδούλωτος, ασύδοτος, ακαταπάτητος, πάντη και παντός ελευθέρα, αυτοκέφαλος" or "administratively 'free, loose, untresspassable, free from anyone at any time, autocephalous'" (see link below)
  2. Weitzmann, Kurt, in: Galey, John; Sinai and the Monastery of St. Catherine, p. 14, Doubleday, New York (1980) ISBN   0-385-17110-2
  3. Ware, Kallistos (Timothy) (1964). "Part I: History". The Orthodox Church. Penguin Books. Retrieved 2007-07-14. Under Introduction Bishop Kallistos says that Sinai is "autocephalous"; under The twentieth century, Greeks and Arabs he states that "There is some disagreement about whether the monastery should be termed an 'autocephalous' or merely an 'autonomous' Church."
  4. The Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai CNEWA Canada, "A papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support" Archived May 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "CNEWA - the Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai". Archived from the original on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2015-04-20.

Sources

Further reading