Author Description

The Holy Monastery of St. Catherine, situated among the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, is the oldest continuously active monastery in the world. Recorded as a Christian pilgrimage site as early as the fourth century, it is located where Moses is thought to have seen the Burning Bush and to have received the Ten Commandments. In the sixth century the great Byzantine Emperor Justinian provided a handsome church and fortifications for the monastery. Later generations of pilgrims added other gifts; there are still frequent pilgrims there today. In this beautiful and informative book, the isolated Monastery and its buildings are presented in many newly commissioned color images that include the richly decorated sanctuary of the sixth-century church and the world's most outstanding collection of icons. Along with an introduction by His Eminence Archbishop Damianos and an essay on the Monastery by Helen C. Evans, the book offers powerful photographs of the site--some of which are provided from the Monastery's archives--with the descriptive captions written by the monks of the Monastery.