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these holy men had fixed their cells upon the mountain at the distance of a mile or more from each other, in order to avoid mutual interruption during the week; although they occasionally visited each other. On the eve of the Lord's day they descended to the holy place of the Bush, where was a church and apparently a convent; or at least a place where stores were laid up for the winter. Here they spent the night at prayers; received the sacrament in the morning of Sunday; and after passing some time in spiritual conversation returned to their cells. One morning, the 14th of January, as they were about to separate, they were attacked by a party of Saracens, who drove them all into the church, while they plundered the repository of stores. Then, bringing them out, the barbarians killed the Superior Theodulus and two others outright; reserved several of the younger men as captives; and suffered the rest to escape up the sides of the mountains. Among these last was Nilus; his son Theodulus was among the captives. The Saracens now withdrew, taking the captives with them, and killing eight other anchorites in various places. Nilus and his companions in flight descended at night and buried the dead bodies; and afterwards retired to Pharan (Feîran). The council or senate of this city immediately sent messengers to the king of the Saracens; who disavowed the outrage and promised reparation. Meantime Theodulus had been sold and brought to Elusa; where he was redeemed by the bishop of that city, and ultimately recovered by his father.

In the middle of the fifth century, we find a letter from the emperor Marcian to the bishop Macarius, the archimandrites, and monks in Mount Sinai, "where are situated monasteries beloved of God and worthy of all honour," warning them against the dangerous

tenets and practices of the heretic Theodosius, who had fled to these mountains, after the council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451. Nearly a century later, A. D. 536, among the subscriptions at the council of Constantinople, appears the name of Theonas, a presbyter and legate of the holy Mount Sinai, the desert Raithou (Tûr), and the holy church at Pharan.2

The tradition of the present convent relates, that it was established by the emperor Justinian A. D. 527, on the place where a small church had been built by Helena long before. The main fact of this tradition, the building of the great church, is supported by the testimony of Procopius the historian, who flourished about the middle of the same century. He relates that Mount Sinai was then inhabited by monks, "whose whole life was but a continual preparation for death;" and that in consideration of their holy abstinence from all worldly enjoyments, Justinian caused a church to be erected for them, and dedicated it to the holy Virgin.3 This was placed not upon the summit of the mountain, but far below; because no one could pass the night upon the top, on account of the constant sounds and other supernatural phenomena which were there perceptible. At the foot or outmost base of the mountain, according to Procopius, the same emperor built a

1) Harduin Acta Concilior. II. col. 665, compared with col. 685. 2) Harduin Acta Conc. II. col. 1281, 1304.

3) This is doubtless the church now standing; which, however, bears the name of the Transfiguration.

4) Procop. de Aedificiis Justiniani, lib. V. 8. We did not notice the Greek inscription over the gate, given by M. Letronne in the Journal des Savans, Sept. 1836, p. 358. Burckhardt speaks only of one in modern Arabic characters,

with the same contents. Both inscriptions refer the building of the convent to Justinian in the thirtieth year of his reign, A. D. 527. But in that year Justinian first ascended the throne; and the inscription is doubtless therefore the work of a later age, and founded on a false tradition. As to the chapel said to have been built by Helena, there is not the slightest historical hint that she was ever in the region of Mount Sinai, or caused any church to be erected there.

strong fortress, with a select garrison, to prevent the inroads of the Saracens from that quarter into Palestine.

More explicit is the testimony of Eutychius, Patriarch of Alexandria in the latter half of the ninth century; which apparently as yet has never been referred to, but which shows that the present tradition has come down with little variation since that age. He relates that Justinian caused a fortified convent to be erected for the monks of Sinai, including the former tower and chapel, in order to protect them from the incursions of the Ishmaelites. This accords with the appearance of the building at the present day; and is probably the same work which Procopius has confounded with a fortress.1

Towards the close of the same (sixth) century, Sinai was visited by Antoninus Martyr; who found in the recently erected convent three Abbots, who spoke the Syrian, Greek, Egyptian and Besta (Arabic?) languages. A chapel was already built upon the summit, and the whole region was full of the cells and dwellings of hermits. On a part of Mount Horeb or Mountain of the Cross, the Saracens or Ishmaelites (Antoninus calls them by both names) at that time venerated an idol, apparently connected with the worship of the morning star, which was common among the Saracens. It appears then, that these Saracens, the descendants of the Nabatheans, had continued to inhabit the peninsula, notwithstanding the intrusion of the monks and Christians. They differed probably in few respects from the Arabs of the present day.

During the earlier centuries of this monastic pos

1) Eutychii Annales, ed. Pococke, II. p. 160. The whole passage is so curious, that a full translation of it is given in Note XVIII, at the end of the volume. VOL. I.

Not improbably the "Arabic document" mentioned by Burckhardt, (p. 545,) as preserved in the convent, may be a manuscript of the work of Eutychius.

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session of the peninsula, the seat of the bishop appears to have been at Pharan or Faran, the present Feirân; where was likewise a Christian population and a senate or council so early as the time of Nilus, about A. D. 400. About this time too Naterus or Nathyr is mentioned as its bishop. The bishop Macarius spoken of above probably had his seat there; and before the middle of the sixth century there is express mention of Photius as bishop of Pharan.' About the same time, A. D. 535, Pharan is mentioned by Cosmas as the location of Rephidim.2 Theodorus of the same see was famous in the Monothelitic controversy, and was denounced by two councils; that of the Lateran, A. D. 649, and that of Constantinople, A. D. 680. The town of Faran or Feirân was situated in the Wady of that name, opposite to Jebel Serbâl. Rüppell found here the remains of a church, the architecture of which he assigns to the fifth century; and Burckhardt speaks of the remains of some two hundred houses, and the ruins of several towers visible on the neighbouring hills. With the episcopal city the monasteries around Serbâl and Sinai stood of course in intimate connection; until at length the growing importance and influence of the convent established by Justinian, appears to have superseded the claims of Faran, and to have caused the chief episcopal seat to be transferred within its own walls, at least before the close of the tenth century. The death of Jorius, "bishop of Mount Sinai," is recorded in A. D. 1033. At this time Sinai as an episcopal see stood directly under the Patriarch of Jerusalem, as an Archiepiscopate; that is, without

1) Le Quien Oriens Christ. III. col. 753. Comp. Tillemont Mémoires, etc. X. p. 453.

2) Cosmas Indicopl. Topogr. Christ. in Montfaucon Coll. nov. Patrum, II. p. 195.

3) Rüppell's Reisen in Nubien, etc. p. 263. Burckhardt's Travels, etc. p. 616. See more on Pharan in Note XVI, at the end of the volume.

4) Le Quien, 1. c. col. 754.

the intervention of a metropolitan; and although the name of Faran still appears as a bishopric, yet all further notices of its importance are wanting.1

After the Muhammedan conquests, when the Saracens of the peninsula would seem to have exchanged their heathen worship for the tenets of the false prophet, the anchorites and inmates of the monasteries appear to have continued to live on in the same state of inquietude, and sometimes perhaps of danger. Near the close of the sixth century, and during the seventh, the wellknown monkish writers, Johannes Climacus and Anastasius Sinaita, flourished here. About the middle of the tenth century the monks of Sinai are reported to have all fled for their lives to a mountain called Latrum.2 In the beginning of the eleventh century, the convent was again in a flourishing state, and was visited by great numbers of pilgrims. At this time the celebrated St. Simeon resided here as a monk; who understood the Egyptian, Syriac, Arabic, Greek and Latin languages; and who in A. D. 1027 came to Europe and was hospitably entertained by Richard II. Duke of Normandy. He brought with him relics of St. Catharine, and collected alms for the convent; but afterwards founded an abbey in France, where he died. In A. D. 1116, King Baldwin I. of Jerusalem made an excursion to the Gulf of 'Akabah, and expressed the intention of visiting Mount Sinai; he was persuaded not to do so by messengers from the monks, in order that they might not by his visit be exposed

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