THE WRITINGS OF THE HERMITS
THE writings of the hermits from the fifth century onwards throw light
on the aspirations and the attitude of mind of these men of the desert,
to whom the interests of ordinary mankind were as nothing.
Foremost among these writings are those of Nilus, a man of learning
who, after occupying a high position at Constantinople, visited the
hermits, with whom he remained. His _Narrationes_ contain valuable
information on heathen sacrifice at the time.[165]
About the year 420 Nilus decided to separate from his wife in order to
visit the “Bush at the foot of the holy mountain on which God conferred
with the people,” taking his youthful son with him. The barbarians,
he tells us, dwelt from Arabia to Egypt, from the Red Sea to the
Jordan, ever ready to draw the sword, hunting wild beasts, attacking
travellers, and making use of their camel-dromedaries for sacrifices
which they devoured with dog-like voracity. They had no regard for God,
but adored the Morning Star (Lucifer, ἄστρον πρωϊνόν), to which they
sacrificed the best product of the chase, or boys of comely appearance,
on an altar of rough stones. Failing these, they took a fattened white
camel without blemish which they made to kneel. They encircled it
three times to the sound of chanting, whereupon the sheykh who acted
as leader, made a thrust at the beast’s neck, and all of them hastily
drank of the blood that gushed forth.
The whole band then fell upon the victim, and each person hacked off
and devoured a piece of the beast’s flesh and skin. It was the rule of
the rite that the whole victim with body, bones, blood and entrails,
was done away with before the rays of the sun appeared above the
horizon (p. 613).
In contrast to this life was that of the hermits who dwelt in huts
and rock shelters within call of one another, removed from the claims
of the tax-gatherer, and emulating Moses and Elijah in their fasting
and humility, some cultivating corn for bread, while others lived on
vegetables and green meat, coming together once a week on a Sunday.
Nilus was among them, having come down from the holy mountain with his
son on a visit to the hermits who dwelt near the Bush. They happened
to be in church, when a barbarian horde swept down on them like a
whirlwind, seized the food which they had stored in their cells against
the winter, and then called to the hermits to come out of church,
to strip and to stand according to age. They cut down the priest
Theodulos, and slew the fathers Paulus and John, and then seized the
young men, bidding the older ones be gone. Many rushed up the mountain,
“which they generally avoid since God stood upon it and conferred with
the people” (p. 631). Nilus stood irresolute, when his son Theodulos,
whom the barbarians had seized, signed to him to be gone. “O why,” he
exclaimed, “did not the ground open and swallow them like the sons of
Korah? Why had the miracles of Sinai ceased, and no thunder rolled, no
lightning flashed to scare them in their wickedness?”
When the barbarians had gone, Nilus helped to bury the dead, and was
presently joined by one of the youths who had been carried off but
escaped. He described how the barbarians erected an altar, collected
wood as a preparation for sacrificing to Lucifer. This he was told by
a fellow captive who understood their language. The youths lay bound
ready for sacrifice, but he escaped by wriggling away on the ground
like a snake. His account filled Nilus with apprehension as to the fate
of his son, but in his misery he was upheld by the courage of a woman
of Pharan, whose son had actually been murdered.
As there had been other outrages, it was decided in the council (βουλή)
at Pharan to lodge a complaint with the phylarch or king of the
barbarians (p. 663). His relation to the Roman empire was apparently
that he must keep the peace and safeguard those who passed through
his territory, in return for which he received a grant (_annonæ_). On
much the same basis, the sheykhs of Sinai under British rule, are
responsible for keeping the peace, in return for which they receive a
grant in money which they must call for in person at Suez.
Envoys were therefore despatched to the phylarch. They carried bows
and arrows, and a stone for striking fire, which would enable them to
live by killing and roasting game, “for there is wood in abundance
that serves as firewood, since no one fells trees in the desert” (p.
663). During their absence Nilus and others went the round of the
neighbouring settlements, where the hermits had been attacked. At
Bethrambe (or Thrambe) they buried Proclus; at Salael[166] they buried
Hypatius; Macarius and Marcus they found dead in the desert; Benjamin
had been slain at Elim; Eusebius was still alive at Tholas; in Adze
they found Elias dead (p. 663).
The envoys on their return brought word that King Ammanus was anxious
to maintain his relations with the empire, and was prepared to make
good the losses which had been incurred. He bade those who had claims
to appear before him. Nilus and others accordingly sallied forth. On
the eighth day Nilus, who was looking for water, actually caught sight
of the encamped Saracens; on the twelfth day of journeying they reached
the end of their journey, (which may have been Petra). Here Nilus heard
that his son was alive and had been sold into slavery at Elusa. On the
way thither, he met a man who had actually seen him, and on going into
the church at Elusa, he found his son Theodulos, who had been made
doorkeeper of the church by the bishop of the place. Theodulos told his
father how he and others lay bound on the ground all night near the
altar with a sword, a bason, a phial and incense beside them. But the
barbarians drank heavily at night and overslept themselves, and the
sun stood above the horizon when they awoke, so the occasion for the
sacrifice was forfeited. They therefore moved on to Souka (perhaps a
village, perhaps market, Arabic _suk_), from where they sold Theodulos
into slavery. Nilus and his son now decided to settle permanently among
the hermits looking forward to a pleasant life. After being ordained by
the bishop of Elusa they returned to Sinai where they apparently ended
their days. Their memory there continues to be kept to this day. Their
bodies were raised together with those of others in the reign of the
emperor Justinus Junior (565-578), and were translated to the Church of
the Holy Apostles at Constantinople.[167]
In the course of the fifth century the dispute regarding the dual
nature of Christ entered a further stage when Nestorius, who had been
under the influence of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and was promoted to
the see of Constantinople, raised objection to the term God-bearer,
Θεοτόκος, as applied to the Virgin. By doing so he raised a storm of
dissent, the veneration of the Virgin being widespread and deep-seated,
partly owing to having been engrafted on an earlier mother-cult.
Pope Celestinus (422-432) called upon Nestorius to recant, but he
refused, and a Church Council therefore met at Ephesus in 431 to
discuss the matter. Among the two hundred bishops who declared against
Nestorius were Hermogenes of Rhinocorura, Abraham of Ostracine,
and Lampetius of Casium.[168] The outcome of the dispute was that
Nestorius, in the year 435, went into perpetual banishment. Hermogenes
of Rhinocorura was praised as a man of moderation and humility, by
Isidorus († 449), a monk and prolific letter-writer of Pelusium.[169]
After the Council at Ephesus, Hermogenes went on a mission to Rome
with Lampetius of Casium, and was succeeded in his bishopric by Zeno,
who was succeeded by Alphius.[170] It was, perhaps, this Alphius who
sided with Lampetius (possibly the bishop of Casium) in the difficulty
regarding the vagrant ascetics called Massaliani or Euchites, men and
women, who gave themselves to prayer and lived by begging, refusing
to work. They were censured at the synod of Ephesus,[171] and their
condemnation henceforth acted as a deterrent to the wanderings of
hermits generally. In consequence of his course of action Alphius
was obliged to resign his see. He was succeeded by Ptolemæus of
Rhinocorura, who acted in concert with Timothy, patriarch of Alexandria.
A further difficulty was created when the Church Council met at
Chalcedon under the auspices of the empress Pulcheria and her husband
Marcian, and in 451 laid down articles as to the nature of Christ which
remain to this day the standard of the Catholic faith. Of the bishops
of the sees in Sinai only Beryllus, bishop of Aila, set his signature
to the declaration.[172] And when Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem
(451-458), returned to his see and declared his intention of abiding
by the decision, the fanatical monks seized the city, turned him out
and set the Egyptian monk Theodosius in his place. It was in vain that
Juvenal sought to settle the matter by leniency. Theodosius ruled in
Jerusalem during twenty months. When he was finally expelled he fled
to Sinai. The emperor Marcian hereupon addressed a letter to Bishop
Macarius and the monks of Sinai, warning them against Theodosius, who
“went from place to place spreading heresy, and who is now in Mount
Sinai (ἐν τῷ Σινᾷ ὄρει) where there are monasteries which are dear to
you and which have our respect, in which he is working against the true
belief.”[173] The emperor also wrote to Juvenal saying that he had
written about Theodosius and his adherents to “the most worthy bishop
Macarius, to the archimandrite and to the monks,” warning them of his
false arguments, and asking them to eject him and hand him over with
his satellites to the prefect of the province.[174] It is unknown what
became of it.
Other writings of the hermits give an insight into the speculative zeal
and boundless credulity of these devotees to a simple life, to whom
everything surprising appeared in the light of a miracle. Collections
of _Sayings of the Fathers_ (Verba Seniorum), and incidents in their
lives, were a favourite branch of literature at the time. Anastasius
(_c._ 561-614), a monk of Sinai, John Climacus († 609), who dwelt
at Tholas, and then at the convent, and John Moschus († 619), who
habitually dwelt in Jerusalem, but went about visiting, were among
those who collected anecdotes and sayings regarding Sinai.
Pillar saints at this time were attracting attention near Antioch.
There was an older Simeon who died in 460, and a younger Simeon who
died in 596. A monk of Raithou went to Simeon hoping to be relieved
of a demon. But Simeon bade him return to Raithou, and there seek the
assistance of Father Andrew, who had the power of expelling demons.
Andrew spoke to Moschus of his power to do so, which he attributed
to Simeon Stylites.[175] Again, Mena, also of Raithou, deserted his
post and sought the pillar saint, who, aware of his failing, bade
him return, as Abbas Sergius told Moschus (no. 118). There was also
Eusebius who was accosted by a man in monkish garb, who asked to be
admitted into the community. Eusebius bade him utter the word Trinity,
and he vanished (no. 119). Those who dwelt in remote districts often
died unattended. Some fishermen were borne by contrary winds to
Pteleos where they found in a cell the bodies of two hermits, which
they carried to Raithou for burial (no. 120). Again, two hermits
dwelt on an island in the Red Sea, from which they went on shore
for water. They lost their boat, and were found dead on the island,
one of them having set down in writing that his comrade lived for
twenty-eight days without drinking, when he died, while he himself
had lasted thirty-seven days at the time of his writing (no. 121).
There was growing, at this time, a feeling that the devotees to a
simple life should remain stationary. John Cilix, abbot of Raithou,
who wrote comments on some of the chapters of John Climacus’ _Ladder
of Paradise_, praised a monk who continued at Raithou for seventy
years, living on green meat and dates. He had been there himself for
seventy-six years, and he admonished the brethren in words recorded
by Moschus, “not to foul the place which the fathers had cleared of
demons,” and always to remain in residence (no. 115).
The collection of anecdotes of Anastasius, a monk of Sinai, mentions
several hermit settlements which have been located in wadis near
the convent, where ruins of huts and garden walls remain to this
day. According to a tradition preserved at the convent, the monks
in the peninsula at one time were between six and seven thousand in
number.[176]
Among these settlements was Malocha, perhaps situated in the Wadi
Malga, north of Ras Safsaf. This was at one time the home of
Epiphanius, who was so devoted to ascetic practices that he had
the power of seeing demons (no. 21).[177] Malocha at another time
harboured Stephen, whose plantation was ravaged by animals, here called
χορογρύλλοι, _i.e._ porkers, possibly they were hyænas. But Stephen
reared a leopard (probably a panther) from a cub whom he set to guard
his plantation (no. 13). This Stephen originally occupied a cell near
the cave of Elijah, which he left for Sidde, “situated about seventy
miles from the tower,” perhaps in Wadi Sidreh, a lower reach of the
Wadi Umm Agraf. He then returned to his cell where he found his two
disciples and died from exhaustion.[178] His body was conveyed to
the convent, where it was set up at the entrance to the crypt. The
_Perigraphe_ of 1817 stated that “he is still at the convent, not
confined by coffin or sarcophagus, but standing upright with crossed
hands and bowed head.”[179] And there the shrivelled figure wearing
hermit clothing remains standing to the present day.
At Sidde we also hear of a hermit who was walking one day in the desert
and saw a Saracen approaching, whereupon he “transformed himself into
a palm tree.” It was only another hermit, and so he returned to his
natural appearance.
Many stories were told of John the Sabaite who dwelt for a time at
Malocha. He was walking one day across the desert with the imperial
ruler (_archiater_) Demetrios, when they came upon the footmarks of a
dragon. Demetrios proposed that they should fly, but John said they
would pray, whereupon the “dragon,” was carried aloft and was thrown
back to the ground shattered to pieces (_Anast._, no. 14). Another
story told of John the Sabaite shows how the imaginary world was to
these men the greater reality. He was dwelling in “the most distant
desert,” when a fellow monk came to see him, who, in reply to his
question how other monks fared, replied, They are well, thanks to your
prayers. He then asked after a monk who had a bad reputation, and heard
that there was no change in his behaviour. Afterwards he fell asleep
and had a vision of the crucified Christ, and himself kneeling. But
Christ called to His angels and thrust him forth, since he had passed
judgment on a fellow monk, thus anticipating divine judgment. As he was
thrust forth, his cowl caught in the gate and he lost it. He awoke,
but the thought of his cowl lost in his dream, showed him that God had
withdrawn from him, and he wandered in the desert seven years, eating
no bread, sleeping in the open and speaking to no one, until he had
another dream in which the Lord restored his cowl to him (_Anast._, no.
17).
John the Sabaite also dwelt at Arselao (a place not identified), where
he was approached by a female porker (or hyæna) who laid her blind
young at his feet. He mixed his spittle with earth and applied it to
the eyes of the creature which became seeing. On the following day the
mother-beast reappeared dragging an enormous cabbage which she laid at
the feet of the old man. But he smiled, charging her with stealing it
from another man’s garden, and bade her take it back, a command which
she forthwith obeyed (_Anast._, no. 15).
Arselao was the home also for a time of a certain George, who was
fetched to the convent to pray for oil, as the store had given out, and
“the road to Palestine was held by the barbarians.” His prayers brought
oil to the cask, like Elijah’s to the widow’s cruse, and like that of
the cruse, it never failed. The cask was placed under the protection
of the Virgin (_Anast._, no. 9). The need of oil led the monks to
cultivate the olive in their gardens, which they did with considerable
success, olives being among their produce which attracted the attention
of the Arab writers.
At Tholas, which was mentioned in the earlier accounts, John Climacus
dwelt for forty years, at the conclusion of which he became head of the
convent. The Wadi Tla’ah is one of the few valleys which has preserved
its character. Prof. Palmer described it in glowing terms in the
Ordnance Survey.
Another hermitage was at Gonda, situated fifteen miles from the Holy
Bush (_Anast._, no. 31). John the Sabaite was living here with Stephen
of Cappadocia, when Father Martyrios arrived with a youthful disciple,
who was John Climacus. John the Sabaite, having the gift of foresight,
recognised the future superior of the convent in him (_Anast._, no. 6).
This Stephen of Cappadocia told John Moschus that he was once in the
church at Raithou when two men entered, who were without clothes.
No one saw them but himself. He followed them out and begged to be
allowed to accompany them. But they bade him stay where he was, and he
saw them walk away across the Red Sea (_Moschus_, no. 122).
There was also the monk Sisoeis, who dwelt in the hermitage of St.
Anthony between the Red Sea and Egypt, where he was visited by a monk
of Pharan who told him that it was ten months since he had seen a human
being. To which Sisoeis replied that it was eleven months since he had
seen one himself.
The hermit life in Sinai was at its height when the lady Etheria
visited the peninsula, intent on identifying the sites of which she had
read in the Bible. Her eagerness seems to have stirred the imagination
of the monks, and led to decisions as to localities which were accepted
as authentic for centuries to come. The account of Etheria calls for a
few words of comment.
The MS. of her journey was discovered in the library of Arezzo by
Gamurrini in 1883. It was incomplete and its author was not named.
Gamurrini provisionally claimed it for St. Silvia of Aquitaine, and
dated the journey between 378 and 383. But the abbé Férotin[180] has
since pointed out that Valerius (_c._ 650), abbot of a monastery near
Astorga in Spain, wrote a letter “In praise of the blessed Etheria,” in
which he described how this nun “with a bold heart undertook a journey
across the world.” He mentioned details of her journey which establish
beyond a doubt that the writer of the Arezzo account was meant.[181] A
German writer, Karl Meister, on the internal evidence of the account,
hereupon dated the journey between 534 and 539. But he overlooked the
fact that Etheria, in connection with her visit to Seleucia, mentioned
by name her dear friend, the _diaconissa_ Martbana, who is named also
as one of the distinguished women of the place by Basileus, bishop of
Seleucia who died in the year 456.[182] There were convents in the
south of France before the close of the fifth century, as we know from
the rules drafted by Cæsarius, bishop of Arles (501-573); the date of
Etheria may be about 460.
The MS. account discovered at Arezzo was incomplete. But the account,
in its complete form, was apparently in the hands of Peter the Deacon
when he compiled his little book _On the Holy Places_, about the year
1157, for Guidobaldo, abbot of Monte Cassino. In this book Peter cited
passages found in the account that was discovered at Arezzo together
with others which seem to be taken from the part of the work which is
wanting. In the account which follows, the initial passages are quoted
from the book of Peter on the assumption that they were taken from the
account of Etheria.
Etheria and her party entered and left Sinai from Egypt.
“Before you reach the holy Mount Syna, stands the fort Clesma on the
Red Sea which the Israelites passed dryshod. The marks (_vestigia_)
of the chariot of the Pharaoh are visible in the ground to this day.
But the wheels are farther apart than those of the chariots (_currus_)
of our days as they are seen in the Roman empire, for between wheel
and wheel is a space of twenty-four feet or more, and the wheelruts
(_orbitæ_) are two feet wide. These marks of the Pharaoh’s chariot lead
down to the shore where he entered the sea when he wanted to seize the
Israelites. On the spot where the Pharaoh’s wheelruts are visible, two
signs are set up, one on the right, and one on the left, like little
columns (_columella_).[183]
Orosius (_c._ 400) in his _History of the Universe_, also mentioned
the marks of the chariot wheels of the Pharaoh, which were still
visible.[184] Cosmas Indicopleustes about the year 550 referred to
them as “a sign to unbelievers.”[185] The consensus of opinion of
these writers suggests the existence of some feature that attracted
attention. The word _Clysma_ itself signified beach or jetty. Perhaps
the ruts were the marks made by the keels of the boats that were hauled
in, in which case the little columns were perhaps the bollards on which
the ropes were worked.
“Beyond the place of crossing lay the desert Shur and Mara with its
two wells that were sweetened by Moses (probably the Ayun Musa). Three
days’ journey lay Arandara, the place called Helim, where the river, in
places, disappeared in the ground and where there was much herbage and
many palm trees. From the crossing of the Red Sea near Sur there was no
pleasanter place.” The description and the name Arandara point to the
present Wadi Gharandel.
Etheria was bent on seeing all the sites, including the place where
it rained manna, the cells with Hebrew writing, the desert of Pharan
“where there were neither fields nor vineyards but water and palm
trees,” the place Faran, where Amalek opposed the Israelites, the place
where the Israelites called for water, and the place where Jethro met
Moses, his son-in-law, “the spot where Moses prayed while Joshua fought
Amalek, is a high, steep mountain above Pharan, and where Moses prayed
there is now a church” (Petrus, ed. Geyer, p. 118). This was probably
the church mentioned above which was founded by Julian Sabbas.
From Pharan Etheria’s party moved to a place where the mountains opened
themselves out, and found a great valley beyond which appeared “Syna,
the holy Mount of God,” which is united with the place where are the
Graves of Lust (_i.e._ Kibroth Hata-avah). The guards said that it was
customary to offer prayers. “So then we did.” From here to the Mount
of God it was perhaps four miles altogether, the length of the valley
being sixteen miles (c. 31) The plain was presumably the present plain
of Er Raha.
According to Etheria the Israelites waited in this plain when Moses
went up into the Mount of God—there was also the place where the calf
was made—it was the valley at the head of which was the place where
holy Moses was when he fed the flocks of his father-in-law when God
spoke to him from the Burning Bush. But as their route was first to
ascend the Mount of God at the side from which they were approaching
because the ascent was easier, and then to descend to the head of
the valley where the Bush was, thence retracing their steps so as
to see the places mentioned in Scripture, they spent the night at a
certain monastery where kindly monks dwelt and where they were all
well received. There was a church there and a priest (this place has
not been identified). It was the night preceding the Sabbath, and
early on the following morning they made the ascent of the mountains
one by one with the priests and the monks that lived there. “And you
must go straight down each mountain until you arrive at the foot of
the central one, which is strictly called Sinai. And so, Christ our
God commanding us, and encouraged by the prayers of the holy men who
accompanied us, although the labour was great, for I had to ascend on
foot because the ascent could not be made in a chair (_sella_), yet I
did not feel it.” At the fourth hour they reached the peak of Sinai
where the Law was given, the place where the majesty of God descended
on the day when the mountain smoked, and then they found a church,
small because the summit of the mount where it stood was small, but
with a large measure of grace. They were joined by the priest of the
monastery who served the church, for no one permanently lived on the
mountain where was the cave and the church where holy Moses was (c.
33). Passages were read of the book of Moses, the party communicated
and received a present of first fruits (_pomis_) from the monks, and
Etheria asked questions about the various sites, including the cave
where Moses was when he ascended the mountain a second time to receive
the tables and “other sites, both those which we asked to see, and
those about which they themselves knew. But this I would have you know,
ladies, venerable sisters, that the mountains which we had at first
ascended without difficulty, were as hillocks compared with the central
one on which we were standing. And yet they were so enormous that I
thought I had never seen higher, did not this central one overtop them
by so much. Egypt and Palestine, the Red Sea and the Parthenian (_i.e._
Mediterranean) Sea, which leads to Alexandria, also the boundless
territories of the Saracens, we saw below us, hard though it is to
believe; all which things these holy men pointed out to us” (c. 34).
As a matter of fact, the Red Sea is not visible from the Gebel Musa,
but from the Gebel Katrîn. Etheria’s mention of a church on the height,
however, shows it was the Gebel Musa she ascended.
From the Mount of God they descended to the mountain joined to it
called Horeb, where there was a church and where they saw the cave
where Elijah hid and the stone altar (_sic_) which he built. This
description and the later account of Antoninus Martyr (cf. below)
show that at this period Horeb was accounted a different height from
the Mount of the Law. After seeing a great rock with a flat surface
on which stood Aaron and the seventy elders when Moses received the
Law—“and in the middle there is a sort of altar made of stones”—the
party began the descent at about the eighth hour and at the tenth hour
they reached the Bush; “it is alive to this day and puts forth shoots.”
Here there were many cells, a church, and a garden with the Bush,
and the party partook of a light meal in the garden and remained the
night (c. 35). On the next day they explored and saw the following:
the place of the camp of the Israelites,—the place where the calf was
made, “a great stone is fixed in that place to this day,”—the spot
from which Moses watched the Israelites dancing,—the rock on which
the tables were broken,—the dwelling places of the Israelites “of
which the foundations made in circular form remain to this day,”—the
place where the Israelites ran from gate to gate,—also the place
where the calf was burnt, and the stream out of which the Israelites
drank,—the place where the seventy received the spirit of Moses (Num.
xi. 25),—the place where the Israelites lusted (Num. xi. 34),—the
place where the camp took fire (Num. xi. 2), and the place where it
rained manna and quails. The reader is aware that according to the
Biblical account, these latter sites were far removed from the spot
where the Law was given. “Thus having seen all the places which the
sons of Israel visited both going and returning,” Etheria and her party
started back to Pharan, distant thirty-five miles. They then stayed
at a station (_mansio_) in the desert of Pharan; then near the coast,
and then at Clysma (near the present Suez), where they rested, “for we
had stoutly made our way through the soil of the desert.” Etheria had
previously passed through Goshen on her way from Egypt into Sinai; but
she now decided to follow up the places visited by the Israelites. So
she journeyed to Migdol “with its fort and an officer commanding the
soldiery in accordance with Roman discipline,” and passed Epauleum (LXX
for Pihahiroth) on the further side of the water; and another fort
“Balsefon”; also “Othon” (LXX for Etham), Succoth and Pithom. “The
present Pithom is now a fort,” she wrote, and reached Hero, ancient
Heroöpolis. Here the party entered the borders of Egypt leaving behind
the territories of the Saracens (c. 39), and moved on to the city of
Rameses, described as a “come” (_i.e._ κώμη) situated near the present
Tell er Rotab. Finally they reached “the city of Arabia,” and met its
bishop. Probably the ancient Per-Sopd, later Phacusa, the capital
of the nome, is meant. A bishop of Phacusa is mentioned.[186] From
here the road went “from the Thebaid to Pelusium by way of Tathnis,”
probably the Greek Daphne, the Tahpanhes of Jeremiah, following the
course of an arm of the Nile to Pelusium. Etheria had been before on
her way to Alexandria. She now journeyed along the coast “passing
several stations,” and then entered Palestine (_c._ 40).
The detailed account by Etheria and her location of the various holy
sites in Sinai was the first of its kind, and apparently remained the
only one for centuries to come. Before her pilgrimage we only hear
of a church built above the valley of Pharan which commemorated the
struggle between Moses and the Amalekites, while the Bush, Horeb, and
Elim were names of settlements which had been chosen by the monks in
remembrance of Moses and Elijah whom they accepted as their patrons. On
the same basis a monastery or laura near Jerusalem, mentioned as the
abode of John Moschus, was called Pharan. The names which were given to
settlements in Sinai may have caused these places to be looked upon as
those that were actually visited by Moses and Elijah.
The “Bush” was mentioned without further comment by Ammonius (_c._
372) as a settlement. It was described as the “Bush at the foot of the
mountain where God conferred with the people” by Nilus (_c._ 449).
About the same time Etheria (_c._ 450) spoke of “a church in the place
where the Bush is, which Bush is alive to this day,” while Procopius,
the secretary of Justinian, remarked (_c._ 550) in a more cautious
strain, “here it was that Moses was said to have received the Laws
from God and proclaimed them.” It was Etheria who claimed to have seen
during a single day all the places visited by the Israelites including,
in the plain below, Taberah, the place of Burning (Num. xi. 2) and
Kibroth Hata-avah (Num. xi. 34), where the Israelites stayed long after
they left the holy mountain.
The monkish settlement Horeb or Choreb was mentioned also by Ammonius
(_c._ 372), and, judging from his description, it was quite separate
from that of the Bush. As a height, Horeb was also held separate from
the Mountain of the Law both by Etheria and by Antoninus. But Etheria,
and others after her, looked upon Horeb not only as the site to which
Elijah fled after crossing the desert, but as identical with the place
where he set up the great altar at which he confounded the prophets of
Baal.
Elim, again, was mentioned as a monkish settlement by Ammonius (_c._
372), and his description leaves no doubt that Raithou near the present
Tur on the coast, two days’ journey from the Bush, is meant. This
settlement retained its name, Elim, till recent times. Some of the
mediæval pilgrims looked upon it as the actual Elim of the Bible. Thus
the Ritter von Harff, who visited it in 1497, held that the Israelites
here left the Red Sea, and asserted that bones that lay on the shore
were those of the pursuing Egyptians. But Etheria and Cosmas (_c._ 550)
with a better appreciation of possibilities, located the passage of the
Israelites near Clysma (near the present Suez), and sought Elim of the
Bible, not at Raithou, but at Arandara, the present Wadi Gharandel.