[p.540] made us all give him our solemn promise not to mention any thing
of the affair. When I discharged him and Ayd at the convent, I made them
both some presents, which they had well deserved, particularly Hamd;
this he was so imprudent as to mention to his uncle Szaleh, who was so
vexed at not receiving a present, that he immediately divulged all the
circumstances of our rencounter. Hamd in consequence was under the
greatest apprehensions from the relations of the robber, and having
accompanied me on my return to Cairo, he remained with me some time
there, in anxious expectation of hearing whether the robbers blood was
likely to be revenged. Not hearing any thing, he then returned to his
mountain, four months after which a party of Omran, to whose tribe the
men had belonged, came to the tent of the Sheikh of the Towara to demand
the fine of blood. The man had died a few days after receiving the
wound, and although he was a robber and the first aggressor, the Bedouin
laws entitled his relations to the fine, if they waved the right of
retaliation; Hamd was therefore glad to come to a compromise, and paid
them two camels, (which the two principal Sheikhs of the Towara gave him
for the purpose), and twenty dollars, which I thought myself bound to
reimburse to him, when he afterwards called on me at Cairo. This was the
third man Hamd had killed in skirmish; but he had paid no fine for the
others, as it was never known who they were, nor to what tribe they
belonged.
Had Hamd, whom every one knew to be the person who had stabbed the
robber, refused to pay the fine, the Omran would sooner or later have
retaliated upon himself or his relations, or perhaps upon some other
individual of his tribe, according to the custom of these Bedouins, who
have established among themselves the law of striking sideways.[See my
remarks on the customs of blood-revenge, in the description of Bedouin
manners.]
[p.541] The convent of Mount Sinai is situated in a valley so narrow,
that one part of the building stands on the side of the western
mountain, while a space of twenty paces only is left between its walls
and the eastern mountain. The valley is open to the north, from whence
approaches the road from Cairo; to the south, close behind the convent,
it is shut up by a third mountain, less steep than the others, over
which passes the road to Sherm. The convent is an irregular quadrangle
of about one hundred and thirty paces, enclosed by high and solid walls
built with blocks of granite, and fortified by several small towers.
While the French were in Egypt, a part of the east wall which had fallen
down was completely rebuilt by order of General Kleber, who sent workmen
here for that purpose. The upper part of the walls in the interior is
built of a mixture of granite-sand and gravel, cemented together by mud,
which has acquired great hardness.
The convent contains eight or ten small court-yards, some of which are
neatly laid out in beds of flowers and vegetables; a few date-trees and
cypresses also grow there, and great numbers of vines. The distribution
of the interior is very irregular, and could not be otherwise,
considering the slope upon which the building stands; but the whole is
very clean and neat. There are a great number of small rooms, in the
lower and upper stories, most of which are at present unoccupied. The
principal building in the interior is the great church, which, as well
as the convent, was built by the Emperor Justinian, but it has
subsequently undergone frequent repairs. The form of the church is an
oblong square, the roof is supported by a double row of fine granite
pillars, which have been covered with a coat of white plaster, perhaps
because the natural colour of the stone was not agreeeble to the monks,
who saw granite on every side of them. The capitals of the columns are
of different designs; several of them bear a resemblance to palm
branches, while others
[p.542] are a close but coarse imitation of the latest period of
Egyptian sculpture, such as is seen at Philae, and in several temples in
Nubia. The dome over the altar still remains as it was constructed by
Justinian, whose portrait, together with that of his wife Theodora, may
yet be distinguished on the dome, together with a large picture of the
transfiguration, in honour of which event the convent was erected. An
abundance of silver lamps, paintings, and portraits of saints adorn the
walls round the altar; among the latter is a saint Christopher, with a
dogs head. The floor of the church is finely paved with slabs of
marble.
The church contains the coffin in which the bones of saint Catherine
were collected from the neighbouring mountain of St. Catherine, where
her corpse was transported after her death by the angels in the service
of the monks. The silver lid of a sarcophagus likewise attracts
attention; upon it is represented at full length the figure of the
empress Anne of Russia, who entertained the idea of being interred in
the sarcophagus, which she sent here; but the monks were disappointed of
this honour. In a small chapel adjoining the church is shewn the place
where the Lord is supposed to have appeared to Moses in the burning
bush; it is called Alyka [Arabic], and is considered as the most holy
spot in Mount Sinai. Besides the great church, there are twenty-seven
smaller churches or chapels dispersed over the convent, in many of which
daily masses are read, and in all of them at least one every Sunday.
The convent formerly resembled in its establishment that of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem, which contains churches of various sects of
Christians. Every principal sect, except the Calvinists and Protestants,
had its churches in the convent of Sinai. I was shewn the chapels
belonging to the Syrians, Armenians, Copts, and Latins, but they have
long been abandoned by their owners; the church of the Latins fell into
ruins at the close of
[p.543] the seventeenth century, and has not been rebuilt. But what is
more remarkable than the existence of so many churches, is that close by
the great church stands a Mahometan mosque, spacious enough to contain
two hundred people at prayers. The monks told me that it was built in
the sixteenth century, to prevent the destruction of the convent. Their
tradition is as follows: when Selim, the Othman Emperor, conquered
Egypt, he took a great fancy to a young Greek priest, who falling ill,
at the time that Selim was returning to Constantinople, was sent by him
to this convent to recover his health; the young man died, upon which
the Emperor, enraged at what he considered to be the work of the
priests, gave orders to the governor of Egypt to destroy all the
Christian establishments in the peninsula; of which there were several
at that period. The priests of the great convent of Mount Sinai being
informed of the preparations making in Egypt to carry these orders into
execution, began immediately to build a mosque within their walls,
hoping that for its sake their house would be spared; it is said that
their project was successful and that ever since the mosque has been
kept in repair.
This tradition, however, is contradicted by some old Arabic records kept
by the prior, in which I read a circumstantial account how, in the year
of the Hedjra 783, some straggling Turkish Hadjis, who had been cut off
from the caravan, were brought by the Bedouins to the convent; and being
found to be well educated, and originally from upper Egypt, were
retained here, and a salary settled on them and their descendants, on
condition of their becoming the servants of the mosque. The conquest of
Egypt by Selim did not take place till A.H. 895. The mosque in the
convent of Sinai appears therefore to have existed long before the time
[p.544] of Selim. The descendants of these Hadjis, now poor Bedouins,
are called Retheny [Arabic], they still continue to be the servants of
the mosque, which they clean on Thursday evenings, and light the lamps;
one of them is called the Imam. The mosque is sometimes visited by
Moslim pilgrims, but it is only upon the occasion of the presence of
some Mussulman of consequence that the call to prayers is made from the
Minaret.
In the convent are two deep and copious wells of spring water; one of
them is called the well of Moses, because it is said that he first drank
of its water. Another was the work, as the monks say, of an English
Lord, it bears the date 1760. There is also a reservoir for the
reception of rain water.
None of the churches or chapels have steeples. There is a bell, which, I
believe, is rung only on Sundays. The usual mode of calling the monks to
morning prayers is by striking with a stick upon a long piece of
granite, suspended from ropes, which produces a sound heard all over the
convent; close by it hangs a piece of dry wood, which emits a different
sound, and summons to vespers. A small tower is shewn which was built
forty or fifty years ago for the residence of a Greek patriarch of
Constantinople, who was exiled to this place by the orders of the
Sultan, and who remained here till he died.
According to the credited tradition, the origin of the convent of Mount
Sinai dates from the fourth century. Helena, the mother of Constantine,
is said to have erected here a small church, in commemoration of the
place where the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and in the
garden of the convent a small tower is still shewn, the foundations of
which are said to have been laid by her. The church of Helena drawing
many visitors and monks to these mountains, several small convents were
erected in different
[p.545] parts of the peninsula, in the course of the next century, but
the ill treatment which the monks and hermits suffered from the Bedouins
induced them at last to present a petition to the Emperor Justinian,
entreating him to build a fortified convent capable of affording them
protection against their oppressors. He granted the request, and sent
workmen from Constantinople and Egypt, with orders to erect a large
convent upon the top of the mountain of Moses; those however to whom the
work was entrusted, observing the entire want of water in that spot,
built it on the present site. They attempted in vain to cut away the
mountain on each side of the building, with a view to prevent the Arabs
from taking post there and throwing stones at the monks within. The
building being completed, Justinian sent from Constantinople some
slaves, natives of the shores of the Black sea, to officiate as servants
in the convent, who established themselves with their families in the
neighbouring valleys. The first prior was Doulas, whose name is still
recorded upon a stone built into the wall of one of the buildings in the
interior of the convent. The above history is taken from a document in
Arabic, preserved by the monks. An Arabic inscription over the gate, in
modern characters, says that Justinian built the convent in the
thirtieth year of his reign, as a memorial of himself and his wife
Theodora. It is curious to find a passage of the Koran introduced into
this inscription; it was probably done by a Moslem sculptor, without the
knowledge of the monks. A few years after the completion of the convent,
one of the monks is said to have been informed in his sleep, that the
corpse of St. Catherine, who suffered martyrdom at Alexandria, had been
transported by angels to the summit of the highest peak of the
surrounding mountains. The monks ascended the mountain in
[p.546] procession, found the bones, and deposited them in their church,
which thus acquired an additional claim to the veneration of the Greeks.
Monastic establishments seem soon after to have considerably increased
throughout the peninsula. Small convents, chapels, and hermitages, the
remains of many of which are still visible, were built in various parts
of it. The prior told me that Justinian gave the whole peninsula in
property to the convent, and that at the time of the Mohammedan
conquest, six or seven thousand monks and hermits were dispersed over
the mountains, the establishments of the peninsula of Sinai thus
resembling those which still exist on the peninsula of Mount Athos. It
is a favourite belief of the monks of Mount Sinai, that Mohammed
himself, in one of his journeys, alighted under the walls of the
convent, and that impressed with due veneration for the mountain of
Moses, he presented to the convent a Firmahn, to secure to it the
respect of all his followers. Ali is said to have written it, and
Mohammed, who could not write, to have confirmed it by impressing his
extended hand, blackened with ink, upon the parchment. This Firmahn, it
is added, remained in the convent until Selim the First conquered Egypt,
when hearing of the precious relic, he sent for it, and added it to the
other relics of Mohammed in the imperial treasury at Constantinople;
giving to the convent, in return, a copy of the original certified with
his own cipher. I have seen the latter, which is kept in the Sinai
convent at Cairo, but I do not believe it to be an authentic document.
None of the historians of Mohammed, who have recorded the transactions
of almost every day of his life, mention his having been at Mount Sinai,
neither in his earlier youth, nor after he set up as a prophet, and it
is totally contrary to history that he should have granted to any
[p.547] Christians such privileges as are mentioned in this Firmahn, one
of which is that the Moslems are bound to aid the Christian monks in
rebuilding their ruined churches. It is to be observed also that this
document states itself to have been written by Ali, not at the convent,
but in the mosque of the Prophet at Medina, in the second year of the
Hedjra, and is addressed, not to the convent of Mount Sinai in
particular, but to all the Christians and their priests. The names of
twenty-two witnesses, followers of Mohammed, are subscribed to it; and
in a note it is expressly stated that the original, written by Ali, was
lost, and that the present was copied from a fourth successive copy
taken from the original. Hence it appears that the relation of the
priests is at variance with the document to which they refer, and I have
little doubt therefore that the former is a fable and the latter a
forgery. Notwithstanding the difficulties to which the monks must have
been exposed from the warlike and fanatical followers of the new faith
in Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and the Desert, the convent continued
uninjured, and defended itself successfully against all the surrounding
tribes by the peculiar arms of its possessors, patience, meekness, and
money. According to the statement of the monks, their predecessors were
made responsible by the Sultans of Egypt for the protection of the
pilgrim caravans from Cairo to Mekka, on that part of the road which lay
along the northern frontiers of their territory from Suez to Akaba. For
this purpose they thought it necessary to invite several tribes, and
particularly the Szowaleha and the Aleygat to settle in the fertile
valleys of Sinai, in order to serve as protectors of this road. The
Bedouins came, but their power increasing, while that of the monks
declined, they in the course of time took possession of the whole
peninsula, and confined the monks to their convent. It appears from the
original copy of a compact between the monks and the
[p.548] above Bedouins, made in the year of the Hedjra 800, when Sultan
Dhaher Bybars reigned in Egypt, that besides this convent, six others
were still existing in the peninsula, exclusive of a number of chapels
and hermitages; from a writing on parchment, dated in the A.H.1053, we
find that in that year all these minor establishments had been
abandoned, and that the great convent, holding property at Feiran, Tor,
and in other fruitful valleys, alone remained. The priests assured me,
that they had documents to prove that all the date valleys and other
fertile spots in the gulf of Akaba had been in their possession, and
were confirmed to them by the Sultans of Egypt; but they either could
not or would not shew me their archives in detail, without an order from
the prior at Cairo; indeed all their papers appeared to be in great
confusion.
Whenever a new Sultan ascends the throne of Constantinople, the convent
is furnished with a new Firmahn, which is transmitted to the Pasha of
Egypt; but as the neighbouring Bedouins, till within a few years, were
completely independent of Egypt, the protection of the Pashas was of
very little use to the monks, and their only dependance was upon their
own resources, and their means of purchasing and conciliating the
friendship, or of appeasing the animosity of the Arabs.
At present there are only twenty-three monks in the convent. They are
under the presidence of a Wakyl or prior, but the Ikonómos [Greek], whom
the Arabs call the Kolob, is the true head of the community, and manages
all its affairs. The order of Sinai monks dispersed over the east is
under the control of an Archbishop, in Arabic called the Reys. He is
chosen by a council of delegates from Mount Sinai and from the
affiliated convent at Cairo, and he is confirmed, pro forma, by the
Greek patriarch of Jerusalem. The Archbishop can do nothing as to the
appropriation of the funds without the unanimous vote of the council.
Formerly
[p.549] he lived in the convent; but since its affairs have been on the
decline, it has been found more expedient that he should reside abroad,
his presence here entitling the Bedouins to great fees, particularly on
his entrance into the convent. I was told that ten thousand dollars
would be required, on such an occasion, to fulfil all the obligations to
which the community is bound in its treaties with the Arabs. Hence it
happens that no Archbishop has been here since the year 1760, when the
Reys Kyrillos resided, and I believe died, in the convent. I was
informed that the gate has remained walled up since the year 1709, but
that if an Archbishop were to come, it must be again opened to admit
him, and that all the Bedouin Sheiks then have a right to enter within
the walls.
Besides the convent at Cairo, which contains a prior and about fifty
monks, Mount Sinai has establishments and landed property in many other
parts of the east, especially in the Archipelago, and at Candia: it has
also a small church at Calcutta, and another at Surat.
The discipline of these monks, with regard to food and prayer, is very
severe. They are obliged to attend mass twice in the day and twice in
the night. The rule is that they shall taste no flesh whatever all the
year round; and in their great fast they not only abstain from butter,
and every kind of animal food and fish, but also from oil, and live four
days in the week on bread and boiled vegetables, of which one small dish
is all their dinner. They obtain their vegetables from a pleasant garden
adjoining the building, into which there is a subterraneous passage; the
soil is stony, but in this climate, wherever water is in plenty, the
very rocks will produce vegetation. The fruit is of the finest quality;
oranges, lemons, almonds, mulberries, apricots, peaches, pears, apples,
olives, Nebek trees, and a few cypresses overshade the beds in which
melons, beans, lettuces, onions, cucumbers, and all sorts of
[p.550] culinary and sweet-scented herbs are sown. The garden, however,
is very seldom visited by the monks, except by the few whose business it
is to keep it in order; for although surrounded by high walls, it is not
inaccessible to the Bedouins, who for the three last years have been the
sole gatherers of the fruits, leaving the vegetables only for the monks,
who have thus been obliged to repurchase their own fruit from the
pilferers, or to buy it in other parts of the peninsula.
The excellent air of the convent, and the simple fare of the
inhabitants, render diseases rare. Many of the monks are very old men,
in the full possession of their mental and bodily faculties. They have
all taken to some profession, a mode of rendering themselves independent
of Egypt, which was practised here even when the three hundred private
chambers were occupied, which are now empty, though still ready for the
accommodation of pious settlers. Among the twenty-three monks who now
remain, there is a cook, a distiller, a baker, a shoemaker, a tailor, a
carpenter, a smith, a mason, a gardener, a maker of candles, &c. &c.
each of these has his work-shop, in the worn-out and rusty utensils of
which are still to be seen the traces of the former riches and industry
of the establishment. The rooms in which the provisions are kept are
vaulted and built of granite with great solidity; each kind of provision
has its purveyor. The bake-house and distillery are still kept up upon a
large scale. The best bread is of the finest quality; but a second and
third sort is made for the Bedouins who are fed by the convent. In the
distillery they make brandy from dates, which is the only solace these
recluses enjoy, and in this they are permitted to indulge even during
the fasts.
Most of the monks are natives of the Greek islands; in general they do
not remain more than four or five years, when they return to their own
country, proud of having been sufferers among
[p.551] Bedouins; some, however, have been here forty years. A few of
them only understood Arabic; but none of them write or read it. Being of
the lower orders of society, and educated only in convents, they are
extremely ignorant. Few of them read even the modern Greek fluently,
excepting in their prayer-books, and I found but one who had any notion
of the ancient Greek. They have a good library, but it is always shut
up; it contains about fifteen hundred Greek volumes, and seven hundred
Arabic manuscripts; the latter, which I examined volume after volume,
consist entirely of books of prayer, copies of the Gospels, lives of
saints, liturgies, &c.; a thick folio volume of the works of Lokman,
edited, according to the Arab tradition, by Hormus, the ancient king of
Egypt, was the only one worth attention. Its title in Arabic is
[Arabic]. The prior would not permit it to be taken away, but he made me
a present of a fine copy of the Aldine Odyssey and an equally fine one
of the Anthology. In the room anciently the residence of the Archbishop,
which is very elegantly paved with marble, and extremely well furnished,
though at present unoccupied, is preserved a beautiful ancient
manuscript of the Gospels in Greek, which I was told, was given to the
convent by an emperor called Theodosius. It is written in letters of
gold upon vellum, and ornamented with portraits of the Apostles.
Notwithstanding the ignorance of these monks, they are fond of seeing
strangers in their wilderness; and I met with a more cordial reception
among them than I did in the convents of Libanus, which are in
possession of all the luxuries of life. The monks of Sinai are even
generous; three years ago they furnished a Servian adventurer, who
styled himself a Knes, and pretended to be well known to the Russian
government, with sixty dollars, to pay his
[p.552] journey back to Alexandria, on his informing them of his
destitute circumstances.
At present the convent is seldom visited; a few Greeks from Cairo and
Suez, and the inhabitants of Tor who repair here every summer, and
encamp with their families in the garden, are the only persons who
venture to undertake the journey through the desert. So late as the last
century regular caravans of pilgrims used to come here from Cairo as
well as from Jerusalem; a document preserved by the monks states the
arrival in one day of eight hundred Armenians from Jerusalem; and at
another time of five hundred Copts from Cairo. I believe that from sixty
to eighty is the greatest number of visitors that can now be reckoned in
a year. In the small but neat room which I occupied, and which is
assigned to all strangers whom the prior receives with any marks of
distinction, were the names of some of the latest European travellers
who have visited the convent. The following inscriptions, written upon
pieces of paper stuck against the walls, I thought worth the trouble of
transcribing.
Le quintidi, 5 Frimaire, lan 9 de la République Française, 1800 de
lère Chrétienne, et 3ème de la conquête de lEgypte, les Citoyens
Rozières et Coutelle, Membres de la Commission des Sciences et Arts,
sont venus visiter les lieux saints, les ports de Tor, Ras Mohammed, et
Charms, la mer de Suez et lAccaba, lextrémité de la presquîle, toutes
les chaines de montagnes, et toutes les tribus Arabes entre les deux
golfes. (Seal of the French Republic.)