Travel Journal-Mt. Moses

Thursday, November 3

Mount Moses-Sinai Peninsula

The Bedouins call it Mar Mousa. Others call it Mt. Moses, Mt. Horeb or Mt. Sinai. But regardless of its name, millenia old tradition holds that it is the place where Moses ascended a difficult trail of broken stones (the same trail I ascended in the long hours of the afternoon) and received from the hand of God the stone tablets known as the Ten Commandments.

It is a demanding climb that takes many hours punctuated by many breaks along the way. Even in the coolness of the Sinai's late fall, I sweat and struggle with the broken boulders and the steep winding trail. Thankfully their are scattered Bedouin along the way who have made fires and sell for a few Egyptian pounds bottles of water and cups of fragrant sweat tea.

Late in the day, I reach the summit where I will wait for sunset and then descend in darkness to the Monastery of St. Catherine's below. I am comforted when I reach teh crest to find not only a chapel for my prayer, but a mosque close beside it so that the Bedouins too may make their prayers. In that moment of silence, a sparrow floats before me, suspended in the cool, still air. For a while, as the Bedouins and I pray peacefully together only steps from each other, I feel as if all the world is, if only for a fleeting second, as it should be.

Travel Journal-St. Catherine's Monastery

Wednesday November 2

St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai

The journey northward through the military and security checkpoints from the Bedouin fishing village of Dahab to the foot of Mar Mousa (Mt. Moses also called Mt. Horeb) was both eerie and alluring. But now that I am here, I find all my attention focused on the library of the oldest monastery in Christendom, St. Catherine's. That magnificent set of cloistered rooms and winding corridors is the basis for the scriptorium of Dier al-Shuhada in my novel Q: Awakening. It is a a magnificent collection, housing the second largest collection of ancient Christian manuscripts and codices in the world (only the Biblioteca Aspostolica Vaticana in Rome holds more).

But it isn't easy to enter the ancient library these days. Renovations are underway and Father Justin, the monk who leads the order, is away. But as with so many places, a donation and a bit of persistence opens the doors. And not only to the libary, but to the charnel house (also used as an influence for Dier al Shuhada in the novel). With luck, I'll finish my research in time to attend the Greek Orthodox services in the chapel. Then, if all proceeds as planned, tomorrow I'll climb Mt. Mousa and watch sunset from that acient peak.