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.
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