SINAI. - Mountainous region, also called Horeb (v.), where the Israelites, three months after their departure from Egypt (Ex. 19:1), encamped for about a year (Num. 1:10), receiving there from Moses, their leader, their religious and civil organization.
The etymology of the name remains obscure; it is unlikely that the appellation arose from the veneration on the mountain of the Babylonian moon god Sin, since for the Canaanites and the Western Semites the moon god was Jerah; it cannot, however, be excluded that it derives from the name of the neighboring steppe called Sin (Ex. 16:1; Num. 33:1) because of the abundance of thorn bushes (Heb. sênêh).
The mountain, eleven days' journey from Qadesh Barnea (= 'Ajn Qudejs) by way of Mount Seir (Deut. 2:9), had at its feet a plain capable of containing the Israelite assembly (Ex. 19:16, 18), from which the summit of the mountain could be seen. With an impressive theophany (ibid. 19:16-25) the Decalogue was promulgated on the mountain (ibid. 20:1-18), followed by the Code of the Covenant (ibid. 21-23) and by other divine communications concerning the construction and furnishing of the tabernacle (v.) destined for the dwelling and worship of God (ibid. 24-30). There the covenant pact with God was sealed, by which the people undertook to observe His Law (ibid. 23:25-31). Several centuries later, the prophet Elijah, to escape the threats of Queen Jezebel, journeyed in 40 days "to Horeb, the mountain of God" (1 Kings 19:8).
Both Jewish and Christian tradition has constantly identified the site of the biblical S. in the peninsula which, from the south of the Mediterranean, to the southwest by the Gulf of Suez, to the southeast by that of el-'Aqabah, both dependent on the Red Sea, extends from Rās Mohammed, its southern tip, to the Mediterranean for about 400 km. and is about 250 wide; politically it depends on Egypt. Precisely in the central-southern part rises a chain of granite mountains culminating in Çebel Kaṭerin (2602 m.) and in Çebel Umm Sômer (2575 m.), which are to the south and southwest of Çebel Mûsâ (2244 m.), which has to its northwest Çebel Serbâl (2050 m.).
Jebel Musa, called by the Arabs Jebel et-Tur "the mountain par excellence," represents the traditional Mt. Horeb. Almost rectangular in shape, oriented from northwest to southeast, about 3200 m. long and 1600 m. wide, with the two highest peaks at its extremities, Ras es-Safsaf (1194 m.) to the north and, bearing the very name of the mountain, Jebel Musa (2244 m.) to the south, it is separated from the surrounding mountains by the deep Wadi ed-Dejr to the northeast, es-Saba'ijjeh to the south, el-Lega to the southwest, and by the plain of er-Rahah to the north. This plain, over which Jebel Musa rises by only 644 m., traversed by wadis and watered by springs, about 1200 m. long and about 900 m. wide, with great possibilities for pasture, is identified with the midhbar Sinaj (Ex. 19:2; Num. 1:1; 35:15), from where the people witnessed the divine proclamation of the Law. Steep cliffs prevent the ascent of the mountain (Ex. 19:72, 93); at two-thirds of its height there is a plateau, where Aaron with the 70 elders could halt (ibid. 24:9); on the wall of the summit, a cave offered dwelling to Moses (ibid. 24:18) and later to Elijah (1 Kings 19:8).
The identification, besides satisfying the topographical requirements of the biblical narrative, is supported by an uninterrupted Christian tradition. The pilgrim Egeria (v.), who in 395 visited the holy mountain and gathered all the indications given to her by the monks, says that the name of S. designates not only the entire mountain system, but specifically a mountain with two peaks, both marked by oratories, the first in memory of the divine apparition, the second of the rock of Horeb. She says that this mountain is 35 miles from Pharan; the distance that exactly runs from Pharan to Jebel Musa.
The Nestorian monk Cosmas (v.) Indicopleustes departed from the common tradition in the 6th century, maintaining the identification of S.-Horeb with Jebel Serbal in the region of Pharan, because, relying on the then common opinion that the oasis of Fejran represented Raphidim (v.), he deduced that Horeb-S. was in the vicinity. But this identification, still preferred by recent writers, fits poorly with the topography of the biblical narrative: the mountain is almost inaccessible and has beneath it no vast plain capable of containing a mass of people. Most exegetes place Raphidim at Erfajid, on the itinerary of Jebel Musa. The recent hypotheses that place the sacred mountain to the north of the Sinai peninsula or in the vicinity, whether in the oasis of Kadesh, or in the region of Petra, or in the volcanic regions east of the Gulf of el-'Aqabah in northern Arabia, have not succeeded in establishing themselves against the traditional identification.
Bibliography6 works
Donato Baldi
MONASTERY and BISHOPRIC of S
The great monastery of St. Catherine situated at the foot of Mount S. was founded by the emperor Justinian I; it was dedicated to the Mother of God, but from the 14th century it took the name of St. Catherine (v.), whose relics are venerated there.
It was and is governed by a hegumen (abbot) who from the 9th century was also bishop and who later was honored with the title of archbishop. A group of monastic establishments is subject to this great monastery, to which an international character can be attributed, as demonstrated by the pilgrimages of the patristic age, of the Middle Ages and of recent centuries, promoted by biblical memories and by the cult of St. Catherine, the many letters of the popes, the gifts of princes, the oblations of the faithful, the extent of monastic possessions and finally the cultural treasures of codices, charters and images. The popes granted the Sinaitic monks many favors already from the time of Gregory the Great. Honorius III, Gregory X, John XXII, Innocent VIII, Julius II, Leo X, Paul III, Pius IV, Gregory XIII, Paul V, Urban VIII, Innocent XII, Clement XI wrote in favor of the monastery of S. letters, still preserved, of protection, of indulgences, or of charitable beneficence; two concern the granting of cardinal protectors by Innocent XII and Clement XI.
The hegumen of the central monastery enjoyed and enjoys a certain autocephaly. Today, about 50 monks depend on the abbot-bishop, dispersed in the various Sinaitic establishments: St. Catherine, Faran, Tor, Suez, Cairo, Asmara, Tripoli in Syria, Kirinia, Papho, Rizo Karpasso on the island of Cyprus, Candia (Herakleion), Chania, Messara, Spileotissa on the island of Crete, Zante, Chios, Janina, Constantinople, Athens. Even today, many manuscripts are found at S.: 2280 Greek, 580 Arabic, 276 Syriac (of which however 15 dispersed), 5 Palestinian, 98 Georgian (of which 8 dispersed), 41 Slavic (of which 1 Latin), 6 Ethiopian; and moreover more than 2000 diplomas, scrolls, firmans in Arabic and Turkish; Latin documents still need to be researched. Besides the codices, icons are also preserved; and in the church a famous mosaic. - See plate XLI.
Greg. Papamichael, 'Η μονή τοῦ ὄρους Σινά, Athens 1932; G. Hofmann, S. und Rom. in Orientalia christ., 9 (1927), 213-30; K. Amantos, Σιναίτικα μνημεία ἀνέκδοτα, Athens 1928; M. H. L. Rabino, Le monastère de la Ste Catherine du Mont S., Le Caire 1938; G. A. Soteriu, Icones byzantines du monastère du S., in Byzantion, 14 (1939), pp. 325-37; G. Garitte, Expédition paléograph. au S., in Le Muséon, 63 (1950), pp. 119-21; G. Hofmann, Lettere pont. edite ed inedite intorno ai monast. del Monte S., in Orient. christ. period., 17 (1951) 283-303.
Giorgio Hofmann