[MGSA-L] Fwd: [BYZANS-L] Fwd: Sinai, forty years ago

[George Baloglou]

I was recently informed off list that Kazantzakis has visited the place in
question, and written about it in
*Ταξιδεύοντας: Ιταλία, Αίγυπτος, Σινά, Ιερουσαλήμ, Κύπρος, ο Μοριάς (1927).*
Anyhow, here is a response from another list that I forgot to forward here:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: George Baloglou <gbaloglou at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 6:26 PM
Subject: Re: [BYZANS-L] Fwd: Sinai, forty years ago
To: Byzantine Studies Discussion Forum <BYZANS-L at po.missouri.edu>

Most fascinating, many thanks!!!

The thought of writing to the monks of St. Catherine directly did cross my
mind, but I procrastinated... I am a bit surprised that no one on this list
knew: for one thing they have all missed the oases through which the El Tur
monk took my friend and his friend on the way to St. Catherine's... A
little map, such as the one at http://www.touregypt.net/sinai5.htm , helps
clarify the matter. (During my 1987 visit, also from Eilat, I had spent one
night at Nuweiba on the east coast; some minimal personal recollections
(and more) are available at http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou/misc/sinai.html .)
It is important to clarify here that Greek visitors to the Holy Land
typically refrained from visiting the monastery from 1967 to 1982 due to
its great distance from Israel proper (and the said condition of roads in
the peninscula): Cairo is closer, about six hours by bus, if my
recollection is right.

Concerning Raithou, a good online source is
http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cce/id/1654/rec/12
 .


On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 5:37 PM, Jack Tannous <jack.tannous at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear George,
>
> I sent your question to Father Justin, at St Catherine's, and he sent
> along the response which I am pasting below.
>
> with all best wishes,
>
> Jack
>
> +++++++++++++++++
>
> The mountains to the east of Saint Catherine's Monastery are very steep.
> It was only in the late 1970s that the present roads were built there, by
> the Israelis, while Sinai was a part of Israel (1967-1982). Before that
> time, in order to travel from Eilat to Saint Catherine's Monastery, the
> group would have driven south to Sharm el-Sheikh, at the southern tip of
> the Sinai peninsula, and then north to El Tur (the ancient Raithou), and
> then east, traveling through Pharan (Wadi Feiran) before reaching Sinai and
> Saint Catherine's Monastery.
>
> In the fourth century, Egeria approached the monastery from the west, for
> the same reason. She travelled along the Mediterranean, then down the west
> coast of the Sinai peninsula, and then turned east, traveling through
> Pharan, before reaching Sinai.
>
> Ammonius describes the monks who lived at Raithou in the fourth century,
> and the forty monks who were martyred there. There was an important
> monastery there in the sixth century. It was the Abbot John of Raithou who
> wrote the Abbot John of Sinai, asking him to compose a spiritual guide. And
> the monk Daniel of Raithou wrote the Life of Saint John that is included in
> the Ladder of Divine Ascent. (You can see the ruins of the monastery on
> Google Earth.)
>
> Raithou went into decline after the seventh century. In the early
> nineteenth century, it was a quarantine station for pilgrims returning from
> Mecca. By the middle of the nineteenth century, a town had grown up around
> the port there. Archimandrite Gregorios raised funds for the establishment
> of a church and school, and lived there as the priest for the Greek
> community. From that time, there has been a monk of Sinai living at Tor,
> both ministering to the Greek community, and gathering supplies for the
> monastery.
>
> This would explain the Greek monk, and the Greek shipping boats, at Tor,
> in 1973.
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 5:21 AM, George Baloglou <gbaloglou at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> [Unanswered inquiry from another list -- perhaps someone here can settle
>> this?]
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: George Baloglou <gbaloglou at gmail.com>
>> Date: Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 12:05 PM
>> Subject: Sinai, forty years ago
>> To: MGSA List <mgsa-l at uci.edu>
>>
>>
>> Yesterday a visiting friend told me of a summer 1973 trip to the Sinai
>> Peninscula: they rented a car in Eilat* in order to go to the St. Catherine
>> Monastery**, but first they ended up in an abandoned village ... featuring
>> a Greek Orthodox church and fishing boats with Greek names -- a Greek
>> village in the Sinai!?
>>
>> My friend knows nothing more about this village, which was apparently
>> abandoned following the Six-Day War: does anyone here know of it, and its
>> current status?
>>
>>
>> *Eilat = Israel's port in the Red Sea (the whole discussion started by
>> comparing swimming experiences there)
>>
>> **the monks were ecstatic to see Greek visitors, for it seems that
>> religious tourism was very limited under the Israelis -- in fact the road
>> maps were very bad, and they wouldn't have found the monastery without
>> assistance form a monk they met in the said Greek village
>>
>> --
>>
>> Γιώργος Μπαλόγλου -- Θεσσαλονίκη
>>
>> http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou (1988 - 2008)
>>
>> http://crystallomath.wordpress.com (2009 - )
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Γιώργος Μπαλόγλου -- Θεσσαλονίκη
>>
>> http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou (1988 - 2008)
>>
>> http://crystallomath.wordpress.com (2009 - )
>>
>
>


-- 

Γιώργος Μπαλόγλου -- Θεσσαλονίκη

http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou (1988 - 2008)

http://crystallomath.wordpress.com (2009 - )



-- 

Γιώργος Μπαλόγλου -- Θεσσαλονίκη

http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou (1988 - 2008)

http://crystallomath.wordpress.com (2009 - )
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