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

Wed Jul 31 10:15:59 PDT 2013

All,

For information: this is downloadable from the non-profit archive.org:

http://archive.org/details/oncetosinaithefu008226mbp

Chris Williams

Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:49:15 -0400
From: june.samaras at gmail.com
To: gbaloglou at gmail.com
CC: mgsa-l at UCI.EDU
Subject: Re: [MGSA-L] Fwd: [BYZANS-L] Fwd: Sinai, forty years ago

George 

How about a trip to Sinai in 1483?

There is this delightful book about the travels of Friar Felix Fabri that you might enjoy

PRESCOTT, H.F.M. & FABRI, FELIX
Once To Sinai: The Further Pilgrimage of Friar Felix Fabri
London, Eyre & Spottiswood. 1957, First Edition. Hard Cover. In 1483 Friar Felix Fabri undertook a second pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This book vividly describes his return journey through the deserts of Sinai to St Catherine's Monastery, down the Nile though Egypt to Alexandria and then by ship to Venice and finally to his home monastery in Ulm.310p. illus maps. bibliography. index. 

June S

On 29 July 2013 05:42, George Baloglou <gbaloglou at gmail.com> wrote:

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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June Samaras
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