JEBEL MUSA.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 120, 6 May 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

JEBEL MUSA.

THE MOUNTAIN OF MOSES. __ .Prince Johann Georg (brother of King Friedrich August of Saxony), Princess Mathilda (sister of the King), and a distinguished partv, who have been travelling in the Orient strictly incognito, have just made an ascent of Mount Sinai, the sacred mountain

where Aloses received the Law. Although comparatively easily reached bars the ‘'Graphic,”) few, remembering the historical associations of the place, appear to undertake this trip among the mountains. One goes by steamer from Suez to Tor, and there engqages a camel escort to carry one across the deserts and up the precipit'.nis mountains to the Monastery of St. Catherine, perched some 5000 ft. above sea-level, on Jebel Musa, the Mountain cf .Moses. Thi' monastery, or convent as it is called, is very old. the massive walls surrounding it. having been built !>'• Justisiinn in 530 A D.. He further stiengthem-d the place by sending the monks, ns a gift, one hundred Egyptian ami as many Homan slaves, with their families. The present descendants of these very slaves, the Jebeliyeh. still Serve the months, of whom tiic.ro are about Greeks from Cyprus or Crete. \\ ithin the monastery walls there, are churches, chapels, libraries, dwellings, and.even a mosque. The latter. however, is a “blind.” having been erected bv the monks to carry favour with the Moslems.

From the convent parties arc conI ducted to the summit, L3;> !ft. above sca-levcl. by the monks by means of the ‘'Pilgrims’ Steps,” a rough stairway . constructed by the monks from granite blocks, there being sonic 3500 steps in all. During the ascent one passes many pla'-cs associated with the early history of the Israelites. First a mail spring is passed, where the Arabs s:i.y Jethro watered his sheep. After a climb of about 45 minutes otic reaches the .'■mall cnapol of St. Alary. Accord■ng to tradition, the monks of the monastery. no longer able to endure the vermin that infested their place, intended to abandon the convent. Before leaving, honever, they started on a farewell pilgrimage up the mountain At this spot they met the Virgin, who te.d them that if thev would return to the monastery she would deliver them of their tormentors. On obevimr her request they found the place clean. Further up one passes through an old gateway. Al this spot a certain St Stephanos used to sit. and would allow no one to riseend the mountain further unless he could prove that his conduct and behaviour were blameless. Upon tT O i V ' r '-7 tbc pilgrim was given the Hole Sarrament .and permitted to proceed. A short distance from here is a jicturesque small plain with a tall cypress tree. There is a granite eminence in the midst of this, called the Hill of the Elders, from the tradition that Moses commanded the Elders of Israel io tarry hero while he wont up to the summit. There arc also two small stone chanels hero, dedicated one to Ehjah and the other to Elisha. Tn the former is shown a cavo in which KHjah is said to have dwelt when fleeing from Jerchel, and where lie heard the sti'i. small voice.

A stiff half-lmur s climb from this point, and one reaches the summit of the most sacred mountain in the world. 1•■ is. adorned with two small stone structures. Ono is a-chapel built over a small cave, in which they say Moses Lid when the Loid passed bv. while thi' oilier is a mosque. Tim view from here is at once grand and awe-inspir-ing. Ono appears to be in the very midst of a sea of mountains. Thon there are tlie sacred associations of the place. Here Moses icceived tli<J»Law and siw the glory of God pass bv. The monks of the monastery show the imnro'sion of the prophet’s head in a hollow of the rock, and believe he rem’nined there fasting for 4t) days whilst re wrote the Ton Commandments. Just i clow is the plateau where the Elders vailed, and in the valley is the plain m which the Children of Israel were •-ncampod.

_ Tn the Church of the Transfiguration is the Chapel of f!, o Burning Bush, mid on the altar is a silver plate indicating the very spot where the B'ush is said to have stood. Ono of the many lejzends clustering round the ancient’monastery states that- the original Book of Moses written on stone, was brought down from Sinat-nnd built into the wall of the chaplj}. The mosque only dates from tho loth century-’, and ivas run Mt in a hurry bv the monks on hearing that the .Arabs were coining to destroy flic monastery. AVhon thev arived tlmv found the mosque standing, and the monks produced a charter.' which they protended had b r, on given them by Mohammed himself.