121
to Moses on the granite walls above where the Monastery would be built were
designed, said Roberts, “to establish the morality of mankind. It was the first
instance, from the days of Noah, in which peculiar sins were marked by Divine
condemnation. The general impulse of natural justice…”
21
had previously prevailed,
but—here in this most alluring configuration of spiritual buttresses and topographically intimidating walls of granite piercing a merciless sky—something altogether
new was occurring: a vegetable cornucopia of sustenance for the monks—cypresses
and Nebek trees providing shade, and a monastery garden teeming with sweetly
scented herbs, “oranges, lemons, almonds, mulberries, apricots, peaches, pears,
apples, and olives, and all of the finest quality.”
22
And the famous Spring itself, the
water the Israelites drank to survive, flowing from somewhere in Mount Sinai, emptying into the courtyard of the Monastery adjoining the small basilica with its spherical ceiling of tile spelling out the “Transfiguration of Christ.” This configured
sanctuary, wrote Roberts, fit into the perfect equation:
“To the observer of Nature, the peninsula of Sinai is one of the most singular
anomalies on the globe. It is an immense mass of mountains, without any of the
discoverable purposes for which mountains seem to have been formed. It marks no
boundary between nations; its summits collect no water to fertilize the surrounding
region…. Yet are we not entitled to regard the problem as solved by Scripture, and
by Scripture alone.”
23
Amongst contemporary photographers, Neil Folberg has dramatically evoked
the engaging probity of the Holy Monastery’s unique positioning,
24
in tune with the
great and exaggerated El Greco painting of St. Catherine’s from 1570, now housed
at the Historical Museum of Crete in Heraklion, near to where El Greco (originally
known as Theotokopoulos) was born.
But the greatest imagery of all comes from an intimate acquaintance with the
more than 3300 manuscripts (many written on papyrus, or the skins of goats and
antelope and other quadrupeds) and the many hundreds of icons going back to the
sixth century, the most famous of them being the St. John Climacus icon. Writes
John Rupert Martin, the world’s authority on this ladder tradition, “…John Climacus,
living at Sinai, became as it were a second Moses by ascending that mountain to
receive instruction from God.”
25
The most famed icon treating of Climacus’ treatise
dates to the twelfth century, more than 500 years after Climacus’ demise. It remains
on site at the Monastery. Writes Martin, “The resurgence of monastic iconography
at this time can nowhere be observed more clearly than in the illustrated Climax
21 ibid., Roberts, p. 30.
22 ibid., Roberts p. 32.
23 ibid., Roberts, p. 34.
24 See In a Desert Land – Photographs of Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, by Neil Folberg, Abbeville
Press, New York, 1987, particularly pp. 81–120.
25 See The Illustration Of The Heavenly Ladder of John Climacus, by John Rupert Martin, Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1954, pp. 7–8.
13.2 The World of Saint John Climacus
to Moses on the granite walls above where the Monastery would be built were
designed, said Roberts, “to establish the morality of mankind. It was the first
instance, from the days of Noah, in which peculiar sins were marked by Divine
condemnation. The general impulse of natural justice…”
21
had previously prevailed,
but—here in this most alluring configuration of spiritual buttresses and topographically intimidating walls of granite piercing a merciless sky—something altogether
new was occurring: a vegetable cornucopia of sustenance for the monks—cypresses
and Nebek trees providing shade, and a monastery garden teeming with sweetly
scented herbs, “oranges, lemons, almonds, mulberries, apricots, peaches, pears,
apples, and olives, and all of the finest quality.”
22
And the famous Spring itself, the
water the Israelites drank to survive, flowing from somewhere in Mount Sinai, emptying into the courtyard of the Monastery adjoining the small basilica with its spherical ceiling of tile spelling out the “Transfiguration of Christ.” This configured
sanctuary, wrote Roberts, fit into the perfect equation:
“To the observer of Nature, the peninsula of Sinai is one of the most singular
anomalies on the globe. It is an immense mass of mountains, without any of the
discoverable purposes for which mountains seem to have been formed. It marks no
boundary between nations; its summits collect no water to fertilize the surrounding
region…. Yet are we not entitled to regard the problem as solved by Scripture, and
by Scripture alone.”
23
Amongst contemporary photographers, Neil Folberg has dramatically evoked
the engaging probity of the Holy Monastery’s unique positioning,
24
in tune with the
great and exaggerated El Greco painting of St. Catherine’s from 1570, now housed
at the Historical Museum of Crete in Heraklion, near to where El Greco (originally
known as Theotokopoulos) was born.
But the greatest imagery of all comes from an intimate acquaintance with the
more than 3300 manuscripts (many written on papyrus, or the skins of goats and
antelope and other quadrupeds) and the many hundreds of icons going back to the
sixth century, the most famous of them being the St. John Climacus icon. Writes
John Rupert Martin, the world’s authority on this ladder tradition, “…John Climacus,
living at Sinai, became as it were a second Moses by ascending that mountain to
receive instruction from God.”
25
The most famed icon treating of Climacus’ treatise
dates to the twelfth century, more than 500 years after Climacus’ demise. It remains
on site at the Monastery. Writes Martin, “The resurgence of monastic iconography
at this time can nowhere be observed more clearly than in the illustrated Climax
21 ibid., Roberts, p. 30.
22 ibid., Roberts p. 32.
23 ibid., Roberts, p. 34.
24 See In a Desert Land – Photographs of Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, by Neil Folberg, Abbeville
Press, New York, 1987, particularly pp. 81–120.
25 See The Illustration Of The Heavenly Ladder of John Climacus, by John Rupert Martin, Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1954, pp. 7–8.
13.2 The World of Saint John Climacus