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The monks of Mount Sinai

Monks began settling around the St Katherine's area from the 3rd century AD. Based in small monastic communities, by and large these monks were hermits who lived in caves in utter poverty, alone except for holy days when they would gather near the site of the Burning Bush to listen to their spiritual leaders.

Yet living in such seclusion bred a sense of independence - since this time the order has been independent of other church organisations and the today's St Katherine's effectively runs itself.

The monks still live simply, rising every day at 4am for matins, the first prayer of the day. This carries on until 7.30am when breakfast begins. Food is simple and mostly vegetarian. Meals are accompanied by a reading from the scriptures and then work for the day. Prayers start again between 3pm and 5pm. This is followed by dinner, when beneficial texts are again read aloud.

Monks live and die at the monastery. Indeed, within the monastery garden is a cemetery where monks are buried. Later they are disinterred and their ones deposited in a skull house (the remains of archbishops are kept in special niches). The origins of this custom is probably both the difficulty of digging graves in stony ground and also to remind the monks constantly about their coming death.

Membership of the order of St Catherine is open to monks of Greek origin only – many monks come from Mount Athos there. The archbishop is the head of the monastery; as well as supervising daily activities he represents the monastery to the various churches and civil authorities. the monastery observes the laws of the Eastern Orthodox Church.