Thursday July 1, 2010
Tel Aviv, Israel
I am writing this blog sat on the balcony of my hotel in Tel Aviv. I am very glad to be back in the 21st century.
The evening before leaving St. Catherine's, there was one last surprise. Fr. Justin came down to the coffee shop to find me. He had a gift for me from the brothers, a beautiful book of St. Catherine's that was produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York when they had an exhibition of ancient icons from St. Catherine's. I will be thrilled to share this with the parish as I teach on my sabbatical experiences when I get back.
I left St. Catherine's at 10am on Tuesday morning. My Bedouin driver arrived exactly on time and I settled in for the 3 hour ride to the Egypt-Israel border at Taba. The first hour or so was backtracking from St. Catherine's to the main north-south road near the Red Sea. Once on that road, we began heading north through barren desert all the way with just the occasional Bedouin community at the road side.
We climbed a mountain pass and then began to descend towards the Red Sea. I had the most spectacular view of the port town of Nuweiba as we dropped out of the mountains. From Nuweiba, the road literally followed the beach all the way to Israel. We passed so many luxury resorts that appeared empty, or resorts that were under construction or abandoned. It seems Israel is not letting its tourists go to Egypt at the moment; apparently Syria is looking to kidnap Israelis who venture into Egyptian Sinai.
I have always wanted to cross an international border as an independent traveler. I've crossed many borders on tours, on trains, or at ferry terminals, but I have never walked from one country to another carrying my bags. On Tuesday, I got to enjoy that dream; it felt like a real adventure going from Egypt to Israel pulling my bag through “no man's land” in between the two. Security was very strict going into Israel; they were keen to know why I was travelling alone and not part of an organized tour. I explained about the Monastery and my sabbatical --- that only half convinced the border guard --- but when I went on to explain that I was leading a group of 40 pilgrims to the Holy Land, things changed for the good. All those tourist dollars suddenly made me a welcome guest.
I spent Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday relaxing in Eilat and reacclimatizing to the 21st century. I ate pizza and drank soda, a great relief after all the vegetables at St. Catherine's.
This morning, I boarded a bus in Eilat at 11am that got into Tel Aviv at 4:15pm. The drive over was fascinating. We headed north from Eilat up to the Dead Sea right along the border with Jordan. Once near the Dead Sea, we turned west and began to climb. It's very strange to be climbing in the bus for half an hour up steep mountains and then pass a sign saying you have now reached sea level! (The Dead Sea is 1,700 feet below sea level).
The bus then drove through the Negev Desert and eventually, after stopping in Beer Sheva, we drove in the rolling hills and fields that lead down to the Mediterranean coast. The bus stopped once more in Ashdod before finally getting into Tel Aviv central bus station, which turned out to be not very central as I had to take a cab to my really nice little hotel (thanks tripadvisor.com!). The Center Hotel is just off of Dizengof Square and has really neat movie-themed rooms.
I am expecting Fr. John and Brenda to arrive here soon; it will be good to see my friends.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, Egypt
I have been here for 9 days now and am learning to just be in the moment and let each day unfold before me. That hasn't been easy for me as one who loves to plan and know what is happening hour to hour.
My only plans have been to attend worship in the ancient church 3 times a day, and to pray, rest, and study in between. Into those spaces, two wonderful experiences have appeared for me.
On Friday after Vespers, Fr. Justin invited me to the library to see two of his favorite illuminated manuscripts. The first was a 10th century copy of "The Ladder of Spiritual Perfection." This exquisitely handwritten and hand-decorated text is a collection of wisdom for monks written by a former abbott of St. Catherine's, St. John. This work is still widely read among Orthodox believers. I was able to examine the Greek text and the minute, yet wonderfully detailed, illuminations with a magnifying glass. The second book was an 11th century lectionary written with every letter in gold. There are beleived to be only 4 books in the world written with only gold letters. As I studied the books, Fr. Justin shared from his vast knowledge of iconography, explaining the message of each picture to me. An hour and a half passed like it was 5 minutes.
The following morning, Saturday at 9am, I met Fr. Justin in the museum of icons, texts, vestments, and sacred vessels. Once again, I got a detailed tour and description on the articles. I saw many things Fr. Justin pointed out that I had missed on my self-guided visits to the museum earlier in the week. He was very patient in showing me around for two hours. At the end, he extended my priviledge (not usually allowed) to photograph as many of the articles as I wanted --- amazing, as photographs are not allowed.
With just two days left here, I am ready to move on to Israel. The isolation of the desert doesn't really suit me. I have delighted in the ancient Byzantine worship, but missed paticipating fully. I have not been able to receive the Eucharist for 2 consecutive Sundays, and that underlines to me that I am a welcome visitor here, but not fully in ecumenical communion.
I will leave for Israel on Tuesday morning, having altered my schedule to include 2 nights in Eilat before meeting Fr. John and Brenda in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Climbing Mount Sinai
I had a wonderful time on Mount Sinai today. My alarm went off at 2:50am. I was on the trail and had hired a guide by 3am. The guide was a young bedouin called Musa (Moses in Arabic).
All the books say you can do the climb in 3 to 4 hours. Musa went like lightning, dodging tourists and camels all the way. No one overtook us, I was getting a great workout, and we reached the summit in 2 hours. It was getting packed with tourists, but Musa earned his guide fee and got me to a quiet cave facing east where I watched the sunrise over Sinai.
30 minutes after the sun came up, most tourists were gone, and Musa helped me to the mount. He asked how long I wanted to stay and was very surprised when I said 5 hours. So he went off to sleep in a tea shed a little down the mountain.
I was the only person left on the mount. I read chapters from Exodus, said Morning Prayer, and sang Taize chants. I sat in silent prayer, and looked down at Bedouin shepherds leading their sheep through mountain passes.
At 10am I found Musa, who took me down to Elijah's Plain, where an alternate way down starts, called the Steps of Repentence. I walked all 3,770 of them in a couple of hours. Elated and exhausted, I returned to my room to sleep.
Monday, June 21, 2010
St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, Egypt
Photos from left: Icon of Jesus, located in the library; the monastery church; the monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai.
I arrived here on Saturday morning. The ride over from Dahab was spectacular, desert and mountains with scattered Bedouin villages.There were several army and police check points along the way. Egypt takes its visitors' security very seriously.
Once I reached St. Catherine's, I had to locate my contact, Father Justin, no easy task as the Monastery was closed to visitors. A bit of persistence with the Bedouin gatekeepers and they believed I was a guest and helped find Father Justin. He was in the library, photographing a Syriac text on the life of St. Simon; this book was 1,100 years old, handwritten on parchment. He let me hold it and look at a few pages. I was shown to my room in the guests' wing, a very simple room built into the fortress walls, very close to the church and within the monastery confines.
Father Justin talked me through a day at the monastery. The first service starts at 4am and lasts between 3 and 4 hours. After that, I can have coffee with the monks, then I am free to rest and study until noon. At noon another service begins; this lasts only 20 minutes and is followed by the only communal meal of the day, a vegetarian lunch taken in silence as the Bible is read aloud in Greek. After lunch, I am free to rest and study until 4pm when Vespers begins. After Vespers, I am free until the morning worship at 4am.
As I am not Orthodox, my community involvement is going to be very limited; I pretty much get to watch and absorb what is going on around me. Everything happens in Greek, all said at 100 mph, so my New Testament Greek isn't helping too much. Having said that, being in worship in a church built in 550, with a Byzantine liturgy that hasn't changed much since the late 300s, is a wonderful and mysterious experience.
One day this week, I will make my pilgrimage to the top of Mount Sinai.
