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National Geographic : 1964 Jan
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Swinging a censer, Father Germanos chants over bread that commemorates Jesus' miracle of the loaves; Deacon Makarios holds a lighted candle. Emperor Justinian, the monastery's founder, might have viewed such a scene. Use of incense traces back to ancient Egypt; splendid robes derive from those worn by Roman emperors. Brocade-decked altar carries a row of metal-bound lectionaries giving the Gospel read ings for every day of the year. Embroidered stoles for the officiating priest hang on columns of the baldachin, or canopy. Deacon Makarios prepares for worship services. expedition of 1960. Then we were able to establish through careful study that the ceil ing panels hiding the sixth-century inscrip tions were much later additions; and that the present church is indeed the original, built between A.D. 548 and 565. With the single exception of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, it is the best preserved survivor of the countless churches erected by Justinian. Faiths Unite at Sinai I paused to look at the bell tower in front of the church. To my surprise, only a few paces away stood a similar tower at the corner of a square white building. Was this another church? "No," explained the monk. "This is the minaret of the mosque." "What!" I exclaimed. "A mosque inside the monastery?" "Why not? The site of the burning bush is sacred to Moslems too; they revere Moses as a great prophet. They, too, have always come on pilgrimage. In the Middle Ages a vizier of the caliph built a mosque for their use." Looking to the tops of the two towers that pierced the sky in such friendly proximity, I thought that the cross topping one and the crescent atop the other must seldom have joined forces so happily. As we entered the nave of the church marble floors agleam beneath a red-and-gold ceiling-a shaft of morning sun, sloping down from a high window, fell like a spotlight on the archbishop's throne. In a painting just above it, dated 1778, the Virgin held a veil depicting the entire monastery-including the mosque I had just seen. Slowly advancing, Dr. Weitzmann and I ar rived at the huge gilded screen which stands athwart the church. Called the iconostasis, it not only displays sacred icons but also shel ters from profane eyes the celebration of the Liturgy beyond its three doors. We passed through the side door to the foot of the holy altar. There, in an imposing marble tomb, rest the remains of the mon astery's patroness, St. Catherine of Alexan-
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