THE WRITINGS OF THE HERMITS THE writings of the hermits from the fifth century onwards throw light on the aspirations and the attitude of mind of these men of the desert, to whom the interests of ordinary mankind were as nothing. Foremost among these writings are those of Nilus, a man of learning who, after occupying a high position at Constantinople, visited the hermits, with whom he remained. His Narrationes contain valuable information on heathen sacrifice at the time. About the year 420 Nilus decided to separate from his wife in order to visit the “Bush at the foot of the holy mountain on which God conferred with the people,” taking his youthful son with him. The barbarians, he tells us, dwelt from Arabia to Egypt, from the Red Sea to the Jordan, ever ready to draw the sword, hunting wild beasts, attacking travellers, and making use of their camel-dromedaries for sacrifices which they devoured with dog-like voracity. They had no regard for God, but adored the Morning Star (Lucifer, ?st??? p??????), to which they sacrificed the best product of the chase, or boys of comely appearance, on an altar of rough stones. Failing these, they took a fattened white camel without blemish which they made to kneel. They encircled it three times to the sound of chanting, whereupon the sheykh who acted as leader, made a thrust at the beast’s neck, and all of them hastily drank of the blood that gushed forth. The whole band then fell upon the victim, and each person hacked off and devoured a piece of the beast’s flesh and skin. It was the rule of the rite that the whole victim with body, In contrast to this life was that of the hermits who dwelt in huts and rock shelters within call of one another, removed from the claims of the tax-gatherer, and emulating Moses and Elijah in their fasting and humility, some cultivating corn for bread, while others lived on vegetables and green meat, coming together once a week on a Sunday. Nilus was among them, having come down from the holy mountain with his son on a visit to the hermits who dwelt near the Bush. They happened to be in church, when a barbarian horde swept down on them like a whirlwind, seized the food which they had stored in their cells against the winter, and then called to the hermits to come out of church, to strip and to stand according to age. They cut down the priest Theodulos, and slew the fathers Paulus and John, and then seized the young men, bidding the older ones be gone. Many rushed up the mountain, “which they generally avoid since God stood upon it and conferred with the people” (p. 631). Nilus stood irresolute, when his son Theodulos, whom the barbarians had seized, signed to him to be gone. “O why,” he exclaimed, “did not the ground open and swallow them like the sons of Korah? Why had the miracles of Sinai ceased, and no thunder rolled, no lightning flashed to scare them in their wickedness?” When the barbarians had gone, Nilus helped to bury the dead, and was presently joined by one of the youths who had been carried off but escaped. He described how the barbarians erected an altar, collected wood as a preparation for sacrificing to Lucifer. This he was told by a fellow captive who understood their language. The youths lay bound ready for sacrifice, but he escaped by wriggling away on the ground like a snake. His account filled Nilus with apprehension as to the fate of his son, but in his misery he was upheld by the courage of a woman of Pharan, whose son had actually been murdered. As there had been other outrages, it was decided in the council (????) at Pharan to lodge a complaint with the phylarch or king of the barbarians (p. 663). His relation to the Roman empire was apparently that he must keep the peace and safeguard those who passed through his territory, in return for which he received a grant (annonÆ). On much the same basis, the sheykhs of Sinai under British rule, are Envoys were therefore despatched to the phylarch. They carried bows and arrows, and a stone for striking fire, which would enable them to live by killing and roasting game, “for there is wood in abundance that serves as firewood, since no one fells trees in the desert” (p. 663). During their absence Nilus and others went the round of the neighbouring settlements, where the hermits had been attacked. At Bethrambe (or Thrambe) they buried Proclus; at Salael The envoys on their return brought word that King Ammanus was anxious to maintain his relations with the empire, and was prepared to make good the losses which had been incurred. He bade those who had claims to appear before him. Nilus and others accordingly sallied forth. On the eighth day Nilus, who was looking for water, actually caught sight of the encamped Saracens; on the twelfth day of journeying they reached the end of their journey, (which may have been Petra). Here Nilus heard that his son was alive and had been sold into slavery at Elusa. On the way thither, he met a man who had actually seen him, and on going into the church at Elusa, he found his son Theodulos, who had been made doorkeeper of the church by the bishop of the place. Theodulos told his father how he and others lay bound on the ground all night near the altar with a sword, a bason, a phial and incense beside them. But the barbarians drank heavily at night and overslept themselves, and the sun stood above the horizon when they awoke, so the occasion for the sacrifice was forfeited. They therefore moved on to Souka (perhaps a village, perhaps market, Arabic suk), from where they sold Theodulos into slavery. Nilus and his son now decided to settle permanently among the hermits looking forward to a pleasant life. After being ordained by the bishop of Elusa they returned to Sinai where they apparently ended their days. Their memory there continues to be kept to this day. Their bodies were raised together with those In the course of the fifth century the dispute regarding the dual nature of Christ entered a further stage when Nestorius, who had been under the influence of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and was promoted to the see of Constantinople, raised objection to the term God-bearer, Te?t????, as applied to the Virgin. By doing so he raised a storm of dissent, the veneration of the Virgin being widespread and deep-seated, partly owing to having been engrafted on an earlier mother-cult. Pope Celestinus (422-432) called upon Nestorius to recant, but he refused, and a Church Council therefore met at Ephesus in 431 to discuss the matter. Among the two hundred bishops who declared against Nestorius were Hermogenes of Rhinocorura, Abraham of Ostracine, and Lampetius of Casium. After the Council at Ephesus, Hermogenes went on a mission to Rome with Lampetius of Casium, and was succeeded in his bishopric by Zeno, who was succeeded by Alphius. A further difficulty was created when the Church Council Other writings of the hermits give an insight into the speculative zeal and boundless credulity of these devotees to a simple life, to whom everything surprising appeared in the light of a miracle. Collections of Sayings of the Fathers (Verba Seniorum), and incidents in their lives, were a favourite branch of literature at the time. Anastasius (c. 561-614), a monk of Sinai, John Climacus († 609), who dwelt at Tholas, and then at the convent, and John Moschus († 619), who habitually dwelt in Jerusalem, but went about visiting, were among those who collected anecdotes and sayings regarding Sinai. Pillar saints at this time were attracting attention near Antioch. There was an older Simeon who died in 460, and a younger Simeon who died in 596. A monk of Raithou went The collection of anecdotes of Anastasius, a monk of Sinai, mentions several hermit settlements which have been located in wadis near the convent, where ruins of huts and garden walls remain to this day. According to a tradition preserved at the convent, the monks in the peninsula at one time were between six and seven thousand in number. Among these settlements was Malocha, perhaps situated in the Wadi Malga, north of Ras Safsaf. This was at one time the home of Epiphanius, who was so devoted to ascetic At Sidde we also hear of a hermit who was walking one day in the desert and saw a Saracen approaching, whereupon he “transformed himself into a palm tree.” It was only another hermit, and so he returned to his natural appearance. Many stories were told of John the Sabaite who dwelt for a time at Malocha. He was walking one day across the desert with the imperial ruler (archiater) Demetrios, when they came upon the footmarks of a dragon. Demetrios proposed that they should fly, but John said they would pray, whereupon the “dragon,” was carried aloft and was thrown back to the ground shattered to pieces (Anast., no. 14). Another story told of John the Sabaite shows how the imaginary world was to these men the greater reality. He was dwelling in “the most distant desert,” when a fellow monk came to see him, who, in reply to his question how other monks fared, replied, They are well, thanks to your prayers. He then asked after a monk who had a bad reputation, and heard that there was no change in his behaviour. Afterwards he fell asleep and had a vision of the crucified Christ, and himself kneeling. But Christ called to His angels and thrust him forth, since he had John the Sabaite also dwelt at Arselao (a place not identified), where he was approached by a female porker (or hyÆna) who laid her blind young at his feet. He mixed his spittle with earth and applied it to the eyes of the creature which became seeing. On the following day the mother-beast reappeared dragging an enormous cabbage which she laid at the feet of the old man. But he smiled, charging her with stealing it from another man’s garden, and bade her take it back, a command which she forthwith obeyed (Anast., no. 15). Arselao was the home also for a time of a certain George, who was fetched to the convent to pray for oil, as the store had given out, and “the road to Palestine was held by the barbarians.” His prayers brought oil to the cask, like Elijah’s to the widow’s cruse, and like that of the cruse, it never failed. The cask was placed under the protection of the Virgin (Anast., no. 9). The need of oil led the monks to cultivate the olive in their gardens, which they did with considerable success, olives being among their produce which attracted the attention of the Arab writers. At Tholas, which was mentioned in the earlier accounts, John Climacus dwelt for forty years, at the conclusion of which he became head of the convent. The Wadi Tla’ah is one of the few valleys which has preserved its character. Prof. Palmer described it in glowing terms in the Ordnance Survey. Another hermitage was at Gonda, situated fifteen miles from the Holy Bush (Anast., no. 31). John the Sabaite was living here with Stephen of Cappadocia, when Father Martyrios arrived with a youthful disciple, who was John Climacus. John the Sabaite, having the gift of foresight, recognised the future superior of the convent in him (Anast., no. 6). This Stephen of Cappadocia told John Moschus that he was once in the church at Raithou when two men entered, who were without clothes. No one saw them but himself. There was also the monk Sisoeis, who dwelt in the hermitage of St. Anthony between the Red Sea and Egypt, where he was visited by a monk of Pharan who told him that it was ten months since he had seen a human being. To which Sisoeis replied that it was eleven months since he had seen one himself. The hermit life in Sinai was at its height when the lady Etheria visited the peninsula, intent on identifying the sites of which she had read in the Bible. Her eagerness seems to have stirred the imagination of the monks, and led to decisions as to localities which were accepted as authentic for centuries to come. The account of Etheria calls for a few words of comment. The MS. of her journey was discovered in the library of Arezzo by Gamurrini in 1883. It was incomplete and its author was not named. Gamurrini provisionally claimed it for St. Silvia of Aquitaine, and dated the journey between 378 and 383. But the abbÉ FÉrotin The MS. account discovered at Arezzo was incomplete. But the account, in its complete form, was apparently in the hands of Peter the Deacon when he compiled his little book On the Holy Places, about the year 1157, for Guidobaldo, abbot of Monte Cassino. In this book Peter cited passages found in the account that was discovered at Arezzo together with others which seem to be taken from the part of the work which is wanting. In the account which follows, the initial passages are quoted from the book of Peter on the assumption that they were taken from the account of Etheria. Etheria and her party entered and left Sinai from Egypt. “Before you reach the holy Mount Syna, stands the fort Clesma on the Red Sea which the Israelites passed dryshod. The marks (vestigia) of the chariot of the Pharaoh are visible in the ground to this day. But the wheels are farther apart than those of the chariots (currus) of our days as they are seen in the Roman empire, for between wheel and wheel is a space of twenty-four feet or more, and the wheelruts (orbitÆ) are two feet wide. These marks of the Pharaoh’s chariot lead down to the shore where he entered the sea when he wanted to seize the Israelites. On the spot where the Pharaoh’s wheelruts are visible, two signs are set up, one on the right, and one on the left, like little columns (columella). Orosius (c. 400) in his History of the Universe, also mentioned the marks of the chariot wheels of the Pharaoh, which were still visible. “Beyond the place of crossing lay the desert Shur and Mara with its two wells that were sweetened by Moses (probably the Ayun Musa). Three days’ journey lay Arandara, the place called Helim, where the river, in places, disappeared Etheria was bent on seeing all the sites, including the place where it rained manna, the cells with Hebrew writing, the desert of Pharan “where there were neither fields nor vineyards but water and palm trees,” the place Faran, where Amalek opposed the Israelites, the place where the Israelites called for water, and the place where Jethro met Moses, his son-in-law, “the spot where Moses prayed while Joshua fought Amalek, is a high, steep mountain above Pharan, and where Moses prayed there is now a church” (Petrus, ed. Geyer, p. 118). This was probably the church mentioned above which was founded by Julian Sabbas. From Pharan Etheria’s party moved to a place where the mountains opened themselves out, and found a great valley beyond which appeared “Syna, the holy Mount of God,” which is united with the place where are the Graves of Lust (i.e. Kibroth Hata-avah). The guards said that it was customary to offer prayers. “So then we did.” From here to the Mount of God it was perhaps four miles altogether, the length of the valley being sixteen miles (c. 31) The plain was presumably the present plain of Er Raha. According to Etheria the Israelites waited in this plain when Moses went up into the Mount of God—there was also the place where the calf was made—it was the valley at the head of which was the place where holy Moses was when he fed the flocks of his father-in-law when God spoke to him from the Burning Bush. But as their route was first to ascend the Mount of God at the side from which they were approaching because the ascent was easier, and then to descend to the head of the valley where the Bush was, thence retracing their steps so as to see the places mentioned in Scripture, they spent the night at a certain monastery where kindly monks dwelt and where they were all well received. There was a church there and a priest (this place has not been identified). It was the night preceding the Sabbath, and early on the following morning they made the ascent of the mountains one by one with the priests and the monks that lived there. “And you must go straight down each mountain until you From the Mount of God they descended to the mountain joined to it called Horeb, where there was a church and where they saw the cave where Elijah hid and the stone altar (sic) which he built. This description and the later account of Antoninus Martyr (cf. below) show that at this period Horeb was accounted a different height from the Mount of the Law. After seeing a great rock with a flat surface on which stood The detailed account by Etheria and her location of the various holy sites in Sinai was the first of its kind, and apparently remained the only one for centuries to come. Before her pilgrimage we only hear of a church built above the valley of Pharan which commemorated the struggle between Moses and the Amalekites, while the Bush, Horeb, and Elim were names of settlements which had been chosen by the monks in remembrance of Moses and Elijah whom they accepted as their patrons. On the same basis a monastery or laura near Jerusalem, mentioned as the abode of John Moschus, was called Pharan. The names which were given to settlements in Sinai may have caused these places to be looked upon as those that were actually visited by Moses and Elijah. The “Bush” was mentioned without further comment by Ammonius (c. 372) as a settlement. It was described as the “Bush at the foot of the mountain where God conferred with the people” by Nilus (c. 449). About the same time Etheria (c. 450) spoke of “a church in the place where the Bush is, which Bush is alive to this day,” while Procopius, the secretary of Justinian, remarked (c. 550) in a more cautious strain, “here it was that Moses was said to have received the Laws from God and proclaimed them.” It was Etheria who claimed to have seen during a single day all the places visited by the Israelites including, in the plain below, Taberah, the place of Burning (Num. xi. 2) and Kibroth Hata-avah (Num. xi. 34), where the Israelites stayed long after they left the holy mountain. The monkish settlement Horeb or Choreb was mentioned also by Ammonius (c. 372), and, judging from his description, it was quite separate from that of the Bush. As a height, Horeb was also held separate from the Mountain of the Law both by Etheria and by Antoninus. But Etheria, and others Elim, again, was mentioned as a monkish settlement by Ammonius (c. 372), and his description leaves no doubt that Raithou near the present Tur on the coast, two days’ journey from the Bush, is meant. This settlement retained its name, Elim, till recent times. Some of the mediÆval pilgrims looked upon it as the actual Elim of the Bible. Thus the Ritter von Harff, who visited it in 1497, held that the Israelites here left the Red Sea, and asserted that bones that lay on the shore were those of the pursuing Egyptians. But Etheria and Cosmas (c. 550) with a better appreciation of possibilities, located the passage of the Israelites near Clysma (near the present Suez), and sought Elim of the Bible, not at Raithou, but at Arandara, the present Wadi Gharandel. |