%20Contents-1.jpg)
Ječmenica Dejan,
Serbs and the Mount Sinai Monastery in the XIII and XIV centuries
The Mount Sinai Monastery has been built at the place where, according to the Bible, God appeared before Moses. It is considered one of the Christian's most sacred places. Since the age of Serbian Archbishop Sava I, we can trace relations between Serbs and this faraway monastery. In this work attention is drawn to these relations, Serbian caretaking for the monastery, presence of Serbian monks in the monastery, attention and gifts given from eminent people and the relations with the Serbian monastery of the Holy Archangels in Jerusalem.
During the pilgrimage of Archbishop Sava I in 1235, relations with Sinai monastery were made, which were held with it in the decades that followed, while queen Jelena, the wife of King Uroš I and her sons, kings Dragutin and Milutin were rulers. At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Stefan Uroš in 1357, a special plot occurred, regarding the relations with this monastery. Namely, the Emperor published a charter which declared that the yearly tribute, which was given to the Serbian monastery of the Holy Archangels in Jerusalem now is given to the monastery of the Theotokos (Holy Mother of God) of Sinai. Presumably, this charter was not put into effect, since the monks of Jerusalem were using the given yearly tribute with ease from 1363.
From a numerous notes in the manuscripts which prominent Serbs gave as gift to the Sinai monastery, the relation with the monastery of the Holy Archangels in Jerusalem can be clearly noticed, through monks coming from Jerusalem to Sinai in order to practice ascetic life.
In all preserved old Serbian sources, the Monastery of Sinai is named the Theotokos of Sinai, but never Saint Catherine′s Monastery.
