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The End of Another Day

The Burning Bush with the mountains behind, at the end of another day.

3 comments to The End of Another Day

  • Maria

    So beautiful!
    I have never noticed it, in reality ..

  • Anna

    Fr. Justin,

    While St. Catherine’s Monastery was in the process of being built, how did the monks there not disturb or damage the Burning Bush?

    • Father Justin

      We know from an inscription on one of the ceiling beams in the church that it was constructed by Stephen from Aila, modern day Eilat. One would wish that he had kept a journal that had come down to our day, but unfortunately, this is not the case. Almost everything we know about the earlier structures and the sixth century construction has been from historians, looking carefully at the architectural record. We know that in the fourth century, there was a chapel next to the Burning Bush, and a tower of refuge. In the sixth century, an imposing basilica and other structures were built at the site, and then everything was enclosed in fortress walls. The process took several years. The more architectural historians study the site, the more they come to appreciate the difficulties that presented themselves, and the way these problems were solved, such as the way rainfall drains away from the structures, and is caught in cisterns for subsequent use. Carefully enclosing the Burning Bush, without damaging it, would have been another challenge.

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