FatherJustinsBlog

Rough plaster and weathered boards at storeroom 24, behind the Burning Bush.

My cactus in bloom. Cacti are intruders from the New World.

A post is connected to a brace with a dovetailed tenon. The brace has been cut on both sides with a reverse ogee profile. Everything is then held in place with hand forged nails. This is Sinai woodworking from many years ago.

The passageway leading from the kitchen stairs to the church.

Καὶ ἀνέβη Μωυσῆς καὶ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἰς τό ὄρος, καί ἐκάλυψεν ἡ νεφέλη τὸ ὄρος. Καὶ κατέβη ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ Σινά, καὶ ἐκάλυψεν αὐτὸ ἡ νεφέλη ἓξ ἡμέρας· καὶ ἐκάλεσε Κύριος τὸν Μωυσῆν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἐκ μέσου τῆς νεφέλης. Τὸ δὲ εἶδος τῆς δόξης Κυρίου ὡσεὶ πῦρ φλέγον ἐπὶ τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ ὄρους ἐναντίον τῶν υἱῶν ᾿Ισραήλ. Καὶ εἰσῆλθε Μωυσῆς εἰς τὸ μέσον τῆς νεφέλης καὶ ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ ἦν ἐκεῖ ἐν τῷ ὄρει τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας. 

And Moses and Joshua went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of God came down upon the mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the Lord called Moses on the seventh day out of the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was as burning fire on the top of the mountain, before the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up to the mountain, and was there in the mountain forty days and forty nights. (Exodus 24:15-18)

On the afternoon of the Transfiguration I climbed into the mountains to the south of the monastery and photographed the last rays of the sun shining on the foothills of Sinai.