Father Justin's Blog

The full moon rising from behind the granite mountains, with the cross over the Chapel of Saint Stephen to the right.

On the inside of the iconostasion at Sinai, there is a depiction of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. On the right, a man sets out from Jerusalem, bound for Jericho. But thieves rob him, leaving him wounded and half dead. A priest, and then a Levite, see him, and pass by on the other side. A Samaritan sees him, and takes pity on him. In the traditional iconography, it is Christ who is the Good Samaritan, anointing the wounded man with wine and oil, and bearing him to the inn. The inn is the Church, and the innkeeper is Saint Paul, who received all, and cared for them with untiring diligence. Christ enjoins his ministers in every age, Take care of those who have been wounded in the perils of this life. Heal them, and provide shelter for them, ‘and when I come again, I will repay thee’ (Luke 10:35).

The lower part of the depiction is obscured by the silver reliquary made for the relics of Saint Catherine in Moscow in 1688, and given to the monastery by the Tsars Ivan and Peter together with their older half-sister Sophia Alexeyevna.

The steps that lead to the peak of Mount Sinai, after a light snow.

The first morning sunlight shines obliquely across the rough plaster wall of the Chapel of Saint John the Forerunner.

Through the night of December 31, we had heavy rains. The sun broke through on the morning of January 1, then again that night we had heavy rains with scattered hail. These rains will replenish all the local aquifers with much needed water. The sun returned on Sunday morning as the rain clouds lifted.