The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1913-01-17

daoor ord oblivion Unpeopled plains have been
converted into hives of industry, ana hNes Oh III
dustrv have reverted back to unpeopled plains.
New lands have been discovered and peop!ed ana
nov, cons have been navigated and charted Every
where progress has changed the physical CONDITION
of the people. Everywhere progress has changed
the historical and geographical Importance OF ma
tions and countries. Here, alone, III the mount
Sinai Valley where the nation THAI gave US the
Savior first sprang into prominence, progress mas
stood still Surrounded by the peaks OF the Forty
Martyrs all is hushed and still on the pam where
once the hum of thousands Of voices was heard ana
%here the valley rang with the resounuihs mart"
OF the hosts of Israel
on the peak of as-esSafsafeh. the cross the
symbol of Christianity has been planted on the very
spot upon which Moses the great law glver ana
leader of the Jews stood and gave to his people
the ten commandments. the basis OF all re!lSlous
beliefs and the foundation of all law, moral and
civil Now unpeopled and deserted, the very
lonesomeness of the place is awe-nspirmg. ana
the silence of the tomb is not more impressive
than the well of silence that envelops Ras-es-
Safsafeh and its surroundings.
The mount on which God is said to have re
veaed himself to Moses is situated in the south
ern half of the so-called peninsula of Sinai. pro
iecting into the northern extremity OF the rec
sea between the Gulf of Suez on the west and
the Gulf of Akabah on the east. This park of the
ueuinsula consists of a of granite and
po-phyry mountains which may be divided into
three groups a northwestern reaching IN JeDeI
Serial height or 6,tl2 feeti a central 4uC4uu-
ing Jebel Musa Mount Of Moses, 1853 feet
and Jebel Katerin 1897 feet; and an eastern
and southern whose highest peak is Jebel Umm
shomer SAG feet Whether the Biblical SINAI
was Iebel Umm Shomer OF Jebel Musa was long
disputed by leading authorities. The former was
advocated by Eusebius Jerome, Cosmas INDIGO
nleustes and in more modern times by Lepsius
and Ebers Jebel Musa however, is preferred by
most authorities, and is favored by tradltlon
(which dates however only from Christian
ID hz- fhn
Noses" and the erection of monastery upon
IT which goes back the days of Justinian The
northern peak of Jebel Musa, known as Ras-es
Safsafeh (6,540 feet), meets the conditions re-
CURED since there is open space at its base
sufficient to accommodate large encampment
Standing on the lofty summit of Mount Sinai,
what thoughts and visions are conured up as
one contempates that there on the vast plain OF
Assemblage that stretches before the eye hun
dreds Of feet below fifty centuries ago, the com
mandments were deliverd to the assembled chill
dren of Israel
Excepting for the Mount Sinai monastery,
which from these heights looks like a little toy
fort built Of blocks the region is still and
hushed and almost deserted. The massive walls
of the monastery raised by the peaceloving and
Godfearing monks under Justinian in 527 A D.
as a protection against the marauding bands
of Bedouins that infested that part of the coun-
try when the wealth of empire was possessed
BIZ the buiide-s and occupants of the monastery
are in the condition as when built 15Oo
years ago. Today, however, the Christian world
keeps watchful eye this mountain monas-
terry and its contents and the Bedouins knowing
this to be the fact keep friendly as well as
visiting terms with the monks.
In the monastery ere stored the priceless
hooks narrating the history of Christianity in
the tongue Of every Christian nation Slowly
the brotherhood of Mount Sinai monks are dy-
ing out there being but twenty or twenty-five
at the present time. The life and the pay-not
enough to buy tobacco-are not sufficient in
ducement for young recruits to join the forces
that year by year growing smaller. In the
course of few years the Treasurer of the
monastery will remain but a memory to remind
one of the greatness of its founder. Justinian.
Looking northwest from Jebel Musa to Wadi ell