Monastycyzm synajski na przełomie VI/VII wieku - źródła historyczne i literackie

Abstract

The first monastics came to the Sinai in their yearning to draw nigh to God in the midst of profound silence, isolation, prayer, and holiness. Centered at the site of the Burning Bush, the early anchorites settled throughout the south Sinai, where the traces of their chapels and cells can be seen to this day. They were moved by the same mystical longing that attracted monastics to the deserts of Scetis and the Wadi Natrun, or to the deserts in the Judaean wilderness. Many at the time lived in solitude during the days of the week, and gathered at a central chapel on the Lord’s day for common prayer and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. It is estimated that by the seventh century there were some six hundred monastics living in the region of Sinai.