Retired minister Ruth Crofton, who helped organise the 2009 Synod Sinai Pilgrimage, is planning to return to the Desert later this year with her own party of pilgirms.
The Pilgrimage is entitled Seeking our Desert Roots – a visit to the Sinai and to the Monasteries of St Anthony & St Paul, and wil take place 1st – 8th November 2010.
As Ruth explains "For those who missed last year’s Sinai trip this is another opportunity. This eight-day, less physically taxing, visit is not rushed, so there will be opportunity for rest, and for reflection and prayer, and specific material will be made available to assist in this."
The itinerary includes a three-night stay at the Guest House beside the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St Catherine, at the foot of Mount Sinai, with opportunity to see the Burning Bush, Moses’ Well and the renowned collection of icons and manuscripts. There may be opportunity to attend a service and perhaps see the refurbished library, as well as to climb Mount Sinai and take an easy walk to visit a local Bedouin family, pausing en route at the rock from which water came when struck with Moses’ staff....
The pilgrims will then travel to the west side of the Gulf of Suez, to the Monasteries of St Anthony and of St Paul set in a remote corner of the Eastern Desert – but spending two nights at the very comfortable Movenpick Ein Sokhna hotel, where there should be time for a swim
Ruth, who has been to Sinai and Egypt a number of times in recent years, warms to her subject as she explains that these monasteries are Coptic Orthodox: Christianity was widespread in Egypt as early as the 2nd century, and the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, now numbering millions, constitutes the largest group of Christians in the Middle East. It can be argued that the early Coptic Church had quite some influence on western Christianity: certainly it was to Anthony’s monastic rule that the Celtic church in Britain looked, and in the lives of the Northumbrian saints such as Aidan and Cuthbert we can see similarities to the early Coptic saints.
For a detailed brochure, or for any queries, contact Revd Ruth Crofton (01388 763093) |
Websites to visit
St. Catherine’s: www.sinaimonastery.com
St. Anthony’s: www.stanthonymonastery.org
St. Paul’s: www.touregypt.net/featurestories/stpaul.htm
Coptic Church: www.copticchurch.net