South Sinai marks martyrdom of Saint Catherine

South Sinai and the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Catherine continues to mark the martyrdom of Saint Catherine, which falls on December 8.

To mark the event, the governorate has been holding celebrations that were attended by foreign ambassadors, Egyptian actors, media persons and tourists to send a message of peace to the world.

The Monastery, founded in the 6th century, is the oldest Christian monastery still in use for its initial function, Director General of the Research and Archaeological Studies Institute in Sinai and Lower Egypt Abdel Rehim Rehan said.

It has been included by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the World Heritage Sites List in 2002, Rehan said.

Its walls and buildings are of great significance to studies of Byzantine architecture and the Monastery houses outstanding collections of early Christian manuscripts and icons. The rugged mountainous landscape, containing numerous archaeological and religious sites and monuments, forms a perfect backdrop to the Monastery.

According to tradition, Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian martyr sentenced to death on the wheel. When this failed to kill her, she was beheaded. According to tradition, angels took her remains to Mount Sinai. Around the year 800, monks from the Sinai Monastery found her remains.

The wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel, was a torture device used for capital punishment from antiquity into early modern times for public execution by breaking the criminal's bones/bludgeoning him to death.