St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Monastery, on Mt. Sinai, Egypt. It was founded in the year 565 by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, with the oldest record of monastic life in the Sinai area dating to 381 to 384. It is one of the oldest monasteries in the world, and THE oldest continually inhabited one.
It was originally called the Monastery of the Holy Virgin, as the Burning Bush was a prefiguration of the Virgin birth of Jesus Christ. The Chapel of the Burning Bush was ordered to be built around the site of the Burning Bush by St. Helen, the mother of St. Constantine the Great. St. Catherine’s relics are also held here.
It has never been destroyed and has always remained in possession of the Greek speaking world. Both the Bible and Holy Tradition tell us that Elijah and Moses walked this mountain of Mt. Sinai, in 1 Kings 19 where Elijah heard the Lord.
According to “the Ashtiname of Muhammad,” Muhammad himself granted a charter to the Orthodox Christian monks here at St. Catherine’s for protection and immunity against Islamic attacks. It is sealed with an alleged imprint of Muhammad’s hand. The document goes as far as to say any Muslim who attacks these Christians has renounced their faith in Islam and “is deserving of God’s Curse.”