Preserving the Christian Heritage of Mt. Sinai

This post from Daniel Larison, who is always worth reading, linked to this story: both are about Mt. Sinai and what is going on there today in the context of the on-going troubles in Egypt. Both note the efforts to preserve the cultural and scholarly heritage of the monastery, which preserves some of the most precious and ancient documents and images we have in the Christian East. Both note, too, the fact that there is a considerable, and sadly rare, example of Muslim-Christian co-operation in trying to protect the monastery.

This put me in mind of two books noted on here previously about the monastery: this one about her icons--the most ancient we have prior to the outbreak of imperial iconoclasm--and this scholarly collection about the history and patrimony of the monastery.