Saint Catherine’s feast day, patroness of monastery, сelebrated on Sinai

Celebration of the feast of Saint Catherine the Great Martyr at the Sinai Monastery. Photo: orthodoxianewsagency

On December 8, 2025, the Monastery of Sinai solemnly marked the feast of Saint Catherine the Great Martyr, who is revered as the monastery’s protectress. The report was published by the Orthodoxia news agency.

The celebration was the first under the leadership of the newly appointed abbot – Archbishop Simeon of Sinai, Pharan, and Raitho. The monastery notes that the feast is taking place at a time when the brotherhood awaits solutions to important issues concerning the status of the world’s oldest Christian monastery, which for more than seventeen centuries has borne Orthodox witness on the holy land revered by the three Abrahamic religions.

The festive Divine Liturgy was presided over by Archbishop Simeon. Among those attending was the Ambassador of Greece to Egypt, Nikolaos Papageorgiou, underscoring the Greek state’s attention to the spiritual and historical significance of Sinai. Archbishop Simeon also led the memorial prayer and the traditional prayer procession within the monastery complex.

On the eve of the feast, December 7 (November 24 according to the old calendar), a solemn hierarchical Vespers service was held. It was led by Metropolitan Joachim of Elenopolis of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, who arrived on Sinai specifically for the celebration and conveyed the brotherhood the support of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Saint Catherine occupies a unique place in the monastery’s history. Her relics are kept in the monastery, and her feast is the central celebration of the monastic year, surpassing in significance even the feasts connected with the Prophet Moses and Saint John Climacus. Across the centuries, her intercession, miracles, and veneration as the “Bride of Christ” have shaped Sinai’s rich spiritual tradition and brought the monastery renown throughout the Christian world.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem stressed that the brotherhood of the ancient monastery continues its ministry in a spirit of peace and unity.

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