Walking through St. Catherine’s, you come to a
small chamber behind the altar called the Chapel of the Burning Bush, the
holiest spot in the monastery. The Chapel is often closed to the public, but if
you are fortunate to go in, you must remove your shoes, just as Moses did,
because it is “holy ground.”
Under the altar you’ll see a silver star, which is
believed to mark the location of the burning bush. Egeria, a pilgrim that
visited the Holy Land between 381-384 AD, described the bush as “still alive
and sprouting,” and it was “situated within a pretty garden.” This reputed bush
was transplanted several yards away.
That traditional bush (or its successor) now covers
a stone wall, and is carefully tended by monks from the monastery. Believe it
or not, the bush has been given a name—The
Unburnt Bush.
The
Unburnt Bush is a prickly bush
that bears fruit, and a member of the rose family. It is native to the Holy
Land and has an extremely long life. Guides tell us that the monastery’s bush
neither blooms nor has any fruit.
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