Father Justin Sinaites

I rode to Denton, Texas to hear a lecture given by Fr. Justin, a monk who lives in the Egyptian desert. He is the librarian for St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai.

St. Catherine's Monastery doesn't have just any library. It has the second largest collection of ancient manuscripts in the world, second only to the Vatican. And it owns some of the oldest as well.



In addition to being librarian, Fr. Justin, is in charge of the digitization project. That is, he is taking HD photos of the manuscripts so scholars all over the world can study them without adding wear on the fragile documents. Among others he is working on the famous Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.


Fr. Justin's presentation was titled The Sinai Codex Theodosianus: Manuscript as Icon.


But since we drove several hours to get there, we were invited to dinner at the local Orthodox parish, before the lecture. We arrived at the parish with a few minutes to spare. We entered the house and sitting in the living room was Fr. Justin Sinaites himself.


He was genuinely glad to see us and the other visitors. He is a quiet man though eager to share his work. And he exudes peace. We listened to him tell about life at the monastery, the local Bedouins, and his work with manuscripts. He put everyone at ease and the conversation was informal, yet respectful. I had to keep reminding myself that this man was responsible for some of the most important Christian texts... ever.

UPDATE: Read about the evening in greater detail on the following blogs:

- Logismoi
- Byzantine Texas
- Words, Words, Words

After dinner we walked to the auditorium and listened to his presentation. There were about 80 people in attendance. Following the talk was a reception back at the church. The other Fr. Justin, local parish priest, and his wife were gracious in their hospitality.

It was the kind of evening that comes once in a lifetime.