A medieval party of 800 Armenians at the top of Mount Sinai suddenly found themselves surrounded by fire. Their pilgrim staffs shone like candles but, wisely chanting ‘Kyrie Eleison’, they were relieved that after an hour or so the fire abated and not an eyelash of theirs was harmed.
The top of Mount Sinai is no place to be stuck in an electrical storm, even less exposed to the fire of God’s presence. A steep mass of weathered granite 7,616 ft high overlooking the Red Sea, it could be climbed on foot (but not on mule-back) with the help of 3,700 steps built into the rock. The slog was worth it because this was the Mountain of the Law where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments — hence its Arabic name Jabal-Musa (Mount Moses), which George Manginis uses for the summit.
Despite the name of the book, he refers to the whole mountainous mass as Horeb, reserving Sinai for the peninsula.
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