Saint Catherine's Monastery, on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of an inaccessible gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt.

 The monastery is Greek Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO report (60100 ha / Ref: 954) and website hereunder, this monastery has been called the oldest working Christian monastery in the world.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is a Christian saint and martyr who is claimed to have been a noted scholar in the early 4th century. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, it was rumored that she had spoken to Saint Joan of Arc. The Orthodox Churches venerate her as a "great martyr," and in the Catholic Church she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

What is told of Saint Catherine's life is mostly composed of legends which have many different variations, and have little historical basis. The most popular version is that Catherine was the daughter of Costus, governor of Alexandria. She announced to her parents that she would only marry someone who surpassed her in everything, such that "His beauty was more radiant than the shining of the sun, His wisdom governed all creation, His riches were spread throughout the entire world."

Having received a vision that urged her to baptism, Catherine became a Christian and was transported to heaven in vision and betrothed to Christ by the Virgin Mary.