Saint Catherine of 4th Century Feast day is November 25th Patron of philosophers and scholars

The Tradition of Catherine According to tradition, Catherine was well educated — trained in philosophy and quite learned. Many men wanted to marry her, but she said she would only marry someone who was her superior in many ways — including knowledge.

During the 4th Century persecution by Emperor , she spoke out in favor of , and tradition says the Emperor had her debate with 50 of the most learned men in the kingdom; she defeated them all, and they became .

The Emperor — unhappy about this — sent Catherine to be martyred on a spiked wheel, but an angel broke the instrument of . Seeing this, the Emperor’s wife and some 200 soldiers were converted, and the Emperor then had them beheaded. In an additional effort to get Catherine to renounce her faith, the Emperor proposed marriage, but she refused him. Finally, he had her beheaded.

Understanding the

This icon may be found in the Monastery of Saint Catherine at the foot of . The monastery was built in the 6th century at the command of Emperor Justinian, around an earlier chapel of the Burning Bush supposedly built by St. Helena in 327. This monastery is one of the earliest existing monasteries. It is called the Monastery of Saint Catherine because legend claims that angels carried her from the Egyptian city to the top of Mount St. Catherine, where her relics were supposedly later found.

The title inscription says –Ἡ ἉΓΙΑ ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ — “The Holy Catherine.”

4 At left is Mount Sinai (“The Mountain of ”). At the base of the mountain, Moses with his flock sees the “Unburnt Thornbush,” the bush that burned but was not consumed, which Eastern Orthodoxy considers a prefiguration of Mary. That is why Mary is shown here as the Mother of God.

1 At the top of the mountain, Moses is receiving the tablets of the Law from God the Father.

On the right side of the icon, body of Catherine is carried by angels, 2 and placed atop the mountain. This is Mount Catherine, some two miles from Mount Sinai.

In the foreground we see Catherine herself, sitting among 3 5 , holding the cross and wearing the of martyrdom.

6 Her left hand rests upon her symbol — the wheel — and holds a palm of victory — a symbol of martyrdom.

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