The Holy Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai which is situated in the South Sinai region is a purely religious institution that is dedicated to the protection of the Sinaitic pilgrimage sites. In parallel with this, the Sinai fathers are, on the one hand, dedicated with the maintenance of the history of Sinai, the values of the great religious tradition of the monastery with its equally important Helleno-Roman cultural heritage, but principally they tend to cultivate the development of the exalted moral life through the exercise of the Christian virtue that derives from the first commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God . . .” Likewise, the active and generous love which Christ ordered to his disciples through his second commandment led to the propagation of the Gospel’s preaching and to the founding of schools, almshouses, orphanages, and to many other forms of social charity. The Sinai fathers, up to this day, continue with religious devotion to hold fast to these two Christian commandments as the basis of their exercise and ministry.

The Holy Monastery of Sinai along with all of the South Sinai area which is connected with the Archdiocese of Sinai, Pharan, and Raitho, in its operation is regulated by the holy canons of the Ecumenical Councils and spiritually it ranks among the complex of Orthodox Churches. According to various decisions taken in different occasions by the local synods and the Orthodox Patriarchs with regard to the Holy Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai, it is characterized by the unique privilege in Orthodox Christianity of being governed administratively by its abbot who is the same person as the Archbishop of Sinai and of being “unsubdued, immune, untrampled by anyone, and totally free from all and everyone. Furthermore, it is Autocephalous,” as it is not subject to any Patriarch or Synod. His Eminence the Archbishop of Sinai enjoys a broader spiritual relationship with the Patriarch of Jerusalem as it is by the latter that the former is consecrated, and whenever the archbishop celebrates within his episcopal jurisdiction he commemorates the name of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The general operation of the Sinaitic brotherhood is regulated by “The Basic Canons,” and it is democratically governed by its Abbot and Archbishop of Sinai, Pharan, and Raitho, the Holy Council of the Fathers, as well as by the assembly of the entire brotherhood which is convened from time to time.

The Holy Monastery of Sinai as a spiritual institution has sanctioned by time, in a spirit of mutual confidence and honesty, its dealings with the various administrations of the Sinai region, who in their turn have always confirmed the traditional order and tradition of the monastery as these have, progressively, been established in the course of its eighteen century long life-span. In these our days it collaborates, in perfect harmony, with the Egyptian authorities as well as with those of the Greek state with which, at a central high level, it tends to solve any problems that might eventually arise; while, as it enjoys particular protection from them it includes them among its Great Benefactors. In parallel with this, in close collaboration with the representatives of the regional administration and with those of the archaeological service of the Sinai Peninsula it is always the leader in matters of common interest of the area that concern local, cultural, or ecological policies or any questions that might be related with the living conditions of the bedouin that live in the said region; this, naturally, in connection with the UNESCO general guidelines for the protection of the whole area.