Ascent to Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai represents the summit of humanity’s experience of God. Upon Mount Sinai, Moses “approached the dark cloud where God was” (Ex. 20:21). This image has intrigued the greatest of Christian minds throughout the ages including Dionysius the Areopagite (6th c.), St. Gregory of Nyssa (+379), and John of the Cross (+1491). John of the Cross, most well-known as the author of The Dark Night of the Soul, entitled his largest work Ascent to Mount Carmel in imitation of the timeless image of Mount Sinai. Most recently, Saint Sophrony (+1993) expanded upon the image of Mount Sinai and the experience of God as dazzling darkness and Unapproachable Light. The themes of divine darkness, the grace of Godforsakeness and the dark night of the soul as articulated by Saint Sophrony forms the axis upon which this journal turns. It is the personal and scholarly reflections of Rev. Mikel Hill, who serves as the Managing Editor of St Tikhon’s Monastery Press. Rev. Hill is a graduate of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary (M. Div.), Bowling Green State University (B. Musical Arts) and the St. Stephen’s House of Studies.