A Palestinian friar who lived in a monastery on Mount Sinai. He was born about the close of the sixth century, and became a convert to Judaism about 615. As a Christian, he spent his life in penance and prayer. Doubts as to the Christian dogma grew in his mind, and, after a prelonged struggle, he deserted his cell in the monastery on Sinai and wandered through the desert into Palestine, finally reaching Tiberias. Here he submitted to circumcision and became a Jew, receiving the name Abraham, by which he was subsequently known.