A series of shocks were felt during the night at the monastery of St Catherine in Sinai, but the year of these shocks is disputed. Patriarch Nektarios of Jerusalem reports that seven shocks occurred on the same night, which he dates to 12 February 1091 CE, when the archbishop of the monastery, John the Athenian, was tortured and killed. However, Ambraseys (2009) notes that the date of John’s martyrdom is itself uncertain.

Eckenstein (1921:144–145) reports that the martyrdom took place in 1069 CE, raising the possibility that these shocks were related to the 1068 CE earthquake(s), which appear to have resulted from fault ruptures along the Araba Fault and/or the Gulf of Aqaba . In contrast, Chiekho (1907:416) cited an Arabic manuscript that dated John’s martyrdom to 1091 CE, a date followed by Rabino (1937:82) and noted by Ambraseys (2009). Ambraseys also cites an anonymous Greek text from 1817 that places the martyrdom in 1061, 1071, or 1091 CE in different parts of the same work.