thumb|Mar Saba seen from the air

thumb|Tomb of Saint Sabbas

The Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas , known in Arabic and Syriac as Mar Saba (; ; ) and historically as the Great Laura of Saint Sabas, is a Greek Orthodox Christian monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley in the Bethlehem Governorate of Palestine in the West Bank, at a point halfway between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. The monks of Mar Saba and those of subsidiary houses are known as Sabaites.

Mar Saba is considered one of the world's oldest (almost) continuously inhabited monasteries, and it maintains many of its ancient traditions. One in particular is the restriction on women entering the main compound. The only building women can enter is the Women's Tower, near the main entrance.

History

Byzantine period

The monastery was founded by Sabbas the Sanctified in 483 on the eastern side of the Kidron Valley, where, according to the monastery's website, the first seventy hermits gathered around the hermitage of St Sabbas. Later on, the laura relocated to the opposite, western side of the gorge, where the Church of Theoktistos was built in 486 and consecrated in 491 Between the late eighth to the tenth century, the monastery was a major translation center for Greek works into Arabic. For instance, Yannah ibn Istifan al-Fakhuri (fl. 910) translated works of Leontius of Damascus and Barsanuphius of Gaza. Mar Saba was the home of the famous Georgian monk and scribe John Zosimus, who moved before 973 to Saint Catherine's Monastery, taking several parchment manuscripts with him.

The community seems to have also suffered under the persecutions of non-Muslims of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1009 as well as Turkmen raids in the 11th century, but experienced occasional phases of peace as can be seen by the continued scribal and artistic activities.

Crusader period

The monastery kept its importance during the existence of the Catholic Kingdom of Jerusalem established by Crusaders in 1099.

Mamluk and Ottoman periods

Like the other Palestinian monasteries, the monastery experienced a period of decline in the late medieval period as a result of Mamluk persecutions, the Black Death, demographic and economic degradation and the expansion of nomadic tribes. Whereas the Russian monk Zosimus estimated in 1420 the number of inhabitants at 30, the German traveler Felix Fabri recorded in the early 1480s, only six who were living together with a group of nomadic Arabs. Thereafter, the monastery was abandoned, and the remaining monks seem to have moved to Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai.

In 1504, the Serbian monastic community of Palestine, based out of the fourteenth century Monastery of Holy Archangels, purchased Mar Saba. The Serbs controlled the monastery until the late 1630s, and the significant financial support the monastery received from the Tsar of the Russian Empire allowed them to run the monastery semi-independently from the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the monastery's nominal overseer (much to the vexation of the patriarchate). and was for several centuries home to the Archimedes Palimpsest.

Access

Women are allowed to come to the main entrance, but they are not allowed to enter the walled compound.

The monastery is closed for visitors on Wednesdays and Fridays (the days of religious fasting).

<gallery widths="230" heights="180">

File:Mar Saba (Photo by Jean & Nathalie, 2011).jpg|Mar Saba Monastery, 2011

File:Mar Saba Women's Tower.jpg|The Women's Tower at Mar Saba Monastery is the only building on the grounds that women are allowed to enter.

File:(1453) Marsaba Klosteret.jpg|Mar Saba seen from a distance

File:Mar Saba 1.jpg|Mar Saba, in the Kidron Valley

File:2012دير مارسابا.jpg

</gallery>

List of abbots

There are gaps in this list. Prior to the 18th century, dates are years when the abbot (or hegumen) is known to have held office and not the start and end dates. From the 18th century on, the dates indicate the start of an abbot's term, which usually lasted two years at first, longer later on. The official list goes back to 1704, but still has gaps.

Notes

See also

  • War of Saint Sabas
  • Serapheim Savvaitis
  • Theodorus and Theophanes called the Grapti (770s–840s), monks educated at Mar Saba, opponents of iconoclasm

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • (pp. 219, 232)
  • (pp. 92- 101)
  • (pp. 14-19)
  • (p. 347)
  • (pp. 258-268)
  • (pp. 26, 249)
  • (Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 123)
  • Survey of Western Palestine, Map 18: IAA, Wikimedia commons
  • Photos of Mar Saba at the Manar al-Athar photo archive