Mar Elias Monastery
Mar Elias Monastery stands like a fortress
on a ridge from which both Jerusalem and Bethlehem can be seen. It was
founded in the 6th century BC and in 1160 was rebuilt by the Emperor Manuel
Commenus following a disastrous earthquake. The monastery was named after
St. Elias the prophet. Legend has it that the building stands on the site
where Elias rested on his flight from the vengeance of Jezebel (1 Kings
19). Opposite the monastery is a stone seat placed by Edith, wife of William
Homan Hunt, the great pre-Raphaelite artist of religious paintings such
as "The Light of the World" and "The Scapegoat". Inscribed on the seat
are verses from the Bible in Hebrew, Greek, English, and Arabic. Visiting
hours: 8:00 - 11:00 and 13:30 - 17:00
Saint Theodosius' Convent
Leaving Bethlehem by Beit Sahour through pleasant
farmland, a road brings us to the imposing monastery of St. Theodosius
(or Den Dosi or Den Ibn Abeid), centre of the Abediyah Bedouins. Theodosius
joined the convent in 455 and was named as Superior. He fled to Metopa
and later 
to
a grotto here in which according to tradition the Magi had spent their
first night after the angel had warned them to return to their own country
via another road. The monastery was founded in 476. Four hundred monks
were under his direction, divided according to their language and rite:
Greek, Armenian and Slav. In 492, the Patriarch Sallustius appointed Theodosius
head of all cenobites. He died in 529 at the age of 105, having seen 693
monks from the monastery pass away.
The Mauristan
to
a grotto here in which according to tradition the Magi had spent their
first night after the angel had warned them to return to their own country
via another road. The monastery was founded in 476. Four hundred monks
were under his direction, divided according to their language and rite:
Greek, Armenian and Slav. In 492, the Patriarch Sallustius appointed Theodosius
head of all cenobites. He died in 529 at the age of 105, having seen 693
monks from the monastery pass away.
The Mauristan
Immediately south of the Holy Sepulchre is
the area known as the Mauristan . The area gets its name - Mauristan is
Persian for hospital or hospice- from the fact that it was once crowded
with lodging houses for pilgrims and travelers. Today you will find a number
of churches and other religious institutions, and in the Greek bazaar known
as Souq Aftimos to its south shops selling leather goods in particular.
Charlemagne
founded the area in the early ninth century, and although it was damaged
in 1009, many of the buildings were restored by a group of merchants from
Amalfi in Italy in the eleventh century. The oldest church in the area
is that of St. John the Baptist in the southwest corner of the square.
This church dates from the fifth century, and is one of the buildings extensively
rebuilt by merchants, with the two small bell towers framing a blue-domed
roof as later additions. The Crusader order of the Knights of St. John
of Jerusalem (also known as the Knights Hospitallers) was founded here.
German Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who bought the site during a visit
in 1869, commissioned the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the northeast
corner of the square to be built over St. Mary La Latine church. Traces
of the original church remain in the medieval northern gate, decorated
with the signs of the Zodiac and the symbols of the months. Opposite the
Lutheran Church, the Alexander Hospice houses the church of Jerusalem's
Russian Orthodox community. On the west side of the square overlooking
the Mauristan Fountain is St. John's Hospice, occupied since April 1990
by Jewish settlers who have an Israeli flag hanging from an upper window.
In the northwest of the square facing onto Souq ad Dabbagha the Mosque
of Omar commemorates Caliph Omar's prayers in the courtyard of the Holy
Sepulchre in 638 AD.