Today was “Monastery Day”, as we visited two in the wilderness landscapes just beyond Bethlehem. Wisely, we began as early as we could to avoid some of the day’s heat. Still, some of our group were cooked and dripping by the time we returned.
Mar Saba. Charles had called this the “mother of monasteries”, but we weren’t sure why. It’s not because it’s the largest one, though it does have an impressively large compound. It’s not that it was the home to the most monks in days gone by—today, there are less than twenty monks who call this home. Much of its claim to fame is found in its location. It is perched on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a very deep wadi (a riverbed, sometimes dry, which funnels water from higher ground to lower; can be the sites of powerful flash floods). The land around Mar Saba could be called “rugged”, and it’s certainly not the type of place one would choose to live…
Unless you were trying to get away. Continue reading
