Editing Mar Saba

[[Image:Palestine-2013-Aerial-Mar Saba Monastery.jpg|thumb|Mar Saba seen from the air.]]
[[Image:Mar Saba (Photo by Jean & Nathalie, 2011).jpg|thumb|Mar Saba Monastery, 2011]]
[[Image:Mar Saba Women's Tower.jpg|thumb|The Women's Tower at Mar Saba Monastery is the only building on the grounds that women are allowed to enter.]]
[[Image:(1453) Marsaba Klosteret.jpg|thumb|Mar Saba seen from a distance.]]
[[Image:Marsava.jpg|thumb|Mar Saba, in the [[Kidron Valley]].]]

The '''Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas''',<sup>[1]</sup> known in Syriac as '''Mar Saba''' (ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܣܒܐ, دير مار سابا; |מנזר מר סבא; Ἱερὰ Λαύρα τοῦ Ὁσίου Σάββα τοῦ Ἡγιασμένου; Mânǎstirea Sfântul Sava), is an [[Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox Christian]] [[Christian monasticism|monastery]] overlooking the [[Kidron Valley]] at a point halfway between the [[Old City of Jerusalem]] and the [[Dead Sea]],<sup>[2]</sup> within the [[Bethlehem Governorate]] of the [[West Bank]].<sup>[3]</sup> The monks of Mar Saba and those of subsidiary houses are known as '''Sabaites'''. Mar Saba is occasionally referred to as the [[Convent]] or [[Monastery]] of Santa Sabba.<sup>[4]</sup>[[John Lloyd Stephens]] (1837) ''Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea, and the Holy Land''

The monastery was founded by [[Sabbas the Sanctified]] in the year 483.<sup>[5]</sup> Today, the complex houses around 20 [[monk]]s. It is considered to be one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, and still maintains many of its ancient traditions. One in particular is the restriction on [[women in Christianity|women]] entering the main compound. The only building that women can enter is the Women's Tower, near the main entrance. The monastery is closed for visitors on Wednesdays and Fridays (the fasting days of the week).

The monastery holds the [[relic]]s of Saint Sabbas. The relics were seized by Latin [[crusaders]] in the 12th century and remained in [[Italy]] until [[Pope Paul VI]] returned them to the monastery in 1965 as a gesture of repentance and good will towards [[Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]].

Mar Saba was also the home of [[John of Damascus|St. John of Damascus]] (676 - 749), a key religious figure in the [[Iconoclastic Controversy]], who, around 726, wrote letters to the Byzantine emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian]] refuting his edicts prohibiting the veneration of [[icon]]s (images of Christ or other Christian religious figures). John  worked as a high financial officer to the Muslim [[Caliph]] [[Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan|Abd al-Malik]]; he eventually felt a higher calling and migrated to the [[Judaean desert]], where he was [[tonsure]]d a monk and was [[ordained]] a [[hieromonk]] (monastic priest) at the Monastery of Mar Saba. St. John's tomb lies in a cave under the monastery.

The monastery is important in the historical development of the [[liturgy]] of the [[Orthodox Church]] in that the monastic [[Typicon]] (manner of celebrating worship services) of Saint Sabbas became the standard throughout the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and those "Uniate" or [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] under the Roman pope which follow the [[Byzantine Rite]]. The Typicon took the standard form of services which were celebrated in the [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|Patriarchate of Jerusalem]] and added some specifically monastic usages which were local traditions at Saint Sabbas. From there it spread to [[Constantinople]], and thence throughout the [[Byzantine]] world. Although this Typicon has undergone further evolution, particularly at the Monastery of the [[Stoudion]] in Constantinople, it is still referred to as the ''Typicon of Saint Sabas''. A tradition states that this monastery will host the last [[Divine Liturgy]] on earth before the [[parousia]] of Jesus Christ, therefore the last pillar of true Christianity.

Mar Saba is where [[Morton Smith]] purportedly found a copy of [[Mar Saba letter|a letter]] ascribed to [[Clement of Alexandria]] containing excerpts of a so-called ''[[Secret Gospel of Mark]],''<sup>[6]</sup> and was for several centuries home to the [[Archimedes Palimpsest]].<sup>[7]</sup>

==See also==
* [[War of Saint Sabas]]
* [[Serapheim Savvaitis]]

==References==
* 1. A [[lavra]] was historically a semi-[[eremitic]]al monastic community, but most lavras today only have the name for historical reasons and follow a more centralized [[cenobitic monasticism|coenobitic]] regimen.
* 2. "[http://www.wysinfo.com/Dead_Sea/ds_travellers_notes.htm Mar Saba Monastery]".
* 3. Melhem, Ahmad (9 May 2016). "[http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/05/west-bank-palestine-old-monastery-unesco-heritage-list.html Ancient Palestinian monastery under UNESCO consideration]". Al Monitor. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
* 4. [[John Lloyd Stephens]] (1837) ''Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea, and the Holy Land''
* 5. [http://doaks.org/resources/publications/doaks-online-publications/byzantine-monastic-foundation-documents/typ055.pdf Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents]
* 6. Morton Smith, ''Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark'' (Harvard University Press) 1973
* 7.  The Archimedes Palimpsest Project. "[http://archimedespalimpsest.org/about/history/index.php The History of the Archimedes Manuscript]".


==External links==
[[Category:439 establishments]]
[[Category:Greek culture]]
[[Category:Greek Orthodox monasteries]]
[[Category:Christian monasteries in the West Bank]]
[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 5th century]]
[[Category:Greek Orthodoxy in the State of Palestine]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in the State of Palestine]]

{{Donate}}