Mar Saba's Monastery is a sacred place I love to remember.
By courtesy of the Abbot and Community of Latroun Abbey I was accompanied to on three occasions.
The story of St. Saba became all the more interest to learn that in Latroun Abbey the site of one of the Saint's hermit's cave. In the higher groun we visited the place among the trees. It so happened at that moment some Russian folks from Tel Avive were picnicking and we were entusiastically asked us monks to join in the festivity which we thorouthly enjoyed.
Mar Saba Monastery,
The Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba or Saint Saba's Monastery; 14.5 km east of Bethlehem and a further 6 km from St. Theodosius; is considered to be the oldest ongoing inhabited monastery in the Holy Land and one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, founded by Saint Saba of Cappadocia in the year 439.
The immense and spectacular monastery built into the rock overlooking the
It represents a way of life unchanged since the time of
Despite the fact that Mar Saba is reputed to have had a long tradition of hospitality to strangers, women have never been allowed to enter. This regulation persists today, so female visitors must be satisfied with a glimpse of the chapel and buildings from a nearby two-storey tower on the right entrance, the so-called Women's Tower.
(676?-749)
John spent most of his life in the monastery of St. Sabas, near He is famous in three areas.
First, he is known for his writings against the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images. Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian emperor Leo who forbade the practice, and it was because John lived in Muslim territory that his enemies could not silence him.
Second, he is famous for his treatise, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the Greek Fathers (of which he became the last). It is said that this book is to Eastern schools what the Summa of Aquinas became to the West.
Thirdly, he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the Eastern Church, the other being Romanus the Melodist. His devotion to the Blessed Mother and his sermons on her feasts are well known.
Comment: John defended the Church’s understanding of the veneration of images and explained the faith of the Church in several other controversies. For over 30 years he combined a life of prayer with these defenses and his other writings. His holiness expressed itself in putting his literary and preaching talents at the service of the Lord.
Quote: “The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith). |
Saint. Sabas (b. 439)
Born in Cappadocia (modern-day
After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused and ran away several times, Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery. While family members tried to persuade him to return home, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life. Although the youngest monk in the house, he excelled in virtue.
At age 18 he traveled to
Some of these men came to him desiring to join him in his solitude. At first he refused. But not long after relenting, his followers swelled to more than 150, all of them living in individual huts grouped around a church, called a laura. The bishop persuaded a reluctant Sabas, then in his early 50s, to prepare for the priesthood so that he could better serve his monastic community in leadership. While functioning as abbot among a large community of monks, he felt ever called to live the life of a hermit. Throughout each year —consistently in Lent—he left his monks for long periods of time, often to their distress. A group of 60 men left the monastery, settling at a nearby ruined facility. When Sabas learned of the difficulties they were facing, he generously gave them supplies and assisted in the repair of their church.
Over the years Sabas traveled throughout
Few of us share Sabas’s yearning for a cave in the desert, but most of us sometimes resent the demands others place on our time. Sabas understands that. When at last he gained the solitude for which he yearned, a community immediately began to gather around him and he was forced into a leadership role. He stands as a model of patient generosity for anyone whose time and energy are required by others—that is, for all of us. |
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