The Monastery (Convent) of Saint Saviour is a monastery of the Armenian Church in Jerusalem on

Mount Zion Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew ...

. Outside of the Armenian Quarter,

Old City Old City often refers to old town, the historic or original core of a city or town. Old City may refer to several places: Historical cities or regions of cities ''(by country)'' *Old City (Baku), Azerbaijan * Old City (Dhaka), Bangladesh, also ca ...

, it is south of the Zion Gate. It includes two church buildings, the newer of which is unfinished.

Traditions

The house of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus' death, is believed to be on the site. However, some Christians conflated Caiaphas' house with the house of Annas (Annas was Caiaphas' father-in-law and a former high priest). It is also called ''Dair Habs al-Masih'' ( , ) in Arabic, since it is one of the supposed locations of the prison of Christ, where he was held after the Sanhedrin trial. Because the gospels themselves disagree whether Jesus was brought to Annas' or Caiaphas' house/court, the Armenian Church of the Holy Archangels ("house of Annas") also has a prison of Christ. A stone relocated from the entrance of the tomb of Christ is also believed to be over or under the altar at the older church in the monastery.

History

A church or chapel possibly existed on this site by the 1160s.Pringle, p. 370. There was an Armenian claim that Saladin granted the Armenians the site after he took over the city in 1187. At the end of the 13th century, Karapet of

Tosp Tosp (Տոսպ in Armenian) is a district of Vaspurakan province of Historical Armenia. The name came from the name Tushpa known as the capital of Araratian Kingdom aka Urartu. Tushpa was a name of Van city, and district called as Biaina or Bia ...

, a vardapet, purchased the property from local Muslims and got a restoration permit from the Mamluk sultan.Pringle, p. 367. "One also finds on Mount Sion he churchof St Saviour, which was formerly the house of Caiaphas ��There also was the prison where the Jews put Jesus and kept Him unt the morrow; when morning came they sent Him bound to Pilate." In 1517, Sultan Selim I issued

firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...

s that confirmed the church to both the Armenians and Greeks.Pringle, p. 368. In the 17th century, when

Francesco Quaresmi Francisco Quaresmio or Quaresmi (4 April 1583 – 25 October 1650), better known by his Latin name Franciscus Quaresmius, was an Italian writer and Orientalist. Life Quaresmius was born at Lodi. His father was the nobleman Alberto Quares ...

visited, Armenians were on the property. During the 18th century, the church's courtyard became a burial ground for some Armenian patriarchs of Jerusalem. After the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

, the church was abandoned and used by Israeli snipers. The Armenians regained the church after 1967 and repaired the church. In the 1970s, construction for a new church began, next to the original one. However, due to still-unresolved planning and zoning issues, construction halted, and the new church remains unfinished to this date.

Environs

An Armenian civil cemetery next to the church is still used for burial, but it is mostly abandoned due to the shrinking local Armenian community. The monastery is next to the Benedictine

Abbey of the Dormition Abbey of the Dormition is a Catholic abbey belonging to the Benedictine Order in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion just outside the walls of the Old City near the Zion Gate. The Abbey is said to mark the spot where Mary, mother of Jesus, died. Between ...

References

* {{coord, 31.77260, 35.22950, display=title Armenian Apostolic churches in Jerusalem