The Syriac Orthodox Monastery of Saint Mark ( syr, ܕܰܝܪܳܐ ܕܡܳܪܝ̱ ܡܰܪܩܽܘܣ ܕܣܽܘܪ̈ܳܝܝܶܐ, romanized: Dayrā dMār Marqus dSūrāyē) is a
Syriac Orthodox
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
and
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
in the
Old City of Jerusalem
The Old City of Jerusalem ( he, הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָה, translit=ha-ir ha-atiqah; ar, البلدة القديمة, translit=al-Balda al-Qadimah; ) is a walled area in East Jerusalem.
The Old City is traditionally divided into ...
. According to a 6th-century inscription that was found at the Monastery of St Mark's in Jerusalem during a restoration in 1940, the church is supposed to have been built on the ancient site of the house of
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, mother of
St. Mark the Evangelist () and the place of the
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
of Christ with His disciples. However, other Christians believe that the Last Supper was held at the nearby
Cenacle
The Cenacle (from the Latin , "dining room"), also known as the Upper Room (from the Koine Greek and , both meaning "upper room"), is a room in Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls, traditionally held to be the site o ...
on
Mount Zion.
Inscription
"This is the house of Mary, mother of
John, called Mark. Proclaimed a church by the holy apostles under the name of the Virgin Mary, mother of God, after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. Renewed after the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in the year A.D. 73."
History
There is a large collection of manuscripts written by various Holy fathers of Christianity like that of,
Mor Kurillos, Patriarch of Alexandria who presided over the
Council of Ephesus
The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...
in AD 431;
Mor Severious, Patriarch of Antioch (A.D 538); Mor Gregorios Bar Ebroyo Maphriyono of the East (13th century); Mor Dionysius; Mor Chrysostom (4th century); Mor Aphrem (AD 378);
Mor Kuriakose, Patriarch of Antioch (AD 817);
Mor Michael Rabo, Patriarch of Antioch (AD 1199) and others, in the monastery's famous library.
A piece of
Holy Cross in which Lord Christ was crucified and relics of many Saints are preserved in this Monastery. Mary's baptismal basin, and an image of Virgin Mary painted by the apostle St. Luke can also be viewed in the Church.
History records that the site was visited by many ancient pilgrims from the West as well as the East, including the
Bordeaux Pilgrim
The ''Itinerarium Burdigalense'' ("Bordeaux Itinerary"), also known as the ''Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum'' ("Jerusalem Itinerary"), is the oldest known Christian ''itinerarium''. It was written by the "Pilgrim of Bordeaux", an anonymous pilgrim ...
in 333 A.D., St.
Cyril of Jerusalem
Cyril of Jerusalem ( el, Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων, ''Kýrillos A Ierosolýmon''; la, Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus; 313 386 AD) was a theologian of the early Church. About the end of 350 AD he succeeded Maximus as Bishop of ...
in 348 A.D., and
Saint Sylvia of Aquitaine Saint Sylvia of Aquitaine was a fourth century pilgrim from Aquitaine. She was the sister of Rufinus, the chief minister of the Byzantine Empire under Theodosius and Arcadius. Palladius' '' Lausiac History'' tells she journeyed in the age of 60, a ...
in 385 A.D.
This is the center of the Syrian Orthodox (
Assyrian-Syriac) community, which was established by the apostle St. Peter. In the 6th century the community was persecuted and its leadership was later reestablished by
Jacob Baradaeus
Jacob Baradaeus (; grc, Ἰάκωβος Βαραδαῖος, label=Ancient Greek, Greek; ar, مار يعقوب البرادعي; syc, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܘܪܕܥܝܐ, label=Syriac language, Syriac), also known as Jacob bar Addai or Jacob bar Theophi ...
; for this reason they are also known as “Jacobites.” After the Syriac Orthodox Church lost its other churches and properties in the Holy City, the Syriac Orthodox patriarch acquired the Monastery of Saint Mark from the
Coptic Orthodox
The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
and it has served since as the seat of the
Archbishop of Jerusalem. The first bishop known to have lived there is Ignatius III in the year 1471. The monastery was rebuilt a few times, by Metropolitan Gregorius Shem`un in 1718 and again by `Abdel Ahad Ben Fenah of Mardin in 1719 who also took care of restoring the manuscripts in the monastery's famous library. During the following century the monastery was restored at least five times, the last in 1858 after which it was left intact.
St. Mark’s monastery was rebuilt a few times: in 6th century AD, 1009, 1718, 1791, 1833, 1858, and in 1940.
Gallery
File:Icon of the blessed Virgin Mary by Luke the Evangelist.jpg, Icon of Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
possible to be painted by Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...
.
File:St. Mark Syriac inscription.jpeg, Inscription at the Church
File:HolyqurbonoSehion.jpg, Holy Qurbana
The Holy Qurbana ( syr, ܩܘܼܪܒܵܢܵܐ ܩܲܕܝܫܵܐ, ''Qurbānā Qaddišā'' in Eastern Syriac or ''Qurbānā Qandišā'' in the Indian variant of Eastern Syriac, the "Holy Offering" or "Holy Sacrifice" in English), refers to the Eucharis ...
being celebrated by the congregation of Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (JSCC), or the Malankara Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church in India also known as Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, the Jacobite Syrian Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, ...
.
References
* Bar-Am, Aviva: "Beyond the Walls: Churches of Jerusalem" (Ahva Press, 1998)
* Brownrigg, Ronald: "Come, See the Place: A Pilgrim Guide to the Holy Land" (Hodder and Stoughton, 1985)
* Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P.: "The Holy Land: A Pilgrim’s Guide to Israel, Jordan and the Sinai" (Continuum Publishing, 1996)
* Gonen, Rivka: "Biblical Holy Places: An illustrated guide" (Collier Macmillan, 1987)
* Hilliard, Alison, and Bailey, Betty Jane: "Living Stones Pilgrimage: With the Christians of the Holy Land" (Cassell, 1999)
* Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome: "The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700" (Oxford University Press, 2005)
* Prag, Kay: Jerusalem: "Blue Guide" (A. & C. Black, 1989)
* Shahin, Mariam, and Azar, George: "Palestine: A guide" (Chastleton Travel, 2005)
* Wareham, Norman, and Gill, Jill: "Every Pilgrim’s Guide to the Holy Land" (Canterbury Press, 1996)
* Meinardus, Otto: "The Syrian Jacobites in the Holy City" (Orientalia Suecana, 1963, pp. 12, 60-82)
* Syriac
Peshitta
The Peshitta ( syc, ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ ''or'' ') is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, ...
Bible - the Bible in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ
External links
www.seetheholyland.net/st-marks-church/
www.copticchurch.netwww.coptic.net/EncyclopediaCoptica/
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Mark's Monastery, Jerusalem
Syriac Orthodox churches in Jerusalem
Oriental Orthodox monasteries in Jerusalem