Monastery of Martyrius
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Monastery of Martyrius, whose ruins, known as Khirbet el-Murassas in Arabic, have been excavated in the centre of the
West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
settlement and city of
Ma'ale Adumim Ma'ale Adumim ( he, מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים; ar, معالي أدوميم) is an urban Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, seven kilometers () east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991. ...
, was one of the most important centres of
monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...
life in the
Judean Desert The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert ( he, מִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה, Midbar Yehuda}, both ''Desert of Judah'' or ''Judaean Desert''; ar, صحراء يهودا, Sahraa' Yahuda) is a desert in Palestine and Israel that lies east of Jerusal ...
during the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
period. It was active between the second half of the 5th and the mid-7th century.


History

Martyrius was born in
Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...
(present-day
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
) during the first half of the fifth century. After spending some time at the
Laura of Euthymius The Monastery of Euthymius started as a lavra-type monastic settlement in the Judaean desert, founded by Saint Euthymius the Great (377–473) in 420, known as the Laura or Lavra of Euthymius. After its final abandonment in the 13th century, i ...
in 457 CE, he lived as a hermit in a nearby cave. Later, After entering the Holy Orders, Martyrius served as a priest of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. He became Patriarch of Jerusalem in 478 and served until 486. It is believed that he built the monastery along the road from Jericho to Jerusalem bearing his name at this time.Jewish virtual library
The Monastery of Martyrius
Martyrius of Jerusalem was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 478 to 486. It was probably during his term as patriarch that Martyrius built the Monastery of Martyrius in the Judean hills east of Jerusalem. Martyrius reposed on April 13, 486. The ''xenodocheion'' (pilgrim hostelry) was a source of considerable income to the
Sabaite The Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas, known in Arabic and Syriac as Mar Saba ( syr, ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܣܒܐ, ar, دير مار سابا; he, מנזר מר סבא; el, Ἱερὰ Λαύρα τοῦ Ὁσίου Σάββα τοῦ Ἡγιασμέ ...
monks of the ''coenobium''. The monastery was damaged during the Persian invasion in 614 CE and was abandoned after the Arab conquest in the mid-7th century.


19th-century description

The
Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...
's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' visited and measured up ''Khurbet el Murussus'' in 1874. They described it as:
A ruined monastery with a chapel, the foundations only remaining. The building has a total measure of 270 feet east and west on a line 86° west. The width north and south is about 90 feet. The chapel to the east has three
apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
s. The
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
18 feet 3 inches diameter, the
aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
s 15 feet 6 inches. The length inside from the back of the apse is 64 feet. The northern aisle is almost entirely destroyed. Remains of
tesselated A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of g ...
pavement occur on the floor of the southern aisle. The chapel has an atrium on the west and narrow
cloisters A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
on the north and south. In the latter is a
well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
. A tower of later date (Shunet Murussus) has been built in the south-west corner of the building, and to the south of this are remains of the cobble-pavement (whence the place is named), in a courtyard the eastern wall of which is visible. The tesselated pavement of the chapel has a simple pattern, red, white, blue and black. West of the building there is a
cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...
mouth with an
octagonal In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...
cover, 6 feet 4 inches diameter, or 2 feet side. The
Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...
is cut on each side of this octagon. The cover may perhaps have been originally a font removed from its proper place. The cistern beneath is of considerable extent, and has to the north another entrance, with steps leading down. A water-channel runs some 10 yards south-west to a small reservoir, about 10 feet square, which was fed from the larger cistern. One of the stones in the building was measured and found to be 3 feet 1 inch long, 1 foot 5 inches high, 2 feet 2 inches thick. The stones in the tower are older material used up; one had a cross, in a
lozenge Lozenge or losange may refer to: * Lozenge (shape), a type of rhombus *Throat lozenge, a tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to suppress throat ailments *Lozenge (heraldry), a diamond-shaped object that can be placed on the field of ...
and square, cut on it. The ruin stands on a hill 500 feet above the valleys, and there are traces of a considerable site and other cisterns of good size. Between the ruin and ''Khurbet ed Dikki'' there is a rude erection which looks almost like a dolmen. Two slabs rest on others, and below there is a small semicircular platform of unhewn stones, and lower down a small natural cave."


Recent excavation

In 1982–1985, the remains of the Monastery of Martyrius (Khirbet Murassas) were uncovered on a hill overlooking the road from
Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...
to Jerusalem. The site was excavated by Yitzhak Magen of the
Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...
.


Archaeological findings


Walls and gate

The square-shaped compound of the monastery covers an area of . It is surrounded by walls preserved to a height of two meters. The gate was located in the eastern wall. A round rolling-stone, 2.5 meters in diameter, was found inside the gate, probably for additional protection.


Layout

The monastery was built around a large courtyard and included a church, several chapels, a refectory, a kitchen, a storeroom, a bathhouse, residential quarters and an animal pen. Outside the wall was a pilgrims hostel.


Main church

The main church was paved with colorful mosaics in geometric patterns interspersed with pictures of animals. A
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
inscription mentions the abbots Genesius and Iohannes.


Burial cave

On the northern side of the complex is a cave in which several skeletons were found. A Greek inscription cites the names of three priests buried there. It is believed this is the cave where Martyrius lived before joining the church hierarchy in Jerusalem.


Refectory and kitchen

The
refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the La ...
is surrounded by stone benches and divided by two rows of columns which supported a second story. The floor, discovered intact, is covered with mosaics in geometrical designs. The kitchen was also paved with mosaics and contained marble tables. Hundreds of ceramic vessels, cooking pots and wine cups were found there.


Pilgrims hostel

The hostel provided guests with a chapel, sleeping quarters and a stable.


Water supply

Numerous rock-cut cisterns were found, as were canals for collecting and channelling rainwater into the cisterns.A massive, two-aisled vaulted cistern was found, hewn from rocks. The cistern could hold 20,000-30,000 m3 of water which may have been used to irrigate vegetable gardens and fruit plantations.When one cistern was filled, the overflow was conveyed to another. ''The Monastery of Martyrius at Ma'ale Adummim: A guide'', Yitzhak Magen, Israel Antiquities Authority, 1993, p/61


See also

*
Adummim Adummim ( he, אֲדֻמִּים) is a place-name mentioned in the biblical Book of Joshua in connection with the ascent of Adummim. Location Adummim was apparently on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho in the Judaean desert, today in the W ...
, biblical place-name connected to the ascent of Adummim, leading up from Jericho towards Jerusalem * Archaeology of Palestine


References


Bibliography

* *


External sources

* Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAA
Wikimedia commons Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
* Map showing location of monastery in Ma'ale Adumim (Hebrew) http://www.jr.co.il/ma/monast.htm
BibleWalks.com article with pictures and plans
{{Authority control Christian monasteries in the West Bank Christian monasteries established in the 5th century Judaean Desert