The Judean Desert is home to some of the oldest and most dramatically situated monasteries in the world. Beginning in the 4th century CE, thousands of Christian monks came to the desert east of Jerusalem to live in solitude, pray, and seek God in the silence. At its peak, the desert contained over 70 monasteries and hermitages, and the monastic movement it produced shaped the theology, liturgy, and architecture of Eastern Christianity.
Why the Desert?
The monks came to the desert because the Bible sent them there. Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Elijah fled to the desert to hear the “still small voice” of God (1 Kings 19:12). David hid in the desert from Saul. The desert, in biblical tradition, is the place where distractions fall away and God speaks. The monks took this literally: they came to the desert to strip their lives of everything except prayer.
Major Monasteries
Mar Saba is the largest and most famous, founded in 483 CE and continuously inhabited for over 1,500 years. The monastery cascades down the cliff face of the Kidron Valley in a setting that is almost impossible to believe until you see it.
St. George of Koziba clings to the cliff wall of Wadi Qelt between Jerusalem and Jericho, on the site where Elijah was fed by ravens (1 Kings 17:5-6).
The Monastery of the Temptation hangs on the cliff above Jericho, on the mountain where Jesus was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:8-9). A cable car brings visitors to the monastery from the city below.
The Monastery of St. Theodosius, east of Bethlehem, marks the site where the Magi rested after visiting the infant Jesus. It was one of the largest monasteries in the desert, with over 400 monks at its peak.
Laura System
The desert monasteries developed two forms of monastic life: the coenobium (communal monastery, where monks lived, ate, and prayed together) and the laura (a cluster of individual hermit caves around a central church, where monks lived alone during the week and gathered for communal prayer on weekends). The laura system was unique to the Judean Desert and allowed monks to combine the solitude of the hermit with the community of the monastery.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
The desert monasteries are among the most visually spectacular and spiritually intense sites in the Holy Land. Hoshen Tours visits Mar Saba and St. George for visitors interested in the extremes of Christian devotion.