Mar Saba

Byzantine period The monastery was founded by Sabbas the Sanctified in 483 on the eastern side of the Kidron Valley, where, according to the monastery's website, the first seventy hermits gathered around the hermitage of St Sabbas. Later on, the laura relocated to the opposite, western side of the gorge, where the Church of Theoktistos was built in 486 and consecrated in 491 Between the late eighth to the tenth century, the monastery was a major translation center for Greek works into Arabic. For instance, Yannah ibn Istifan al-Fakhuri (fl. 910) translated works of Leontius of Damascus and Barsanuphius of Gaza. Mar Saba was the home of the famous Georgian monk and scribe John Zosimus, who moved before 973 to Saint Catherine's Monastery, taking several parchment manuscripts with him. The community seems to have also suffered under the persecutions of non-Muslims of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1009 as well as Turkmen raids in the 11th century, but experienced occasional phases of peace as can be seen by the continued scribal and artistic activities. Crusader period The monastery kept its importance during the existence of the Catholic Kingdom of Jerusalem established by Crusaders in 1099. Mamluk and Ottoman periods Like the other Palestinian monasteries, the monastery experienced a period of decline in the late medieval period as a result of Mamluk persecutions, the Black Death, demographic and economic degradation and the expansion of nomadic tribes. Whereas the Russian monk Zosimus estimated in 1420 the number of inhabitants at 30, the German traveler Felix Fabri recorded in the early 1480s, only six who were living together with a group of nomadic Arabs. Thereafter, the monastery was abandoned, and the remaining monks seem to have moved to Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai. In 1504, the Serbian monastic community of Palestine, based out of the fourteenth century Monastery of Holy Archangels, purchased Mar Saba. The Serbs controlled the monastery until the late 1630s, and the significant financial support the monastery received from the Tsar of the Russian Empire allowed them to run the monastery semi-independently from the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the monastery's nominal overseer (much to the vexation of the patriarchate). The Serbs' control of Mar Saba allowed them to play an important role in the politics of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, often siding with the Arabic laity and priests against the Greeks who dominated the episcopate. Serbian control of the monastery eventually ended in the 1600s when the monastery got into massive debt due to the simultaneous combination of a massive building program at the monastery and a cutting off of financial support from Russia due to the outbreak of the Time of Troubles. The Serbs were forced to sell the monastery to the Patriarch of Jerusalem to pay off their debts. ==Significance==

The monastery, considered among the oldest continuously inhabited in the Christian world, has been a place of learning and has exerted an essential influence in doctrinal developments in the Byzantine Church. Important personalities in this regard included Sabbas himself, John of Damascus (676–749), and the brothers Theodorus and Theophanes (770s–840s). The monastery is vital in the historical development of the liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, in that the monastic Typikon (manner of celebrating worship services) of Sabbas became the standard throughout the Church and in those Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine Rite. The Typikon was adopted as the standard form of services celebrated in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and added monastic usages that were local traditions at Saint Sabbas. From there it spread to Constantinople, and thence throughout the Byzantine world. Although this Typikon has undergone further evolution, particularly at the Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople, it is still referred to as the Typikon of Saint Sabbas. A tradition states that this monastery will host the last Divine Liturgy on earth before the Second Coming, and thus it is the final pillar of Christianity. Relics The monastery holds the relics of Sabbas. The relics were seized by Latin Crusaders in the 12th century and remained in Italy until Pope Paul VI returned them to the monastery in 1965 as a gesture of repentance and goodwill towards Orthodox Christians. Manuscripts Morton Smith purportedly found a copy of the Mar Saba letter ascribed to Clement of Alexandria containing excerpts of a so-called Secret Gospel of Mark, and was for several centuries home to the Archimedes Palimpsest. ==Access==

Women are allowed to come to the main entrance, but they are not allowed to enter the walled compound. The monastery is closed for visitors on Wednesdays and Fridays (the days of religious fasting). ==Gallery==

File:Mar Saba (Photo by Jean & Nathalie, 2011).jpg|Mar Saba Monastery, 2011 File:Mar Saba Women's Tower.jpg|The Women's Tower at Mar Saba Monastery is the only building on the grounds that women are allowed to enter. File:(1453) Marsaba Klosteret.jpg|Mar Saba seen from a distance File:Mar Saba 1.jpg|Mar Saba, in the Kidron Valley File:2012دير مارسابا.jpg ==List of abbots==

There are gaps in this list. Prior to the 18th century, dates are years when the abbot (or hegumen) is known to have held office and not the start and end dates. From the 18th century on, the dates indicate the start of an abbot's term, which usually lasted two years at first, longer later on. The official list goes back to 1704, but still has gaps. Notes ==See also==