Monasteries in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan

Monasteries in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan

The monasteries in this list were mentioned in various sources but all of them are in ruin. They were abandoned for various reasons throughout the history of the Syriac Orthodox church but unfortunately there isn't much information about them.

Syria

• Mor Bessus and Mort Shushan Monastery: Near Harim, between Aphamia and Homs, is a famous and great monastery which was built in 480 through the private donation of a Syriac merchant, Peter bar Joseph of Homs, who bequeathed a great deal of property for the sustenance of its monks. In the third decade of the fifth century, its monks numbered 6,300. It remained populated until 830 and produced three bishops 

• Mar David Monastery. We had two monasteries of this name, one situated south of Damascus near Busra, also called the Monastery of Hina,

• Mar David Monastery, in the city of Qenneshrin, mentioned in the second half of the sixth century.

• Monastery of Eusebius in Kafr Barta near Apamea. 

• Gubba Baraya Monastery: located in the Euphrates desert between Aleppo and Mabug, was built at the end of the fifth and the start of the sixth century. Nothing is known about it after the middle of the ninth century. It produced four patriarchs and three bishops.

• John Nayrab (Nárab) Monastery: the location of this monastery is near Aleppo. We know, however, that Anba George was its abbot from 563 to 569. 

• Moses the Abyssinian Monastery: in the Smoke Mountain, an hour and a half from the town of al-Nabak in Syria. This monastery was built in the sixth century and renovated in 1556. It became a Metropolitan See at the end of the fourteenth century. Two Patriarchs and twenty bishops graduated from it. It was inhabited until 1832, when it was usurped from us by the seceding faction which joined the Church of Rome through political influence and later was deserted. 

• Ousib Monastery: in Kafr al-Bira, in the province of Aphamea. It was built in the fifth century, but received no mention by historians before 535. 

• Pillar Monastery: in al-Raqqa, on the west bank of the Euphrates. The Empress Theodora (d. 548) gave money for its construction and in 635 it was enlarged by the monks. By 956, one Patriarch and ten bishops had graduated from it. but one patriarch and ten bishops graduated by 956 AD. The Empress Theodora (d. 548 AD) gave money for its construction, and it was enlarged by monks in 635 AD. It was a center of study from the 7th to the 9th centuries. Monks from Qidr Monastery moved here after the 635 AD massacre. The monk Theodosius was from here in 806 AD. Al-Raqqa (Callinicus). on the west bank of the Euphrates.

• Solomon Monastery: in al-Thaghr, near Duluk, overlooking Marj al-'Ayn, was inhabited between 875 and 1000. Thirteen bishops graduated from it. 

• Tar'il Monastery: very near Aleppo, towards the gate known as Bab Allah ("The Gate of God"), from which its Syriac name is derived. It was built in the sixth century and among its inhabitants was Thomas of Harkel, the famous translator of the Bible. It produced two Patriarchs and fifteen bishops. Nothing is known about it after 975. 

Palestine

• Magdalene Monastery: in the Bab al-'Amud district of Jerusalem, is an old monastery, first mentioned in history in 1000. It was the seat of the metropolitan of Jerusalem. In 1235, it housed seventy monks. Four metropolitans graduated from it. In the fourteenth century it was usurped by a group of Muslims, with the help of the Mamluks; they then converted it into a school called al-Maymuna. Parts of its ruins were still to be seen until the last century, but they no longer exist.

• Monastery of St. Romanus in the city of Mayoma