Syriac Monasteries in Palestine

Syriac Monasteries in Palestine

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.

• Monastery of Mary Magdalene: It was located at the Bab al-'Amud district of Jerusalem. It was first mentioned in history in 1000 and was the seat of the metropolitan of Jerusalem and was visited by many Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs. 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; then it was converted it into a school called al-Maymuna.  Its ruins were still standing until the 19th century, but it no longer exist.

• Monastery of the Tower: It was build in Beth 'Arid, outside the old Jerusalem next to a defensive watch tower that belonged to the Syriac Orthodox church. It's thought to have been associated with the Monastery of Mary Magdalene. It was also called Monastery of 'Adasa or 'Adasayia

• Monastery of St. Romanus: It was located in the city of Mayoma near Gaza

• Monastery of the Nuns: There isn't information about this monastery or it's exact location but it was mentioned in one of the manuscripts preserved in St. Mark Monastery

• Monastery of Mor Tuma (St. Thomas): Was located in the old part of the city of Jerusalem but fell in ruins and these ruins were sold to the Anglican Church in 1836 to build a church there

• Monastery of the Edessen

• Monastery of al-'Adas (Lintel): It was bought by Gregorius Yousef al-Korrji, Bishop of Jerusalem, in 1532. Later, it was confiscated by the Muslim and converted to a mosque but it was neglected and abandoned. The Greek Orthodox church bought the the land and erected a new monastery there.

• Convent of St. John in the Jordan Valley

Sources:

• Karkenny, Fr, Ya'koub Koriah (1976), The Syrian Orthodox Church in the Holy Land, Jerusalem.

• Palmer, Andrew (1991), The History of the Syrian Orthodox in Jerusalem, in Oriens Christianus, Band 75, Wiesbaden.

• Palmer, Andrew (1992), The History of the Syrian Orthodox in Jerusalem, Part Two: Queen Melisende and the Jacobite Estates , in Oriens Christianus, Band 76, Wiesbaden.