The Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas (Greek: Ἱερὰ Λαύρα τοῦ Ὁσίου Σάββα τοῦ Ἡγιασμένου, romanized: Yerá Lávra tú Osíu Sávva tú Iyazménu), known in Arabic and Syriac as Mar Saba (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܣܒܐ, romanized: Dayrā d-Mār Sabba; Levantine Arabic: دير مار سابا, romanized: Dēr Mār Sābā; ) and historically as the Great Laura of Saint Sabas, is a Greek Orthodox Christian monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley in the Bethlehem Governorate of Palestine in the West Bank, at a point halfway between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. The monks of Mar Saba and those of subsidiary houses are known as Sabaites.
Mar Saba is considered one of the world's oldest (almost) continuously inhabited monasteries, and it maintains many of its ancient traditions. One in particular is the restriction on women entering the main compound. The only building women can enter is the Women's Tower, near the main entrance.
History
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 (today rededicated to Saint Nicholas). The constant growth of the community meant that soon after, in 502, the Church of the Theotokos was built to serve as the monastery's main church. Sabbas' typikon, the set of rules applied at the Great Laura and recorded by the saint, eventually became the worldwide model of monastic life and liturgical order known as the Byzantine Rite.
St John of Damascus
Mar Saba was the home of John of Damascus (676–749; Arabic: يوحنا الدمشقي, romanized: Yūḥana ad-Dimashqī), a key figure in the First Iconoclastic Controversy, who, around 726, wrote letters to the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian refuting his edicts prohibiting the veneration of icons (images of Christ or other religious figures). Born to a prominent Damascene political family, John worked as a high financial officer to the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan; he eventually felt a higher calling and migrated to the Judaean Desert, where he was tonsured and was ordained a hieromonk (monastic priest) at the Lavra of Mar Saba. John's tomb lies in a cave under the monastery.
Early Muslim period
Ancient sources describe an Arab attack on the monastery in 797, leading to the massacre of twenty monks. 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).
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.
- Sabas, 483–532
- Melitas, 532–537
- Gelasios, 537–546
- George the Origenist, 547
- Kassianos of Scythopolis, 547–548
- Konon of Lycia, 548–568
- Stephanos Trichinas
- Nikomedes, 614
- Justinus, 614
- Thomas, 614
- John, c. 649
- Nikodemus, 8th century
- Strategios
- Basil, 797–809
- John, 808–825
- David, mid–9th century
- Solomon, 864
- Paul, 962
- Ioannikios, 1071–1072
- Mark, first half of the 11th century
- Mark Makrinos
- Arsenios, 12th century
- Basil, 12th century
- Basil, 12th century
- Miletus (Meletios), 1163–1164
- Sabas, before 1187
- Nicholas, 1229
- Ioannikios, 1334
- Mark, before c. 1370
- Stephen, 1370s
- Pachomius, 15th century
- Maximos Oikonomos, 1533–1534
- Joachim the Wallachian, 1540–1547
- Germanos
- Isaias, 1550
- Nathanael, 1566
- Pachomius, 1577–1578
- Timothy, 1581
- Athansios
- Christophoros, 1593
- Daniel, 1619
- Galaktion, 1630
- Neophytos, 1649
- Daniel, c. 1672
- George of Chios, 1682
- Nikeophoros of Cyprus, 1696
- Gerasimos, 1704
- Kallistos, 1705
- Anthimos, 1707
- Kallinikos, 1710
- Gerasimos Oikonomos, 1714
- Kyrillos, 1714
- Ignatios, 1722
- Iakobos, 1724
- Neophytos of Smyrna, 1731
- Parthenios of Constantinople, 1732
- Meletios, 1733
- Anthimos Anatolites, 1740
- Symeon Baskopolites, 1744
- Gennadios of Ioannina, 1745
- Daniel Moutaniotes, 1747
- Ananias Anatolites, 1749
- Kyrillos of Amaseia, 1753
- Ieremias, 1753
- Nikephoros of Ioannina, 1754/5
- Kyrillos, 1756
- Amphilochios, 1757
- Arsenios of Cyprus, 1758
- Gabriel, 1759
- Arsenios of Galatia, 1760
- Raphael Anatolites, 1761/2
- Meletios of Cyprus, 1763 (first term)
- Arsenios, 1766
- Silvestros Anatolites, 1767
- Ioannikos, 1768
- Meletios of Cyprus, 1769 (second term)
- Gerasimos of Cyprus, 1770
- Iakobos Boskopolites, 1772
- Melechisedek of Cyprus, 1775
- Seraphim Anatolites, 1777
- Kallinikos Tseritsaniotes, 1778
- Iakobos the Albanian, 1779
- Parthenios of Chaldias, 1782
- Melkisedek, 1786
- Sophronios, 1788
- Joachim of Cyprus, 1790
- Dionysios Proussaeus, 1791
- Anthimos of Philippopolis, 1792
- Gregory of Kos, 1794
- Michael of Cyprus, 18th century
- Athanasios (second term)
- Kallinikos, 1804 (first term)
- Gabriel, 1806–1809
- Athanasios, 1810 (third term)
- Kallinikos, 1813 (second term)
- Misael Petras, 1814
- Paisios, 1817
- Pankratios, 1818
- Theodosios Skopianos, 1820
- Agapios of Peloponnesos, 1832
- Theophanes
- Euthymios of Cyprus (first term)
- Isaias, 1837
- Euthymios of Cyprus, 1838 (second term)
- Symeon, 1843 (first term)
- Symeon, 1844 (second term)
- Neophytos of Cyprus
- Joasaph, 1845–1874
- Anthimos, 1874
- Silvestros of Leukas, 1918–1932
- Nikolaos of Proussa, 1932–1937
- Sabas of Elassona, 1937–1957
- Seraphim of Kythira, 1957–2003
- Eudokimos, 2003–