St. Saba Monastery
During the 4th and 6th centuries, the monastic movement in Palestine flourished, with over a hundred monasteries established as a way of life in the desert. Some monasteries were places where monks shared their entire lives together, while in others the monks would gather weekly only for the Holy Communion, living separately in the surrounding caves.
One of these monasteries is the Monastery of Mar Saba, an Eastern Orthodox monastery located in the Kidron Valley east of Bethlehem in Palestine. It was built between 478-484 AD by the monk Saba with the participation of 5,000 other monks, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited monasteries in the world. The history of Mar Saba Monastery is long and eventful. It was damaged during the Persian invasion in 614 AD but was later restored in 629 AD. Over the centuries, it also faced raids by local Bedouins during Ottoman rule, as well as damage from a 19th century earthquake, though it was repaired afterwards with Russian assistance.
Mar Saba Monastery is renowned for its austere and ascetic monastic life. It is characterized by distinctive blue-domed roofs and a massive surrounding wall reflecting defensive architecture, with narrow and low entrances and a watchtower. Women are not permitted to enter the monastery itself, though there is a nearby convent available for female visitors. The monks live without electricity, running water, or modern communications, relying on olive oil lamps and spring water.
The relics of Saint Saba were initially buried in the monastery's courtyard after his death in 532 AD at the age of 93. The Crusaders later took his remains to Venice, but they were returned to Mar Saba in 1965, where he rest in a glass sarcophagus.