Mār Sābā monastery (Syria) Complete

Description

A ruined monastery in Jabal Bārīšā registered in TIB 15 on pp. 1668–1669 as Mār Sābā monastery. Our map gives an approximate location. As for the architecture of the site, very useful is Todt's and Vest's checklist of buildings in TIB 15. Todt's and Vest's record a small chapel, a wall of a large structure, two cisterns. A tower (for a hermit?) was also found, a hypogeum converted into an oil press (according to Tchalenko, this was originally a tomb), and rock-cut cells/tombs. The value of the site lies, however, in the possibility of identification its religious allegiance through the name of its patron saint. Sabas (or Mār Sābā) was a staunch opponent of the non-Chalcedonian creed in Palestine. Hence, it is difficult to imagine that a religious establishment dedicated to him would have opted for a different religious option. This supposition was first put forward by Georges Tchalenko (1963, vol. 1, p. 153) and then supported by Klaus Peter Todt and Bernard Andreas Vest (TIB 15 on pp. 1668–1669). If so, the site would give an example of the use of Syriac by monks backing the Chalcedonian creed, a conclusion which did not seem obvious to earlier researchers of religious options and linguistic allegiance. Literature (after TIB 15, pp. 1668–1669): TIB 15 – Todt, K.P., Vest, B.A., Tabula Imperii Byzantini, vol. 15 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2014), pp. 1668–1669 (with further readings); Butler, H.C., Architecture and other Arts (Publications of an American Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1899–1900 2, New York: Century, 1903), p. 269; Tchalenko, G. (ed.), Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord: Le Massif du Bélus a l'époque romaine (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1953), vol. 1, 153; Tchalenko, G. (ed.), Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord: Le Massif du Bélus a l'époque romaine (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1958), vol. 3, 100; Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les reclus syriens (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1980), 81; Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les cénobites syriens (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1983); 35, 46, 80, 189–192, 258–260. Inscriptions: Waddington, W.H., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Libraires-Éditeurs, 1870), no. 2686 = AAES III 42 = IGLS II 576 (Greek letters) [second century CE?]; E. Littmann (ed.), Publications of an American Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1899-1900. Part IV: Semitic Inscriptions (New York: The Century Co., 1904), no. Syr. 4 and 5 (Syriac graffiti, late antique); Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les cénobites syriens (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1983), 258–260 (mentions graffiti and a Syriac inscription – we were unable to check this publication).