
OUR LADY OF FATIMA CHURCH
The Church, located near the Shepherds’ Field, was founded by the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem ...
According to tradition, The Monastery of St. Theodosius, also known in Arabic as “Deir Dosi” and “Ibn Obeid”, stands on the site where the three wise men rested on their way back from visiting the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. Located about 10 km east of Beit Sahour, the entrance to the desert of Judah, it was built on the ruins of the Monastery, which St. Theodosius founded in the year 465 AD. The cave where the wise men rested appears today as one of the main sections of the Monastery.
The Monastery reached its golden age between the fifth and seventh centuries, where it used to contain four churches. The number of monks and nuns living inside the Monastery was around 700, while the ones living in the rituals around it were about 2,500. They were all filled with love, obedience, asceticism and high spirituality.
In addition to the Church where the Divine Liturgy is held, there used to be a theology school with workshops, stables for animals and other facilities, but they did not last due to the Persians’ attacks in 614 A.D., causing the slaughter of 5,000 monks and nuns. But the Monastery returned to the prosperity of the twelfth-century atheists until the Crusaders period during the fifteenth century, when the Monastery was evacuated and became the haven of the tribe of “Ibn Obaid”, the Arabic name.
In 1881 A.D., the director of the Holy Cross School of Theology in Jerusalem bought the ruins of the Monastery from the Bedouins, and in 1896 A.D. the Patriarch of Jerusalem at that time laid the foundation stone of the new Monastery until the current building was inaugurated in 1952 A.D.
Saint Theodosius died in 520 A.D., and his grave now lies in a cave inside the white walls of the Monastery.
The opening hours of the Monastery for believers and visitors is from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
The Church, located near the Shepherds’ Field, was founded by the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem ...
Was built over the Grotto, which is believed to be the place where St. Nicholas spent a part of his ...
The Monastery was first built in the Byzantine period, but it was then named after Saint Anastasius.