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Shalom Street, Jerusalem
Neve Granot
Tel. (02) 679 0961
Bus: 18, 31, 32
Open: 10am- 4pm Mon- Sat
Monastery of the Holy Cross (Hebrew: מנזר
המצלבה, Georgian: ჯვრის მონასტერი, Greek: Ιερά Μονή του Τιμίου
Σταυρού) is a monastery of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, located in
Jerusalem, Israel. One of the most famous monasteries in the Holy
Land. The exact time of foundation of the monastery is unknown.
According to an ancient legend, the tree of the Holy Cross grew
on the site of the monastery.
The monastery is called the
monastery of Georgian glory or the monastery in the name of the Holy
Cross. The Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli once lived within its
walls.
There are a great many legends about the founding of the
monastery. The most popular legend is that the foundation of the
monastery dates back to the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine
the Great (c. 285-337) and is associated with the activities of
Empress Helena Equal to the Apostles (c. 250-330), his mother.
Comparing the evidence of tradition with known facts from the life
of Emperor Constantine and his mother, the emergence of the
monastery can be dated back to 320-330 AD. However, early historical
sources do not report anything about the role of
Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen and Constantine in the creation of the
monastery.
There is another legend that claims that the
foundation of the monastery took place in the 4th century and was
associated with the Georgian ruler Mirian III, who made a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land. Allegedly, the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor
Constantine the Great granted him land west of Jerusalem. There
Mirian III decided to build a monastery. Archaeologists have
established that the first basilica was built at the end of the 4th
century. Scientists mean that the patron of the temple is Prince
Bakur the Iverian, the grandfather of the famous Peter Iver, who
held the position of Dux of Palestine at the indicated time.
Another legend says that the monastery was built during the reign of
the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641). Returning from a campaign
against Persia, he camped near Jerusalem. Heraclius carried with him
the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, captured by the
Persians and now taken from them. Celebrating the return of the
great shrine and the victorious completion of the campaign, he
ordered to build a monastery here.
Thanks to scientific
research, it is a fact that the monastery existed no later than the
7th century, was originally built by the Greeks and was founded
before the Arab conquest of Palestine in 638. The results obtained
suggest that the monastery was founded during the reign of Emperor
Justinian the Great (527-565).
After this, the history of the
monastery is lost in the thick of events until the middle of the
11th century. Then the monastery was destroyed or severely
devastated. The Georgian king Bagrat IV Kuropalat, at his own
expense, with the blessing of St. Euthymius of the Svyatogorets and
through the efforts of the Georgian monk George-Prokhor, revived the
Monastery of the Holy Cross.
The period of prosperity of the
monastery lasted from the beginning of the 14th to the beginning of
the 16th century. But in 1517, Palestine came under the rule of the
Ottoman Empire. Unlike the Mamelukes, the new invaders were not very
friendly towards the Georgians. At that time, the monastery showed
the first signs of decline. Not only the unfavorable political
situation, but also internal disagreements and disputes weakened the
unity of the brethren. Generous financial assistance, granted over
the past centuries by the rulers of Georgia, was almost completely
stopped or did not reach the monastery. The number of creditors
grew, while the monastery's funds were depleted. The monastery was
forced to sell most of its vast possessions.
At the beginning
of the 17th century, attempts were made to restore the Georgian
community and return the property of the monasteries. But by that
time the community's debt had reached enormous proportions. Of the
monasteries, only the Monastery of the Holy Cross remained Georgian,
but it was also in a very deplorable state.
In 1643, Abbot
Nikifor, a very energetic and active man, attempted to restore the
monastery church with the restoration of the dome, altar and
iconostasis. The wall paintings of the church, where there was
particularly severe damage, were updated, and a number of new icons
were painted.
However, several years after the last
restoration, only a small number of Georgian monks remained in the
monastery. Even the abbot himself lived most of the time in Georgia.
The money sent from Georgia to pay the monastery's debts was lost
along the way, and creditors took possession of the monastery. In
these difficult circumstances, the monastery was helped by the
Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, headed by Patriarch Dositheus II
(1669-1707): the creditors of the monastery were paid off. On the
initiative of the Patriarchate, fundraising for the monastery began
in all Orthodox countries, including Georgia.
Released from
all mortgages, the monastery came under the jurisdiction of the
Jerusalem Patriarchate. Several Georgian monks still living in
Jerusalem went over to the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre.
Throughout the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, the
monastery remained active. A relatively large number of monks
labored in the monastery, despite the fact that their lives, as well
as the monastery property, were constantly threatened by Muslims.
Throughout the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, the
monastery remained active. A relatively large number of monks
labored in the monastery, despite the fact that their lives, as well
as the monastery property, were constantly threatened by Muslims.
Patriarch Kirill II, the first Patriarch of Jerusalem to live
permanently in Palestine in a long time, took a number of steps to
strengthen the position of the Jerusalem Church. One of them was the
creation of a full-fledged theological school for training the
clergy. He chose the Monastery of the Holy Cross as the place for
its placement, which is why he refused Russia’s request to provide
the Monastery of the Holy Cross to house the Russian spiritual
mission there.
In 1853, Holy Cross Theological School was
opened. In 1855, the monastery began to flourish again. The
renovation and reconstruction of the entire complex of monastery
buildings made it suitable for its new role, but at the same time
the entire appearance of the monastery changed significantly. The
monastic cells were converted into lecture rooms, the refectory was
rebuilt in accordance with new requirements, and a chapel was built
for daily prayers. The library has been replenished with hundreds of
new volumes on various branches of knowledge, encyclopedias,
dictionaries and theological works. It became one of the largest
libraries in Palestine at that time. The largest room in the
monastery was converted into a museum. This was the first museum in
Jerusalem, where, among other exhibits, numerous archaeological
finds and various monuments of the history of Palestine, as well as
stuffed representatives of the fauna of this region were exhibited.
The theological school operated with a short break for 53 years
- until 1908, when it was closed due to the financial difficulties
of the patriarchate.
With the closure of the theological
school, the Monastery of the Holy Cross again entered a period of
decline and obscurity. For many decades there were no other
inhabitants here, except for the abbot, who at the same time acted
as a watchman.
The complete restoration of buildings,
restoration of mosaic floors and partial conservation of wall
paintings were carried out by the Jerusalem Patriarchate in
1970-1973. By the decision of Patriarch Diodorus, the church and the
remains of the once rich possessions of the monastery became
available to the public and serve as a parish museum.
The Monastery of the Holy Cross is located in a part of Jerusalem
called the New City, in the small Valley of the Cross. In appearance
it resembles the monasteries of Athos. The monastery is very similar
to a fortress: walls made of large blocks, small windows, the only
entrance is a low and narrow gate. The architectural dominant of the
monastery is the baroque bell tower, the construction of which was
completed in the 1850s. The cathedral church of the monastery was
built around 1038.
The property of the monastery are wall
paintings. The monastery was signed several times. The oldest
frescoes that have survived to this day date back to the end of the
12th and beginning of the 13th centuries. There is also a fresco
depicting the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli, which has been
decorating the monastery in the name of the Holy Cross since the
turn of the 12th-13th centuries.
In 2005, fifty meters from
the monastery, a monument to Shota Rustaveli was erected in the form
of a bas-relief mounted in a white stone stele.
In 2010, the
Jerusalem municipality named the alley on which the monument and the
monastery itself are located Shota Rustaveli Street (in Hebrew - רח'
שותא רוסטוולי).