History:
The foundation of the church and monastery are well documented in literary sources to the middle of the fifth century, attributed to the widow Ikalea and dedicated to Maria Theotokos. The site, marking the traditional place where the Virgin Mary sat to rest on her way to Bethlehem, halfway between that town and Jerusalem, became an important pilgrimage site with the monks of the monastery providing services for the worshipers. In the sixth century the church underwent renovations and a new mosaic pavement was laid. The church continued to function well into the Early Islamic period and sometime in the first half of the eighth century it apparently was divided, the southern part with a mihrab serving a Moslem population while the northern part continued to serve a Christian population. Based on the inscription found in the mosaic pavement, Di Segni suggested that the pavement where the inscription was found, and therefore a Christian presence, might be dated to the ninth century.
In the early 12th century, the Russian Abbot Daniel reported ruins in the area. In spite of the disappearance, with time, of the remains of the church, the site continued to preserve a tradition of sanctity.
State of certainty:
Archaeologically and Literarily definitive
