Jerusalem (Valley of the Cross) - HOLY CROSS

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Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Jerusalem (Valley of the Cross)

Identification:

According to tradition, the valley in which the monastery is located was where the tree on which Jesus was crucified originated. This tradition has given the monastery its present name. We cannot ascertain that this was the ancient name of the monastery.

Monastery name:

HOLY CROSS

Monastery type:

Cenobium

Monastery category:

Isolated in the countryside

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

219,768.00

631,060.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

169,764.00

131,059.00

Geographical region:

Jerusalem (Greater Jerusalem)

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Topographical location:

Level ground

Soils:

Limestone and terra rosa.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

1.5 (Jerusalm)

Distance from nearest settlement:

1.5 (Jerusalem)

Distance from Roman roads:

ca. 1 km south of the road leading to Jerusalem from the west.

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Guérin	1868-69
Kloner

History:

The monastery was first constructed in the sixth century. Several traditions concerning its foundation exist. According to one tradition, the land on which the monastery was built was gifted to the Iberian king Mirian by the emperor Constantine the Great in the fourth century. According to a second tradition, it was the empress Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine the Great who laid the foundations for the monastery. The sixth century monastery apparently was destroyed in 614 CE during the Persian invasion, after which it was rebuilt and occupied until the Fatimid period, when it was destroyed by the Sultan el-Hakim in the early eleventh century. Sometime later, the monastery was rebuilt by the Georgian Orthodox church under whom the monastery thrived until the 17th century, when it faced financial and other difficulties. In the 18th century the Georgian church was forced to pass the monastery into the hands of the Greek Orthodox church who own it to the present day. A theological seminary opened in 1855 and the monastery was enlarged to serve as a hostel for pilgrims as well. In the present day, an abbot with a small number of lay people reside in the monastery and maintain it.

Bibliograpy:

de Vogüé, M. , 1860	340
Guérin, V., 1869	I: 77-82
Economopoulos, A., 1984	377-390
Ovadiah, A. and de Silva, C. G., 1984	137
Tzaferis, V., 1987
Tzaferis, V., 1993	143-46
Schick, R., 1995	341-42
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012	40-41
Tchekhanovets, Y., 2016	111-20

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

State of certainty:

Archaeologicaly definitive

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

Scant remains of a basilica and a mosaic pavement of the diakonikon were unearthed. There was also evidenc of additional structures.

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

General description

Churche/s:

Remains of a basilica were unearthed when the present day monastey was renovated in the twentieth century. The church had an external apse, rounded inside and rectangular on the outside. A diakonikon was evidenced by a mosaic pavement.

In the second phase, the church became a triapsidal basilica.

Burials:

Burials were found beneath the altar. Several individuals, many showing signs of injury and burns.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Bones	Several individuals showing signs of injury and burns.
Coins	One coin dated to the early fifth century; a coin dated to the sixth century.
Other	Some laurel leaves (Laurus Nobilis) found in a tomb.

Detailed description

Structure

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Components

Monastery church:

Church type	Diakonikon	Link to church section	Church location
basilical	Diakonikon

Tombs type:

Cist tomb

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4

General outline:

Two foundation dates have been offered for the foundation. Economopoulos has offered a date in the late fourth century, based on the pottery. According to Zaferis, the pottery is later, i.e. late fifth-sixth century.

Dating material:

Pottery.

Phase date

Century:

4th-5th c.

General outline:

The church became a tri-apsidal basilica in the 7th century and mosaics were laid. There is no information concerning the monastery. Economopoulos asserts that the church was destroyed in 614 CE and restored after the earthquake of 659 CE.

Dating material:

Style of the mosaics.

Economopoulos bases his dating on a comparison to St. Eutimyhius monastery (Khan el Ahmar) mosaics.

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

General outline:

Signs of destruction in the Early Islamic period indicate that the church (and perhaps the monastery) continued to function.

Dating material:

According to Schick, no signs of iconoclasm show that the church was not in use in the eighth century.

Phase date

Century:

7th-8th c.

Within century:

First half

General outline:

The site was rebuilt in the 10-11th century by a Georgian monk, Prochorus Shavsheli (958-1066).

Phase date

Century:

11th c.

Within century:

Late

Iconoclastic evidence

Iconoclastic evidence:

Post Arab conquest history:

Still in use

Post conquest history comments:

There are contradictory opinions concerning the existence of the church (and monastery) after the Persian occupation. No iconoclastic evidence shows that it might have been in use in the first half of the eighth century (Schick 1995: 341).

In continuous use