12990 - 'Ein Hajla (Monastery of Calamon) - Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

'Ein Hajla (Monastery of Calamon)

Identification:

The site is identified with the Monastery of Calamon, mentioned by Paul, Bishop of Elusa, and by Cyril. The laura's name stems from the Greek word Kalamon, meaning reeds (papyron), apparently because the monastery was located in an area having reeds, either in Jordan or around the spring of 'Ein Hajla.

Church name:

Church

Functional Type:

Monastic

Church type:

Unknown

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

248.51

637.30

Coordinates, ICS system:

198.50

1,137.30

Geographical region:

Southern Jordan Valley

Topographical location:

North of the Dead Sea, close to the Jordan River.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

ca. 25 km east - northeast of Jerusalem.

Distance from nearest settlement:

ca. 4.5 km southeast of Jericho.

Distance from Roman roads:

ca 1 km south of the road between Jericho and Philadelphia (Amman).

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Source of knowledge

Literary sources:

HideLiterary sources

'Ein Hajla (Monastery of Calamon) - Church

Source:

Vita Georg. Choz.

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

Paragraph:

6

Translation:

So he began to live with his brother: they occupied the so-called ‘Old church’. Keeping to the way of life proper to their condition (of ascetes), they never made themselves cooked food (and only had some) if people offered it to them; but they gave orders to the porter of the castrum <the fortified edifice in the centre of the laura, which contained the service rooms> to keep for them, from Sunday to Sunday, all the left-overs, both from the castrum and those brought back to him by the fathers. They would take those (scraps of cooked food) and feed on these. The pot where the food was kept was never washed or emptied, but was infested with worms and gave out a foul smell even from afar: but they were content with this food and abstained from wine.

(transl. Leah Di Segni)

Summary:

George lives with his brother in the ‘Old church’ at the laura of Calamon, from an early-mid. 7th cent. life written by his disciple.

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy:

Marti, K., 1880
Vailhé, S., 1898
Vailhé, S., 1900
Federlin, L., 1903	132-134
Thomsen, P., 1907
Avi-Yonah, M., 1937
Augustinović, A., 1951
Schneider, A. M., 1938
Meinardus, O., 1965-1966
Dinur, U., 1986
Hirschfeld, Y., 1990	24-26, no.13
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994	96
Sion, O., 1996
Di Segni, L., 2005
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012	299-300, no.156

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

Monastery remains include a central structure surrounded by monastic cells. The church, documented by Féderlin, is described as a church with rooms surrounding a courtyard (atrium?) but, most of the remains no longer exist. Colorful tesserae were also discovered at the site.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Small finds

Small finds illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Architectural Evolution

Dating material	Phase no.	Century	Within century
The monastery founded during the second half of the fifth century (Hirschfeld 1990; Di Segni 2005).	Phase 1	5th c.	Second half
	Abandonment	7th c?