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After Christianity became legal in 311 AD, it was no longer dangerous to confess faith in Jesus. Christians began to join the Roman "establishment," and soon high office in the Church depended on political prowess more than faith. There were those, however, who longed for the pure and devoted Christian community of the outlaw days. Some, therefore, chose a monastic life, at first in the Egyptian desert. There were other motives too: for example, to avoid the army or escape crippling taxes.
Starting in the 4th century, monasteries sprang up in the Judaean desert as well. Its peculiar geography enabled the monks to separate themselves, yet remain within reach of pilgrims and the needy from the bustling cities.
The Judaean desert knew two types of monastic life: the coenobium (of which 44 have been discovered) and the laura (19 so far). In the coenobium, monks lived together. Apart from their devotions and crafts, they engaged in social work "for the hungry, the homeless, the elderly and the sick who could find refuge especially in the large coenobia. In this respect, these monasteries served as a 'safety net' for the underclass in the Byzantine period. Such monasteries received large donations from wealthy believers for their charitable work." (Hirschfeld, p. 37) These often remembered the monasteries in their wills.
After years of preparation in a coenobium, a monk of 30 or older might switch to the second type of monastic life, the laura ("path"). Here he would live alone in a cave, but near other monks. They meditated, worked at rope- or basket-making, and sang their prayers, each from his place, seven times daily. On Saturday all followed the laurae to a central building, where they studied under their teacher and prayed together. Here too they received supplies for the week.
According to the order of Mar Saba (founder of a famous monastery still functioning today under the aegis of the Greek Orthodox), the monks started their day at 11:30 p.m. They alternated prayer with work, taking one meal (vegetarian) at 10:30 a.m., and retiring at 6:00. On this regimen, and womanless, they often lived to be a hundred or more.
The monks were vulnerable to "temptations," unwanted thoughts, sometimes personified as demons. The worst wasn't lust, it is said – although the confessional graffiti inscribed at Herodion (now under lock and key in the Vatican) might lead one to think so. The worst was the thought that in becoming a monk, one had made the wrong choice for one's life.
Then too, there was the sin of pride at being holier than others. The desert teaches humility: without the cushions and distractions of civilized society, one quickly learns how small one is. After achieving true size, one can then come closer to God. (See Numbers 12:1-8). Humility, however, is the hardest virtue to keep: one soon becomes proud of possessing it.
Among those seeking humility was a monk named Euthymius, considered by many to have been the driving force behind monasticism in the Judaean desert. About 420 AD, fleeing from fame, he "journeyed into the desert along the shore of the Dead Sea and came to a high mountain called Marda (Syriac for Masada), separated from the other mountains. Here he discovered a collapsed cistern, put it in order and dwelt there. He lived on the plants he found… He was the first to build a church here… and an altar within." (Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Euthymii, 11.)
The tiny chapel is visible on the west side of Masada, roughly in the middle. It dates to the 5th or 6th century, so it is probably the one Euthymius built. Its walls stand almost to their original height; they are decorated with Roman sherds arranged in patterns. Its single apse faces east. In the floor of this apse is a hole: the reliquary. Here the monks would have kept some sacred object, such as the bones of a saint. The floor had a mosaic, removed in the 19th century. The collector left another mosaic alone, however, in the adjacent northern chamber. Iconoclasts ripped out the faces.
This chapel was the liturgical center of the laura founded by Euthymius. Monks lived in the nearby ruins and cisterns. They were the last inhabitants of Masada.
The Herodian structures on Masada The Build-up to the First Revolt Against Rome Masada and the Jewish revolt against RomeThe Synagogue on MasadaLogistics for Masada
© 2003 Near East Tourist Agency (NET) Text © 2003 Stephen Langfur
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