Don Lattin

Mar Saba, a 1,500-year-old monastery in the stark moonscape of the Judean wilderness, is not an easy place to find. The journey begins outside Bethlehem, where squads of Israeli soldiers stand guard at checkpoints, cradling machine guns. They’re happy to give directions…even when they have no idea how to get to Mar Saba. Pilgrims can’t call for directions. The monastery has no electricity and no telephones. Even those who find the place aren’t guaranteed entry. Women are forbidden, and the monks don’t always admit male visitors to their fortress of faith. It lies at the end of an unmarked road that winds for miles through some of the most impoverished villages of the West Bank. Palestinian kids block the road, demanding money. “Shekels! Shekels!,” they yell, tossing rocks at the cars of pilgrims who refuse to pay.

But when you finally reach Mar Saba, the sight is well worth the hassles, wrong turns, and dead ends. Nestled in a river gorge southeast of Jerusalem, this ancient hermitage and working Orthodox mon-astery stands as a living remnant of early Christian monasticism. Unable to attract new religious vocations, this icon-filled sanctuary attracts more

curiosity seekers than devout pilgrims. The monastery is perched on the side of a narrow gorge in the Kidron Valley. Stone buildings — some of them whitewashed with red tile roofs, others in ruin—are built into the terraced canyon walls. — Beliefnet.com