The Church of the Nativity is a complex encompassing many structures including the 7th Century Basilica, Saint Catherine’s Church, monasteries and chapels that represent the different Christian denominations that include the Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches, and the caves of Saint Jerome, the fourth century monk who translated the Gospels to the vulgate (Latin).
The church was built in 1872 on the site of a fifth century Byzantine church. According to the Christian tradition, it is on this very spot that Mary and her new born baby Jesus rested on the way of their flight to Egypt, to escape King Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents.
The little Palestinian town of Beit Sahour, which translates into “the house of those who keep the night watch,” is generally identified by the Shepherds’ Field. According to tradition, the tidings about the birth of Jesus was proclaimed at night by the angels to a few good shepherds tending their sheep at the Shepherds’ Field.
The little Palestinian town of Beit Sahour, which translates into “the house of those who keep the night watch,” is generally identified by the Shepherds’ Field. According to tradition, the tidings about the birth of Jesus was proclaimed at night by the angels to a few good shepherds tending their sheep at the Shepherds’ Field.
Considered among the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, Mar Saba Monastery, named after Saint Saba of Cappadocia, was established in the 5th Century, at the peak of the monastic movement that overtook Palestine a century before. It is located east of Bethlehem, in the Kedron Valley, or Wadi an-Nar as it is known locally.
In the old days, most of the social relationships between the people of Bethlehem and Jerusalemites took place by those pools. On Sundays, the site was animated by picnickers who came with large families for a “fête autour du puits,” or feasting around the well, as described by Jean Jacques Rousseau.
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