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(Rhoda) Driving down through this desert road
on our way to the Dead Sea,
we noticed a mysterious turn.
It always looked intriguing
due to its beautiful greenery in the middle of the desert.
We asked ourselves:
This place is so secluded.
Why would anyone choose to live here?
Eager to find the answer,
we decided to take this turn,
for the very first time in our lives,
not knowing where it would lead us.
Little did we know
that we have entered the premises
of one of the oldest monasteries in the world.
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This monastery was founded in the 5th century
by a known hermit called Saint Gerasimos.
He was born to a wealthy family in Lycia
but decided to leave all that wealth behind
to become a monk in the Judean Desert.
Gerasimos is famous for being the first to combine
the solitude life of a hermit
and the communal concept of monasteries.
He also was one of the second-generation abbots
of 70 monks in this desert.
And, he even had a pet lion.
(Sergio) Back then,
this monastery looked quite different.
Under Gerasimos' leadership,
each of the monks had their own cell in a cave
where they would stay in solitude.
But on the weekends,
they would walk a kilometer to meet each other
in the monastery for fellowship and worship.
This was the hermit revolution that Gerasimos started.
(Rhoda) There is an interesting tradition that says
these are the very gates
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus hid overnight
after fleeing from the hand of Herod the Great
and then continued their journey down to Egypt.
(Sergio) In the year 614,
during the Persian conquest,
the Persians completely destroyed the original monastery
and butchered the monks.
Their bones were later found
and are on display in the church today.
(Rhoda) The monastery standing today
was rebuilt in the 13th century by the Crusaders
to commemorate Saint Gerasimos and his community.
But throughout the years, it was also destroyed.
And since then, it was reconstructed
over and over again,
and very little is left from the Crusader structure.
(Sergio) As we continued to wander around,
we noticed the repeating theme of lions in the decor.
According to tradition,
Gerasimos found a wounded lion by the Jordan River
with a thorn in his paw.
Having removed the thorn,
the lion became tamed and a companion to Gerasimos.
Tradition goes as far as to say
that when Gerasimos passed away,
the lion died from grief by his grave.
(Rhoda) Like almost all of the places in Israel,
this one too has a connection to the Bible.
The monastery's name in Arabic is Beit Hajla,
and apparently it was named this way
because it is located by the ruins of a Biblical village
which is mentioned in the book of Joshua
as Beth Hogla.
The interesting part is that both are located
across from Jericho
and not too far from the Dead Sea.
(Sergio) Learning about the tragic history
which happened to the founders of this place
made us think about the Christian martyrdom
that started with Stephen 2,000 years ago
and is still going on today.
So, as followers of Christ,
we are reminded of these precious words:
"Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
After all:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine
or nakedness or danger or sword?
No!
In all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."