Paran Monastery., 4th-century Christian monastery in Judean Desert, Palestine.

Paran Monastery is a Christian monastery in the Judean Desert in Palestine, built into a rocky hillside within a stone-walled compound. The site includes natural caves used as living quarters, small chapels, terraced fields, and cisterns that were dug to collect rainwater.

Saint Chariton founded the monastery in the 4th century after surviving a bandit attack in the desert and taking shelter in a cave on the site. It is considered the first monastic community in the Judean Desert and later inspired other foundations across the region.

The name "laura" means "narrow path", likely the trail that linked the hermits' cells to the communal buildings. Monks lived alone in their cells during the week and gathered at weekends for the liturgy and a shared meal, eating once a day at dusk with bread, salt and water. Chariton set seven daily prayer times and required manual work, mainly weaving baskets and ropes, and he opened the monastery to strangers and the poor.

The monastery sits within the Ein Prat Nature Reserve, which has marked trails and a visitor center with basic facilities. Spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons to visit, as summer heat in the desert can be intense.

Although Chariton founded the monastery, he later withdrew to a more remote cave and left the community in the care of other monks. After his death, his body was brought back to Paran and buried there, which drew pilgrims to the site for centuries.