Mar Elias Monastery, Orthodox monastery in South Jerusalem, Israel.
Mar Elias Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery in south Jerusalem, on a hill between Kibbutz Ramat Rachel and the Gilo neighbourhood, west of Givat ha'Arba'a and along Hebron Road (Route 60). It overlooks Bethlehem and Herodium, and its church faces a stone bench inscribed with biblical verses in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and English.
The monastery was founded in the 6th century on the ruins of a Byzantine church and underwent major reconstruction in 1160 under Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. This rebuilding shaped it into its present form and anchored it firmly in the region's religious landscape.
Each year on 19 July by the Julian calendar, Greek Orthodox residents of the area gather at the monastery for a large celebration marking the feast of the Prophet Elijah's ascent to heaven. The name Mar Elias is the Arabic form of Saint Elijah. A rock near the monastery was once shown to visitors with a hollow shaped like a human body, said to be the imprint Elijah left when he rested there.
The location sits south of Jerusalem along Hebron Road and is reachable about 800 meters southwest of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. The hilltop setting means visitors should be ready for slopes, especially when walking up to the monastery church itself.
The stone bench facing the monastery was put up by the wife of painter William Holman Hunt, who painted some of his major works from this spot. Its inscriptions quote biblical verses in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and English.
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