Monastery of Saint Mark, Syriac Orthodox monastery in Armenian Quarter, East Jerusalem, Israel

The Monastery of Saint Mark is a Syriac Orthodox complex in the Armenian Quarter, comprising the main Church of Saint Mark and the adjacent Chapel of Saint Behnam. Its stone facade has a round-arched doorway with alternating light and dark voussoirs, a lunette painted with a figure in blue and red, and inscriptions in Syriac and Hebrew. The dark red doors are marked with gold-outlined crosses, birds, and stylized branches.

A Syriac inscription found in 1940 records that the house of Mary, mother of Mark, was made a church by the Apostles and rebuilt in 73 AD after Titus destroyed Jerusalem; Aphrem Barsoum dated the inscription and foundation to the 5th or 6th century. The present building was raised in the Crusader period and bought by the Syriac Orthodox patriarch from the Coptic Church in 1471/1472, after which it became the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem.

The monastery is the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem and a centre for the Aramean Syriac community, whose liturgy is in Syriac, a form of Aramaic. The church holds a silver-clad baptismal font with a Marian icon above it, which Eastern tradition attributes to the Evangelist Luke. The monastery also keeps a library of manuscripts and a piece of the Holy Cross.

This monastery is located on Ararat Street in the northeastern section of a historic neighborhood and can be explored on foot. Visitors should keep in mind that this is an active place of worship, so certain behavior and visiting hours need to be respected.

Inside the monastery sits a baptismal font linked to ancient traditions about the family of Jesus. The building also houses manuscripts created by learned scribes from the early Christian period.