Palestinian Sheppard boy with the Judean desert mountains in the background. Palestine, 2012.
The Great Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, is a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley in the West Bank east of Bethlehem. The traditional date for the founding of the monastery by Saint Sabas of Mutalaska, Cappadocia is the year 483 and today houses around 20 monks. It is considered to be one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, and still maintains many of its ancient traditions. One in particular is the restriction on women entering the main compound. The only building that women can enter is the Women's Tower, near the main entrance. Judean Desert, Palestine, 2012.
Antonius is a Greek orthodox monk serving in the church of the nativity. The church is divided between three religious groups. The Greek orthodox, the Armenian and the Catholic. During the centuries they have had their fair share of arguments and disagreements but none as mysterious as who holds the key to the sculls of the children. Antonius opens the gate with his key, then leads me down some stairs and as I am faced with a few dozen small sculls he explains. These are the sculls of the children whom King Herod killed in an attempt to kill the newly born Jesus Christ. Sounds like an episode of Indiana Jones? Probably to you and me. But to Antonius this is as real as anything, and as the hordes of tourists trample the floor of the church above us, down here in the Catacombs bible stories just gain a totally different meaning. Bethlehem, Palestine, 2012.
