The Label
His being the bishop of Hamtoura, a Syriac word Ieromoines meaning “Mountain of Diet”. The monks used to gather in the monastery to abstain, so they would train, and when they were ready, the president would ordain them as priests.
“They go out to serve. In their setting out for service, they resemble the flow of water from a spring. For this movement, the monastery was called “Mountain Al-Himiyah” or “Naba’a Al-Jabal”
And the mountain is full of rituals that were teeming with monks of every nationality and language. As the language of Mount Lebanon was Syriac, the monks recited their collective prayers in Syriac, Greek and Arabic according to the monastery's rituals and Orthodox arrangements.
The Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God - Hamtourah, the main monastery, and it is the oldest among the monasteries of the mountain. The monks transformed it from a center of idol worship into a monastery named after the Virgin Mother of God. We do not know exactly when the first monastic order was established in it.
As for the Monastery of Saint George - Hamtourah, it dates back to the eleventh century. It is mentioned in manuscripts from the time of Saint Jacob of Hamtourah. Above one of the doors of the monastery, there is a date of restoration dating back to the 18th century. It was also mentioned by the Russian traveler Basilius Barsky, as the monks used to spend the summer period there, while in the winter they used to go down to the Monastery of Our Lady. However, their exposure to many invasions, especially at the hands of the "Hagarenes," as he put it, made them settle in the Monastery of Our Lady, taking shelter in it.
Monastery Location
The Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos is located on the shoulder of the blessed Qadisha Valley, which springs from the Cedars of God and winds through Mount Lebanon, between the meek towns of Kousba and Raskiva. Four hundred and fifty meters above sea level, twenty-five kilometers from the city of Tripoli. You can climb to it from Kousba on foot for half an hour, on a relatively difficult path, and the monastery is two hundred meters above the river.
The Monastery of St. George, located on the top of the mountain, can be reached from the Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God, by walking in a winding road between the forests of the monastery in an hour and a half. Or to reach it from the Zgharta side, from the towns of Raskiva and Karmsada, on rugged agricultural roads.
The monastery's history
The monastery was persecuted during the time of the Mamluks, as St. Jacob Al-Hamtouri was martyred.
The Ottomans destroyed the monastery during the time of Fakhr al-Din al-Ma’ani, as explained by Iskandar Issa al-Maalouf. The famous Russian traveler Basilius Barsky (18th century) visited it and recorded information about its buildings indicating the size and division of the building.
According to the testimony of some centenarians who knew the monastery during its prosperous days, they testified that the monks used to teach the visitors, the workers, the shepherds around them, and the woodcutters, writing, arithmetic, and reading, especially in the available church books, which they copied for the benefit of the monks and visitors. Especially the books of the holy fathers whose manuscripts remained in the monastery for a long time. Then it was scattered because the readers did not return it to the monastery after most of it was destroyed in 1917, first because the Turkish Ottomans bombed the monastery’s buildings with the aim of disabling it because it provided food security for the residents of the area, and because of an earthquake that year that made it dilapidated and uninhabitable.
The monks left him to the Monastery of St. George, at the top of the mountain, bringing with them all the assets of the church and the monastery. There, the chief, Irotheos of Kephori, built six rooms and a portico, and rebuilt the church with the help of the people of the region. The mother monastery has become without an inhabitant, and the monks visit it from time to time. A number of believers succeeded in taking care of the monastery.
One of the monks of that era was Father Jacob from the village of Kousba (20th century - other than St. Jacob of Hamtouri), who was famous for his piety and abundant love. So the Lord gave him a blessed effort and unparalleled patience, and grace appeared in him with many healing miracles after the prayer of blessing the waters. It has become an active tradition for visitors to take holy water for their farms, children, and livestock, as epidemics multiplied at the time of the Great World War, and there was no medicine, so everyone resorted to God’s mercy.