The Monastery's Architectural Structures
Behind the church lies a small natural cave in the rock, which, following the discovery of the relics of the Hamatoura martyrs in 2008, was transformed into a church named after Saint Paisios the Athonite.
Above it are three rooms carved for the use of the monks. The monastery's cells were crowded with monks who endured the harshness of mountain life and the scarcity of comforts and rest. Russian traveller Vasily Barsky, who visited the monastery in the early 18th century, said that these carved cells between two layers of rock were unparalleled except in the Monastery of Choziba (Hozeva) in Palestine.
Near the monastery are two small churches, one named after the Prophet John the Baptist and the other after the Archangel Michael. In monastic tradition, a monk's journey in asceticism mirrors that of John in the wilderness, ascending in holiness to resemble the celestial angels.
Underneath the church of the Archangel Michael, known as the church of the cemeteries, we preserve the remains of the monks who preceded us and struggled in this sacred mountain. Orthodox monastic tradition dictates that the deceased monk be buried in the ground wearing his full monastic vestments. Due to insufficient burial space for all the monks, it has become customary to open the grave after three years or more, and the bones to be gathered in a designated room for this purpose.
The monastery was known in Arabic manuscripts as "Al-Diyarat" (the monasteries), as it was the centre of monastic life on the mountain, branching out into several smaller monasteries. These include the Hermitage of the Prophet Elijah in an area called "Al-Rmeileh" near the river upstream towards the town of Tourza, and another named after the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul at the start of the path leading to the monastery. The presence of an ecclesiastical school within may have contributed to this designation, as fathers graduate from it to serve, mirroring their lives as an extension of the monastery's existence in the world.
