The Pilgrimage Of Joannes Phocas In The Holy Land

Excerpt from The Pilgrimage of Joannes Phocas in the Holy Land (in the Year 1185 A. D.) Whilst, my excellent friend Nihusius, I was at Chios, diligently turning over various mss., obtained in various places, there came into my hands the 'brief description, by Joannes Phocas, of the (holy) places in Palestine and Syria, ' not very well written in very small characters upon silk. He appeared an elegant and accurate writer, considering the time at which he lived, and consequently I had intended to read him carefully, but being occupied with other business, neglected to do. So. Many years afterwards, when at Rome, I was recalling to my memory the mss. Which I had seen, and in the course of familiar conversation the subject of the Holy Places had been mentioned, I again remembered Phocas, and conceived a great desire to obtain him for myself. I wrote again and again to my friends, and even to him who had given me the use of the ms. I begged and prayed and even offered rewards; but I only wasted my time. I always received a prompt answer to all my inquiries, except only about this one writer. Consequently, I at last ceased to trouble about him. However, after a year had passed, while I was interested in other matters, mss. Reached me from a friend who had just come from Chios. While I was looking over their titles, behold Phocas appeared, dropped as it were from the skies, not written in another hand, but the very original which I had seen at Chios. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

St. Sabas (439-532 CE), was one of the principal leaders of Palestinian monasticism, that had flourished in the sixth century in the desert of Jerusalem. As an abbot he was the first in Palestine to formulate a monastic rule in writing, and his activity as an ecclesiastical leader bore upon the life of the entire Christian community in the Holy land. He and his monks were active in the theological disputes that affected the fate of the Christian Church of Palestine, and shaped it as a stronghold of Orthodoxy. But his activity has transcended his place and time. His largest monastery - the Great Laura (Mar saba), functioned from the sixth to the ninth century as the intellectual centre of the See of Jerusalem. The most distinguished among its authors were Cyril of Scythopolis, Leontius of Byzantium, John Moschus and Sophronius, Antiochus Monachos, John of Damascus, Cosmas the Hymnographer, Leontius of Damascus and Stephen Mansur. Their treatises on dogma, and prayer, shaped Orthodox theology, liturgy and hymnography in Palestine and beyond. This literary activity in Greek was complemented by scribal activity of copying and translating of Greek manuscripts into Arabic and Georgian. There was also original composition in Arabic by Theodore Abu Qurrah and others. Monastic life in Mar Saba, that continued under Muslim rule with only short intermissions, preserved the Sabaite tradition, and contributed to its reputation, parallel to that of Jerusalem. Sabaite monks were renown as paragons of monasticism and dogma, who had inspired monastic and ecclesiastical reformers in later centuries throughout the Orthodox world. Its fame spread far and wide, from Rome and North Africa in the west, to Serbia, Russia and Georgia in the east, affecting Christian dogma and liturgy therein. The thirty-one studies included in this volume, each written by an expert in his field, present the various facets of the Sabaite heritage in the Orthodox Church, from the sixth century to the present.

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