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Deir Mar Mosa El-Habashi

Geography and History

 www.deirmarmusa.org

 The ancient Syrian monastery of St. Moses the Abyssinian (Deir Mar Musa El-Habashi)

Overlooks a harsh valley in the mountains east of the small town of Nebek, 80 km north of  Damascus. It is about 1320meters above sea level.

Pre historic hunters and shepherds first inhabited the area around the monastery, attracted by the natural cisterns and pastures, ideal for herding goats. Perhaps the Roman or Palmiriens built a watchtower here. Christian hermits later used the cave for meditation, and thus, created the first monastic centre.

According to local tradition, St. Moses the Abyssinian was the son of an Ethiopian king.

He refused to accept the crown, honors and marriage. Instead he looked towards the kingdom of God. He traveled to Egypt and then to the Holy Land. He later lived as a monk in Qara- Syria and then as a hermit in the valley where the monastery is now situated and was martyred by Byzantine soldiers. Tradition says that his family took his body but a miracle separated the thumb of his right hand and it was left as a relic- it is now conserved in the Syrian church of Nebek. 

From archaeological and historical evidence, we know that the monastery of St. Moses existed from the middle of the 6^th century and belonged to the Syrian Antioch Ian Rite.

The present church was built in the Islamic year 450 (1058 AD), according to the Arabic inscriptions on the walls, which begin with the words: “In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate”.  

The frescoes in the church date from the 11^th and 12^th centuries.

In the 15^th century the monastery was partially rebuilt and enlarged. The monastery was abandoned in the first half of the 19^th century and slowly fell into ruin.

Nevertheless, it remained in the ownership of the Syrian Catholic Diocese of Homs, Hama and Nebek continued to visit the monastery with devotion and the local parish struggled to maintain it.

In 1984, restoration work began through a common initiative of the Syrian state, the local church and a group of Arab and European volunteers, the restoration of the monastery building was completed in 1994 thanks to co-operation between the Italian and Syrian states. This Italian and Syrian school for restoration of frescoes was created at Deir Mar Musa in 1989 and will complete the restoration of the frescoes in the context of Syrian European co-operation.

The new foundation of monastic community started in 1991.

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