st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

"
A
"
"
"
THE MONASTERY OF ST. SABAS. II
heard in the solitude ;
and the monks have tamed
them, so that they flock round them to catch raisins,
which they pounce upon
in mid air. In the valley
below the foxes and jackals also come for alms, the
monks throwing down loaves for them. 1
Yet
even for these poor outcasts in the stony wilderness,
lifeless and treeless though it be, nature prepares
every day a glorious picture, quickly fading but
matchless in brilliance of colour : the distant ranges
seem stained with purple and pink ;
in autumn the
great bands of clouds sweep over the mountains with
long bars of gleaming light between them and for a
;
few minutes, as the sun sets, the deep crimson blush
comes over the rocks, and glorifies the whole land
scape with an indescribable glow."
Upon the scene thus strikingly described, the eyes
of John of Damascus, the monk of St. Sabas Convent,
whose life we are attempting to relate, must often
have rested. He must often have felt how, in the
ascent one way up the valley to Jerusalem, and the
descent by horrible abysses to the Dead Sea in
the other direction, there was, as a Greek pilgrim 2 in
1
Nor are these the only hungry claimants to be satisfied.
monk every day looks from this watch-tower" a narrow
wooden tower, ascended by a flight of steps from the convent
roo f for many hours, far and near, to give notice of the
approach of any of the wild Arabs, who come to the foot of
the walls with loud menaces. A large quantity of cakes of
bread is kept in the tower, and they are thrown out to the
Arabs, who are thus pacified, and take themselves off."-
Carne, ubi. sup., p. 87.
2
"Voices from the East,"
translated and edited by the Rev.
J. M. Neale, 1859, p. 155.