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Saint Theodosius' Convent
Leaving Bethlehem by Beit Sahour through pleasant farmland, a road brings us to the imposing monastery of St. Theodosius (or Den Dosi or Den Ibn Abeid), centre of the Abediyah Bedouins. Theodosius joined the convent in 455 and was named as Superior. He fled to Metopa and later to a grotto here in which according to tradition the Magi had spent their first night after the angel had warned them to return to their own country via another road. The monastery was founded in 476. Four hundred monks were under his direction, divided according to their language and rite: Greek, Armenian and Slav. In 492, the Patriarch Sallustius appointed Theodosius head of all cenobites. He died in 529 at the age of 105, having seen 693 monks from the monastery pass away.