About Mount of Temptation

Tradition holds that Jesus’ forty days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness took place on the Mount of Temptation. It is about 360m above sea level, towering the town of Jericho in the West Bank and overlooking the Judaean desert.

History

Monks and hermits have lived within the caves of the Mount of Temptation since the early days of Christianity. They lived in natural caves which they turned into cells, chapels and storage rooms. The Byzantines constructed a monastery on the summit in the 4^th century. The site was abandoned until the Crusaders arrived in the 12^th century and built one church on the summit and a second church in a cave halfway up the cliff.

Monastery of Temptation

Built into the cliff face in 1895 on Byzantine and Crusader remains, the present Greek Orthodox Monastery of Temptation encompasses the two earlier churches. In the monastery is a stone on which, according to tradition, Jesus sat during his fast. On the hillside above the monastery are the remains of a fortress originally built by the Greek Seleucids and later inhabited by the Hasmoneans. The monastery is full of religious landmarks such as crosses, sculptures of Christ and paintings drawn on the ceiling.