Monastery of the Temptation

In the Bible

Returning from the Jordan, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, fasted forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by the devil.

Matt 4:1–4Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Luke 4:1–2Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.

Tradition

The Gospels name no mountain. By a tradition kept by hermits since Byzantine times, Jesus fasted on this cliff above Jericho, called Quarantania after the forty days.

Here today

A Greek Orthodox monastery rebuilt in the late 19th century, clinging to the cliff around the cave of the fast; a cable car and a path lead up.

Through the eyes of old pilgrims

… there is a cave very high up, and in that cave Christ our God fasted 40 days, and afterwards he was hungry.Abbot Daniel, 1106–1108 · our translation

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Land outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).