Abandoned Cave

This dusty, abandoned cave begins with a carved doorway with an intact threshold. There are small decorative niches which likely would have held candles before the cave was deserted. The entry leads a long antechamber lined by six niches (three on each side) followed by another, deeper natural cave. It may be the same cave described in a 19th century account, in which several monks were buried, but which may have pillaged since then.

A short distance from the convent is another sepulchral apartment, at the eastern extremity of which is a large natural cave. This is the burial place of several Syrian Bishops, whose graves are covered with long epitaphs in the Estrangheli character. Badger 1852, p 98