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The Saidanagia Monastery is located in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Old City of Jerusalem, along an alley north of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The monastery sits on the site of the home of St. Mary, the great-grandmother of Jesus. It was also the birthplace of St. Anna, Jesus’ grandmother and the mother of the Virgin Mary. The translation for Saidanagia Monastery comes from Arabic, meaning Grandmother’s Monastery.
Church
The small church has a wooden iconostasis and a chapel to the left. There’s a small gift shop where visitors can buy religious items and icons. The monastery is owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Icon
The church contains a miraculous icon depicting four generations of Christ. St. Mary stands behind a chair in which St. Anna is sitting with the Virgin Mary in her lap, while Jesus sits in the Virgin Mary’s lap. The icon is kept in a niche protected by a fence. Many people leave tamata (votive offerings) on the fence.
The icon originally came to the monastery from Damascus. Someone took it and returned it to Damascus claiming it was stolen, but the icon miraculously reappeared at the Saidanagia Monastery in Jerusalem.
