The Life of Stephen of Mar Sabas

The present work offers an edition and English translation of the Arabic version of the Life of Stephen of Mar Sabas. When Stephen died in 794 A.D., a vivid account of his life was drawn up within a few years of his death by one of his disciples, Leontius of Damascus. In part autobiographical, Leontius' account offers a unique glimpse into the life of the Palestinian monasteries in the early Islamic period. It also sheds important light on a host of other issues. Among these: the social history of early Islamic Syria and Palestine, the history of the Jerusalem patriarchate, and early Muslim-Christian relations. The present work should be of interest both to scholars of church history and to historians of early Islam.