Abstract

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.