Arab Antiquities and Burials Authority has recently unveiled the remains of the 1,500-year-old Byzantine monk buried with tied iron rings around his neck, hands, and feet. The findings were revealed at an archaeological site in a factory ruin in vandalism in occupied Palestine.
The archaeology team extended the information and noted that the monk was buried in a grave next to two small, locked dungeons in the church’s central aisle. Around the monk’s neck, hands, and feet, a chain of iron rings weighing tens of kilograms, which researchers suggest symbolizes living a pious lifestyle, wearing chains to prove his devotion.
According to the statements of archaeologists, it was noted that “The remains of a Byzantine monk tied with iron rings were discovered during excavations in factory vandalism in Occupied Palestine.”
In addition, it was found that the factory’s ruin is an archaeological site, where archaeologists from the previously occupying archaeology authority found a Byzantine Three Ages Church, which was once part of a monastery that came down the road for travelling pilgrims.
“The church was partially carved in rocks and built using limestone (limestone), which may have been consecrated by Rev. Sabinos to St. Zachary,” said the archaeologists during their discoveries. The excavation team also stated that the findings are somehow historical and revolutionary as something like this is not seen often.
The reports further added that it is anticipated that monks who practised Asceticism lived a lifestyle abstaining from sensual pleasures in pursuit of salvation or redemption from sin or spirituality.
“The most extreme asceticism included the practice of restricting the body to stones or inside a cell, praying while sitting on a column of elements, solitary confinement, the abandonment of personal hygiene, or self-pain and voluntary suffering,” said the experts while explaining the practice.
Archaeologists extended the remarks and added that the monk found in the ruins of the sanitary likely lived in or near the church complex, putting himself in isolation while chained inside a locked, isolated cell.
“This practice originated in Syria in the fourth or fifth centuries AD. However, the discovery of a burial shows that this form of extreme Asceticism spread south as far as the Jerusalem region during the Byzantine period,” added the scientist team.
A similar example has been discovered by archaeologists during excavations in the Hamtous Dr Mar Elias Monastery, located in the region of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Archaeologists at the time found the remains of a man wearing iron chains around the upper body in an underground cave consisting of two compartments.
