The name Qasr El Yehud is the Arabic name for the church of John the Baptist. The Christian rite of baptism is rooted in the Jewish tradition of ritual ablutions in a unique bath called a mikvah. Water must enter and leave the mikvah on its own. For this reason, the best mikvah is the river. John the Baptist baptized Jesus in these places. Monasteries and shelters for Christian pilgrims seeking to baptism in the Jordan River have been built along the banks of the stream for centuries.
Traveling to the place of baptism on the Jordan River and the ancient monastery of Deir Hijleh takes only an hour and a half. This one and a half hours bring us to a fantastic story. The Jordan River is associated primarily with the baptism of Jesus Christ from John the Baptist. The place where these events took place is called in Arabic Qasr El Yahud - the court of the Jew. The centuries-old tradition of baptism was renewed after the signing of a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel. The border between the countries runs along the river, and only a few meters are divided between them. Not far from the place of baptism is one of the oldest monasteries on the Dead Sea - the monastery of St. Gerasimus. It was one of the first monasteries of Koinonia. The walls of the monastery remember the battles of Muslims and crusaders. The skulls of monks pretend to be the bones of the martyrs of the Persian conquest. A journey of ten kilometers takes us on a tour of twenty centuries. Do not miss this adventure on the Dead Sea.
