Sun. May {24} 23. [23 May 1909] - I see I've got the days wrong
somewhere and am a day on; now it's right. Thunder and heavy rain
when I woke. Worked all day at the 2 churches here, the Adra and
Mar Saba. The Adra is perfect but for the dome outside which was
rebuilt 2 years ago by the Xians - to the great distress of the monk.
Since the rebuilding the water comes in which it never did before. He
says the old roof was incredibly solid. I don't think the church can be
later than the 5th c. Splendid decorated mouldings. The [sketch]
acanthus everywhere, with entrelacs, bead and reel, and vine
rinceaux round the door from the narthex to the church. Mar Saba has
been restored. The piers are later both in nave and aisles. I think the
church was a basilica, but with solid walls broken only by doors
between the nave and aisles. The difficulty is that the doors are all
moulded on the aisle side, which seems very odd, especially in the N
aisle where there is no entrance but from the church. Was the whole N
aisle a later addition and the church only a nave with a narthex on the
S side? Yes, the whole aisle is new - straight ..... in E wall. The N
doors would then be outer doors. There is the usual apse to the E of
the S court - this time I think original. N of Mar Saba another little
church too full of fleas to work at. Elaborately decorated door bet.
narthex and nave but later work than the other 2. Its small late chapel
further W. Outside the town to the N is Mar [space left blank] - late,
one monk inhabits it. To the E Miriam Aghuthaitha with a tower, late, a
dome on squinches, and Mar Johanna of the same date I shd say as
the church N of Mar Saba - a decorated door which I photographed.