The Monastery of Tell ʿAda, also known as the ‘Great Monastery’, is located
just over 48 km. from [
Aleppo
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Aleppo); 1500 m.
north of the present village of Tell ʿAda. At its apogee (5th–9th cent.)
Tell ʿAda was a vibrant center for W.-Syr. monasticism. Tell ʿAda is thought
to have been founded by the monk Ammianos and his disciple Eusebios in the
mid-4th cent. Monks from Tell ʿAda were instrumental in the founding of
other Syr. Orth. monasteries, such as the neighboring Monastery of Eusebona.
Tell ʿAda occupied a prominent place in the Syr. Orth. Church from its
founding through the 10th cent., after which little else is known.
The 5th-cent. writer [
Theodoret of
Cyrrhus
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Theodoret-of-Cyrrhus) appears to have spent some time in this monastery. In his
‘History of the Monks of Syria’ (ch. 4) he describes a large community of
monks at Tell ʿAda, a community that was already spreading out to found
other monasteries. One surviving 6th-cent. ms., written in this monastery’s
scriptorium, contains a collection of poetry from [
Isḥaq of
Antioch
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Ishaq-of-Antioch). Some letters to Tell ʿAda also survive. The 6th-cent.
Syr. Orth.
bp.
[
Philoxenos
of Mabbug
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Philoxenos-of-Mabbug) addressed a well-known letter to the monks of Tell ʿAda
(ed. Guidi 1884). Another letter purporting to be from [
Basil
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Basil-of-Caesarea) the Cappadocian appears in an early 6th-cent. ms. (ed.
Albert).
Tell ʿAda is famous as the last residence of [
Yaʿqub of
Edessa
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Yaqub-of-Edessa) and the place where he undertook his revision of the Old
Testament. According to [
Michael Rabo
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Michael-I-Rabo), Yaʿqub resided
here during the last nine years of his life before he was asked to return to
his bishopric. After living in Edessa for four months, Yaʿqub traveled to
Tell ʿAda in order to retrieve his books. It was there that illness overcame
Yaʿqub and he died on 5 June 708. A marginal note by Yaʿqub in his revision
of the Cathedral Homilies of [
Severus
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Severus-of-Antioch) discloses his
familiarity with the region of Tell ʿAda and the neighboring Monastery of
Mar Eusebona (Hom. 30, PO 36.4, 617).
The ruins of Tell ʿAda have been dated by Tchalenko to the 5th cent.,
although it is recognized that the foundation of this monastery may date
back to the mid-4th cent. A number of Syriac [inscriptions](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Inscriptions) from Tell ʿAda still exist. One of the later
inscriptions, dated 941/2, refers to patr.
[
Yoḥannan V bar
Abgare
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Yohannan-bar-Abgare).