"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" [Matthew 4:1-4].

Somewhere in the mountains of the Judean wilderness, the New Testament records that that after His baptism by John, Jesus’ fasted for 40 days and 40 nights remembered now at a monastery on Qarantal Mountain above Jericho. Although the devil offered him all kinds of splendors, Jesus refused to succumb to temptation. For this reason the heights are also called the Mount of Temptation.

Until recently you needed strong legs to reach the Greek Orthodox monastery located on the slopes of Qarantal (an Arabic corruption of the Latin word for "forty"). Contemporary visitors now ride a cable car almost to the top. During the Byzantine period monks lived in caves scattered on the mountain and the present monastery was erected in the late 19^th century.