Some historical data of the Monastery of
St. James the Persian

330-1453: Byzantine Empire
565-578: The monastery already existed. Proof is a coin of the time of Emperor Justinian II found within the monasteries walls.
Around 628: Martyrdom of the hermit, son of royal blood, Moses the Ethiopian. Before having lived in Egypt and Palestine, he came then to the monastery of Qâra. He departed from here to found the „Lavra“, that later took his name, in Nabk, 20 km towards the south. (cf. Paolo dall’Oglio: „Il restauro del monastero di San Mose l‘Abissino“, Nebek, Siria, p.11)
600-1266: Even though several monasteries existed in this region, yet St. James’s remains the most famous. It is visited by many pilgrims coming from everywhere, but especially from Hauran, bringing rich gifts. Around the year 1000: The first layer of wall painings in the church
Around 1250: The second layer of frescos in the church
1250-1517: Mamelouks
1266: Sultan Baibar breaches the Monasterywalls. Pillage  and strangling of the monks, escept for those that arrive to flee and take refuge „in the crevices of the earth  and in wells.“ He orders the gathering of the christians of Qâra, he kills them and decrees the conversion  of the cathedral of St. Nicholas (3rd century) into a mosque. (cf. Chronicle of Noueiri „Nihayat al-Irb“, Paris 1578, pp.73-74).
1300: Deutsche Bibliothek Berlin: Ms n°321, a Melkite Mênaion written in Syriac, has written in folio 321: „this book belongs to the monastery of Mar Yaqoub.“
1403: The Turkmen launch a raid on Qâra. They pillage the village and the monastery
1453-1917: Ottomans
1453-1600: Originally there were no monastic orders in the East, resp. jurisdictional affiliations of monasteries under one superior, with the exception of the monastery of Studios in Konstantinople and their offspring in Southern Italy.  In the Church of Antioch St. James was such a ‚Mother-House‘ as well. The monastery of Deir Saydeh in Ras-Baalbek was affiliated to that monastic family. Later the monastery was attached to the monastic order of the Shouéirits, who’s Mother House is in St. Jean de Khonchara. (Chronicle of Hanania Al-Mounayer: „Al Dur Al Marsouf fi tarikh Al Shouf“, Bibliothèque Orientale, Beyrouth).
1477: Arabic Gospelbook  in the Library of the Convent of Saydnaya (Ms n°4) carrying the Kolophon:
„The making of this blessed book was completed on the 5th of the blessed month of June of the year 6958 of our father Adam – 1477 A.D. – by the hands of the servant of Christ, the miserable among the priests Joachim Basseem Kassis, who wears the habit of repentance, son of Ibrahim of the village of Hanak. In those days he was living in the monastery of St. James the Mutilated, at the West of Qâra.“
1491: Deutsche Bibliothek Berlin: Ms n° 310, a melkite Triodion in Syriac, written in the year 6999 of Adam, or in 1491 A.D. by the hands of „Habib, priest by name, son of the father Lord Bishop Makarios, son of David, previously property of the church of Seir Atieh and then given in property and held for the soul of the priest Jonas, son of the priest Yaqoub, for the monastery of the glorious St. James in Qâra“.
1600: The ottoman soldatesca enters the monastery by deceit and kills 120 monks ans pillages the place. The survivors take refuge in Ras Baalbek in the afiliated monastery of Deir Saydeh.
1750: A great earthquake. The monastery is dammaged, the souce is filled with debris. The mill driven by water is no more functioning.
1752: The chronicler Habib Zayyât tells that during his vist to the monastery of St. James at the beginning of the 19th century,he only saw one icon carrying this inscription: „This blessed icon has been rendered property (waqf) of the monastery of St. James the Persian in the village of Qâra the miserable slave Abdullah, son of Youssif Massarah the Damascene,by the hand of Girgis, son of Hanania, the painter, in the year 1752.“
1790: The Emir Jahjah Al-Harfouche raids the minastery and pillages it in favour of the people of Ras (quelque chose manque sur le pamphlet)
1760-1800: The monks Manasse, Simeon and Arsenios leave the monastery to attach themselves to the monastery of St. John of the Order of the Shouéirits, as they themselves were greek-catholics. One year a fake shoueirit monk comes to the monastery and steals the last remaining manuscripts. Very soon thereafter a monk and a priestmonk of  the Shouéirits come to settle in St. James, trying to trestore what they can and takong care of the lands. At the time of Youssif Sefr, Bishop of Homs, the priest Boulos Moussalem is named steward of the monastery, but he retains this charge just for a brief period. At the time of the episcopate of Gregorios Attah the poste of Superior is given to the Monk Anatole Chahiyyât.
3 August 1836: Rescript of Melkite Patriarch Maximos Mazloum defining the new status of the monastery: It ought to belong to the diocese of Homs, Hama and Yabroud (the latter definitely reconstituted on 4 March 1849), as it is the sole source of revenue for the eparchy. It is indicated that Sheikh Ibrahim Srour is steward of the monastery. The Shouéirites are obliged to send two monks (Benedict Farah and Anthymos Moukarram) for three year to administer the lands. The same Patriarch tries to restore the monastery, as referred by the same Habib  Zayyât,  who in 1913 visits the locality.
He finds an inscription saying: „This monastery  was renewed to flourish by the efforts of His Holiness Lord, high in merits, Maximos Mazloum, Patriarch of Antioch. May God preserve his purity and his justice and may he magnify him“.
But very soon thereafter desolation takes place again in the monastery.
15 September 1904: The priest Gregorios Bondond finds the monastery in such an estate, that he needs more than eight days to clean it up. „Of the dependances of the monastery remain about one third. Previously it posessed a mill,a furnace, a wine- resp. oilpress, a pigeon tower, a water reservoir and a lot of fertile lands“.
1930: Death of the last resident priest. Closure of the monastery.
Around 1965: Taking off the walls of the frescos from the church and their transportation ti Damascus.
Around 1970: Taking up of space in the monastic enclosure by customs officers, treasury searchers. Progressive destruction of the place.
August 1993: First visit of the foundress of the monastery of St. James the Persian. Encounter with Mons. Ibrahim Nehmé, Metropolitan of Homs, Hama and Yabroud. Decision taken to retore the monastery.
25 Feruary 1994: Signing of the protocole between the Bishop and the Foundress.
14 July 1994: Beginning of the restauration work.
14 September 2000: Canonical erection of the new monastic community called „Nuns of the Unity of Antioch“ and the monastery of „eparchial right“ of St James the Persan.

The Life of St. James the Mutiladed

James was originary from Seleucia-Ktesiphon, capital of the Sassanide Empire. He was living during the reign of Yazdegerd I. (399-420).
Christian of noble origin, he received a very good education. Having entered the service of the king he gave into the temptation of the luxurious life at the Sassanide Court. It was not for long, that he attracts the favours of the king so as to conform to the customs of the official religion of the persans: Zoroastrianism. Thus he embarks into a nearly irreversible process of compromise with the court up to denying Christ.

His mother and his wife came to know about it; they were fervent christians. They wrote him a letter in which they expressed to him their sadness about his apostasy and urged him to reconsider. They annouced him: If he would continue denying Christ, they would be obliged to definitely brake relations with him.

This letter had a decisive influence on him. Somewhat akin to awakening from a deep sleep, he measured the dimension, the extend of his perdition, and with divine zeal he declared to repair his fault. He went to see the king and declared himself a Christian.
Surprised, the king recalled him his status and position, the privileges that he had gained and urged him to be reasonable. But the love of Christ already had ignited the heart of James. For him the adoration of the fire not only seemed to be a folly, but ought to be considered as an iniquity. He was ready to loose all the treasuries on earth in order to gain the kingdom of heaven.

Realizing the inflexibility of James, the king became inraged. He consulted his favorits in which manner James ought to be punished. All agreed to inflict on him, having been made a new paria, an exemplary punishment. Trying to dispell any attempt of a similar defection by others they immagined a cruel punishment: James was cut into pieces, mutilated, beginning by his limbs. United with the passion of Christ, filled with the Spirit of Glory, he surpassed his suffering by an ardent prayer that the synaxarion has transmitted; it makes him a great intercessor for the unity of christians:
„My God, look at me here on the ground in the middle of my limbs sown all over; I do not have anymore my feet, my legs, my arms; I resemble a house in ruins, of it remain only the walls.