XXII.
On the banks of the Jordan are built three monasteries, namely, that of the Forerunner, of Chrysostom . . .
the monastery of the Forerunner
having been levelled with the ground by an earthquake, now by the munificent hand
of our Emperor, Manuel Comnenus Porphyrogenitus, crowned by God,* has been entirely rebuilt, the prior being
entrusted with the superintendence of the restoration. At a distance of about two bowshots from hence flows Jordan,
the most holy of rivers, wherein my Lord Jesus, having embraced poverty, wrought out by baptism the great mystery
of my redemption ; and on its bank, about a stone's-throw distant, is a square vaulted building, wherein Jordan,
bending back its stream, embraced the naked body of Him who covereth the heavens with clouds, and the right
hand of the Forerunner tremblingly touched His head, and the Spirit in the likeness of a dove descended upon
its kindred Word, and the voice of the Father bore witness to the Redeemer's being His own Son.
