[2] In the 1990s, Spanish archaeologists discovered a large monastic site on the western bank of the Euphrates River near its confluence with the Sajur.
In 2005–2006, however, the Syrian archaeologist Yousef al-Dabte excavated a monastic site on the eastern bank of the Euphrates across from Jirbās (ancient Europos), identifying it with Qenneshre.
[2] The monastery was founded around 530 by John bar Aphtonia, abbot of the monastery of Saint Thomas near Seleucia Pieria, who led some monks away to found a new house in the face of the anti-miaphysite policy of Emperor Justin I. John's second house may have been originally dedicated to Saint Thomas as well.
Around 820, Patriarch Dionysios of Tel Maḥre, a former monk of Qenneshre, received permission to rebuild the monastery from ʿUthmān, son of Thumāma ibn al-Walīd, who had succeeded his father as the effectively autonomous local leader in the midst of the civil war that followed the death of the Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd in 809.
[1] In the reign of Emir Sayf al-Dawla (died 967), it was a major destination for tourists from Mabbug, according to Ibn al-ʿAdīm, writing in the 13th century.
[2] The translation and re-translation of biblical, patristic and secular philosophical texts suggests a distinct "miaphysite curriculum of study" crafted and promoted at Qenneshre.
[1] Among the works translated at Qenneshre or by monks from Qenneshre are the Homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus by Paul of Edessa in 623–624; the hymns of Severus of Antioch also by Paul and later revised by Yaʿqub of Edessa; Basil of Caesarea's Hexaemeron by Athanasios; Aristotle's Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, Topics and Sophistical Refutations by Athanasios II; Aristotle's Categories by Yaʿqub in the early 8th century; and Aristotle's On Interpretation by George, bishop of the Arabs, who also re-translated the Prior Analytics, in both cases adding his own introduction and commentary.
According to Dionysios of Tel Maḥre, Yaʿqub of Edessa and John the Stylite "charted the succession of years" in the manner of Eusebius of Caesarea.