From the very little I know about religion of any sort it appears there were a people in this area Iran, Turkey, that called themselves Zoroastrians. They may have been the original "greens" as they believed that the earth should not be contaminated ie by burying bodies in it.
They did not have a being that they worshipped apparently.
How they came to be "aware" of Jesus is interesting but the story has it that the three wise men were Zoroastrians.
Now what is the reason you may ask for all of this, well, on and in the Monastery were a number of pictures/depictions, and on an outer wall were Mary and Jesus (missing) Joseph, and the three wise men. So I took a picture.
nzl04
