The Greek Orthodox Church has long officially sanctioned the presence of monks in ascetic cells (units smaller than monasteries) east of the river; church documents attest that in 1905 three monks lived between the river and Bethany beyond the Jordan. Several ancient monks' cells have been found and excavated, along the south bank of Wadi el- Kharrar and near the Jordan River.

Among these are two rooms that some scholars earlier this century associated with the story of St Mary of Egypt, a former Egyptian prostitute who abandoned her life of sin during a visit to Jerusalem and went on to become a model of repentance. After consulting the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem, she had heard a voice telling her: "Cross the Jordan and you will find rest". She crossed to the east bank of the Jordan River, and spent the last 47 years of her life living alone, praying and fasting in the Jordanian desert where she could be close to God. Before dying she was found by the monk Zosima from a nearby monastery, who prayed with her, listened to her life story, and gave her Holy Communion shortly before she died. Zosima buried her with the assistance of a lion who used his paws to dig a grave. (The presence of lions in the Jordan Valley is attested in biblical passages - Jeremiah 49:19 mentions "...a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan" -and the Madaba mosaic map's depiction of a lion or leopard.) Mary's life story, which took place in either the 4^th or 5^th Century AD, was recounted in Greek by Sofronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

About halfway between the Jordan River and Bethany beyond the Jordan, the Jordanian archaeologists have excavated a large (some 25 x 20 metres), stone-built plastered pool that was fed and drained by cut water channels connecting it to Wadi el-Kharrar. Pottery collected at the pool included shreds from the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods. The foundation remains of a Byzantine caravanserai have been excavated on a small promontory directly above the pool, with a magnificent panoramic view of the entire valley floor, Jericho, and the Palestinian hills leading to Jerusalem. The pool and chapel are located exactly above the point where the depression of the Jordan River rises suddenly to join the agricultural plain of the Jordan Valley, and thus would have been protected from the river's seasonal floods.

Pilgrims may have stopped here to wash and refresh themselves, drink from the large pool, perhaps bathe or undergo ritual cleansing or baptism, rest, and pray in an adjacent chapel, before continuing their journey to Bethany beyond the Jordan and Mount Nebo. One theory being explored is that this pool and chapel were built after the Church of John the Baptist adjacent to the river went out of use in the 7^th Century AD.

Another facility that was excavated about one kilometre east of Bethany beyond the Jordan was indeed a pilgrims' rest station; located on the route to Livias and Mount Nebo, it comprised a caravanserai and water reservoirs that were served through ceramic pipes.