Upon his return from the Council of Serdica, Athanasius of Alexandria established the first Christian monastery in Europe circa 344 near modern-day Chirpan in Bulgaria.[7] Mar Awgin founded a monastery on Mount Izla above Nusaybin in Mesopotamia (~350), and from this monastery the cenobitic tradition spread in Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia and even India and China. Mar Saba organized the monks of the Judaean Desert in a monastery close to Bethlehem (483), and this is considered the mother of all monasteries of Eastern Orthodoxy. Benedict of Nursia founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy (529), which was the seed of Roman Catholic monasticism in general, and of the Order of Saint Benedict in particular.