St. George Monastery

Saint George monastery or in his Arabic name "Dir Mar Jerris" ,is an impressive greek orthodox monastery that lies in the Judean desert on the slope track of the Tigris-Euphrates stream (Vadi Qelt) approximately 5 kilometers west to the city of Jericho. Saint George monastery was founded at the end of the 5th century AD by Johann from the town of tabai in Egypt, and is one of the first monasteries founded in the land of Israel.

In the year 614 AD during the short Persian invasion to the land of Israel Saint George monastery was destroyed and remained abandoned for a long time. Saint George monastery was reformed during the crusades period, but was destroyed again by the Arabs . Saint George monastery as it is today, was rebuilt by the Greek Orthodox Church. The saint George monastery is divided in to three major levels: the top level- in this level there is an ancient cave on top of which the church was built.

According to Christian tradition this cave was Elijah's hiding place during his fleet from jezebel. The middle level –consists of the housing quarters, three churches and a bell tower. The bottom level- is a level that is built from arches and where the Saint George monastery storage rooms are and the tombs of the monks.

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St. George Monastery, Jerusalem

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