The Monastery and Church of Saint George in Al-Khader () is an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

religious site in the

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

town of al-Khader, near

Beit Jala Beit Jala () is a Palestinian Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of Palestine, in the West Bank. Beit Jala is located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem, at altitude. In 2017, Be ...

and

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

, in the central

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

of the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. The town of Al-Khader is named after

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, who in

Arab culture Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, in a region of the Middle East and North Africa known as the Arab world. The various religions the Arabs have adopted throughout Histor ...

is known as " al-Khadr"; the church is considered to be the most important sanctuary to al-Khadr in Palestine. According to local tradition, Saint George was imprisoned in the town of al-Khader, where the current church stands. The chains holding him were

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

s that were said to hold healing power.

History

Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamluk periods

In the thirteenth century, an anonymous Greek text noted: ‘After Bait Jala, there is to be seen the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of the Great George; and in it is kept the chain that was laid on his back’. Around 1421/1422 the Church of St. George was mentioned by Western traveler John Poloner as situated on a hill near Bethlehem.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p
26
/ref> In 1480

Felix Fabri Felix Fabri (also spelt Faber; 1441 – 1502) was a Swiss Dominican theologian. He left vivid and detailed descriptions of his pilgrimages to Palestine and also in 1489 authored a book on the history of Swabia, entitled ''Historia Suevorum''. ...

noted: "At the side of this church there was once a great and fair monastery of Greek monks, but now it has been laid in ruins, and their remains only a little hovel, leaning against the church, wherein two Greek monks dwell."

Ottoman period

Around 1740,

Richard Pococke Richard Pococke (19 November 1704 – 25 September 1765)''Notes and Queries'', p. 129. was an English clergyman and writer. He was the Bishop of Ossory (1756–65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church of Ireland. However, he is best kn ...

still noted it as a Greek convent, but in 1838, when Edward Robinson passed, the former church had become a mosque. In 1863,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

noted "As for the convent or Deir el-Khadher, it is not very considerable and does not seem so old. It is administered by a single religious Greek, assisted by two brothers and a few servants. A small number of narrow cells are reserved for foreigners. A solid, iron-clad door gives access to the interior of the cloister." During the late 19th century, part of the convent were used for the mentally ill. The modern church was built in 1912 but the remains of the

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

date back to the 16th century. The edifice has an Eastern Orthodox interior, and the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

contains a portrait of

Christ Pantocrator In Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator (, ) is a specific depiction of Christ. or , literally 'ruler of all', but usually translated as 'almighty' or 'all-powerful', is derived from one of many names of God in Judaism. The Pantokrator i ...

Modern era

Since the priest in al-Khader was the only Christian inhabitant of the town, Saint George's Monastery attracted al-Khader's

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s. During the

Feast of Saint George Saint George's Day is the feast day of Saint George, celebrated by Christian churches, countries, regions, and cities of which he is the patron saint, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Port ...

in early June, the bridle of Saint George's horse would pass over the bodies of visitors to prevent or cure any mental illness, for which Saint George was renowned.St. George's Monastery
Centre for the Preservation of Culture and History.

Gallery

File:Khadir`s St.George church outlook1.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church outlook2.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior1.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior2.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior3.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior4.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior5.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior6.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior7.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior8.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior9.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior10.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior11.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior12.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior13.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior14.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior15.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior16.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior17.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior18.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior19.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior20.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior21.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church interior22.jpg File:Khadir`s St.George church courtyard.jpg

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAA

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Monastery, al-Khader Greek Orthodox monasteries in Palestine Religious buildings and structures completed in 1912 Christian monasteries in the West Bank Al-Khader Christian monasteries established in the 16th century 1912 establishments in the Ottoman Empire