St. George's Monastery

The Monastery of Saint George of Choziba (lit. Monastery of Saint George the Hozevite), also known as Monastery of Choziba (or Hoziba) or Mar Jaris, is a monastery located in Wadi Qelt in Area C, Jericho Governorate, West Bank, Palestine. The cliff-hanging complex, which emerged from a lavra established in the 420s and reorganised as a monastery around AD 500, with its ancient chapel and irrigated gardens, is active and inhabited by Greek Orthodox monks. It houses the relics of Saint George of Choziba, after whom the monastery is named, as well as the relics of Saint John of Choziba (420/450–520/530) and those of Saint John of Choziba the Romanian (1913–1960). The monastery is reached by a pedestrian bridge across Wadi Qelt, which many believe to be Psalm 23's "valley of the shadow of death". The valley parallels the old Roman road to Jericho, the backdrop for the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29–37). The monastery is open to pilgrims and visitors. Established during the Byzantine period near Jericho, it was destroyed by the Persians in AD 614, rebuilt in the 12th century during the Crusader period, abandoned after their defeat, and rebuilt again by Greek monks starting at the end of the 19th century. The location of the monastery has been associated with the lives of Elijah and that of the parents of t

Monastery data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).