Church of Saint George, Lod

For other uses, see St George's Church (disambiguation).

Church of Saint George
Rooftop view, Lydda c. 1920
Basic information
Location	Lod, Israel
Affiliation	Greek Orthodox
Architectural description
Completed	1872

The Church of Saint George (Arabic: كنيسة القديس جيورجوس or كنيسة مار جريس‎ Hebrew: כנסיית ג'ורג' הקדוש קוטל הדרקון) is the major shrine for the fourth century martyr Saint George (الخضر Al-Khidr in Arabic) and is located in Lod, Israel. The current church, built in 1870, shares space with the El-Khidr Mosque.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem received permission from the Ottoman authorities to build a church on the site of a previous basilica. The church is built over an earlier 15th century AD structure, and occupies the north end of the nave and left-hand aisle of the earlier church, from which there survive two apses - which, contrary to the normal rule, face north rather than east.

The Ottoman authorities stipulated, that part of the plot be made available for a mosque. Consequently the current Church of St. George incorporates only the northeast corner of the Byzantine basilica. The prayer hall of the adjacent mosque contains a column that once stood in the nave of the basilica. The church contains the sarcophagus of St George.

Gallery

• 

  Saint George Tomb

• 

  Bas-relief on the sarcophagus

See also

• Al-Khidr
• Saint George: Devotions, traditions and prayers
• St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem, an Anglican church in Jerusalem, dedicated to the same saint.
• Monastery of Saint George, al-Khader, a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Palestinian town of Khader near Bethlehem.

External links

• http://www.planetware.com/lod/st-georges-church-isr-cn-lodsgc.htm
• http://www.jcjcr.org/index_item_view.php?iid=65
• http://archnet.org/library/images/thumbnails.tcl?location_id=9972
• http://www.dvirgallery.com/artists/work_desc.asp?artistID=50&workID=734&contentPageID=5