Saint George monastery

Saint George monastery entrance from Wadi Qelt

Saint George monastery entrance from Wadi Qelt

St. George monastery

St. George monastery

St. George monastery at Wadi Qelt

A must stop in the way to the Dead Sea.

St. George monastery  at the northern bank of Wadi Qelt

St. George monastery at the northern bank of Wadi Qelt

The observation + short hike with Bedouin and donkey takes half hour. Visiting inside the monastery about 2 hours, and the walk from Ein Qelt to St. George is about 4 hours.

 

St. George monastery is one of 120 monasteries build in Jerusalem holy desert – The Judean Desert during the Byzantine era 325-638 ad. The orthodox monks felt close to God as hermits in caves, where they meditated and warship God in the humble Christian way.

St. George monastery on the bank of Wadi Qelt

St. George monastery on the bank of Wadi Qelt

St. George monastery, as all other monasteries in Judean Desert start with 1 hermit monk that his fame brought others to create a community of hermits which continue to live in the hermit way, but once in a week they met ate and pray together. This is the “Laoura” stage in Greek the path that connected between the caves.

St. George monastery , donkey ride is lots of fun

St. George monastery , donkey ride is lots of fun

But years later when those monk communities grow to hundreds they were force to build a sharing monastery “Conobuime”.

 

St. George monastery is called after St. George of Koziba one of the early fathers that choose to live in Elijah the prophet cave, on the way Jesus took from Jericho to Jerusalem.

 

The monastery   was build by  John of Tybes on the six century and was ruined by the Persian 614 ad. Only In 1878, a Greek Orthodox monk, Kalinikos rebuild the monastery, in more the 10 yeas.

St. George donkey ride  with Fadi the Bedouin

St. George donkey ride with Fadi the Bedouin

my Land Rover  at St. George

my Land Rover at St. George