After the cross, perhaps the most popular image among Christians around the world is the image of Saint George riding his mighty horse as he slays a menacing dragon.

This scene is very familiar in much of the West and therefore it is no coincidence that from California to Patagonia the name Jorge is one of the most common among Latin American men.

In addition, dozens of monasteries and parish churches bear the name of the illustrious fourth-century saint who was a soldier of the Roman Empire and suffered martyrdom and persecution for defending his Christian faith.

Although his popularity is very wide, there are two facts that not many of those who are devoted to this heroic figure know: that the legend originated in the Middle East among the Eastern Christians of the Holy Land and that the martyr’s tomb is in Lod, just 20 kilometers south of Tel Aviv.

Why is Saint George buried in Israel?

“Saint George was born here; his mother Saint Polychronia was from Lod. The monastery we are in was his house. Tradition indicates when he died, after his martyrdom, he was buried here,” Archimandrite Markelos told ISRAEL21c.

The Greek Orthodox priest who is in charge of the custody of the sanctuary revealed that Saint Helena, mother of Constantine, built the first church in honor of Saint George (some original rows of that temple can be seen on the current façade) and that in the year 614 the site was destroyed by the Sasánidas.

Nevertheless, the crypt remained there.

Only between the First and Second Crusades (1095 – 1148 CE) was the church rebuilt but then was destroyed by Muslims under Saladin.

It was not until the late 19th century that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem received permission from the Ottoman authorities to build a house of prayer in the place where the previous shrines had been built in honor of the illustrious saint.