St. George’s Church, popularly known as “Al-Khader Church,” is one of the foremost spiritual and historical landmarks in Jaffa. Its walls tell a story of faith spanning centuries. The church is named for St. George, the Roman soldier who was martyred in 307 AD in defense of his faith and became a universal symbol of the triumph of good over evil — embodied in the famous icon of “Al-Khader’s dragon.”

The church was not built by chance, but over an ancient archaeological cave that was a sacred shrine for pilgrims and travelers through the ages. Historical documents confirm the existence of this holy place in Jaffa since 1716 at least, making it one of the oldest Orthodox sites in the region.

The present church was consecrated through the efforts of Jaffa’s Orthodox community in 1871. It is distinguished by the beauty of its icons, which blend Byzantine art with the Russian school, and by its wooden ceiling decorated with religious motifs and stars that reflect the precision of nineteenth-century craftsmanship.

The church’s history has not always been peaceful. Local Orthodox associations in Jaffa waged a legal struggle that lasted 25 years to defend the community’s right to administer its endowments and its church. This dispute ended in 2010 a historic agreement that registered the church land (an area of 6,115 m²) in the name of the local society, ensuring that the church would remain an open shrine and a symbol of Arab Orthodox identity in the heart of Jaffa.

Important landmarks inside the church

• The church from the outside: It stands amid the historic Orthodox cemetery.
• The shrine (the cave): The sacred place beneath the present church building.
• Icons and the church ceiling: Artworks dating to 1874.
• Historical documents: A document from 1716 confirming the antiquity of the site.

The cave

The cave beneath the church is the oldest and most symbolic part of the site:

• The cave was an important spiritual center even before the large church was built above it, and prayers and religious rites were conducted there.
• This cave was historically known as “the shrine” and was a constant destination for pilgrims, travelers, and worshippers who visited it for blessing. It is mentioned in the records of the Sharia court in Jaffa in 1833 under the name “Shrine of Our Lord Al-Khader” in connection with a request to repair its roof.
• Built of kurkar stone, it covers about 18 square meters. An altar stands at the front of the cave, which was used as a place of prayer.
• The cave is distinguished by a vertical opening at its end that leads directly to the sanctuary (altar) of the upper church. Inside this opening stands a column with a cross carved at its end.
• It is assumed that this cave was part of the old church, and that it is the foundation upon which the present church — consecrated in 1871 — was built.
• Under the settlement agreement approved by the Supreme Court in 2010, this cave is known as the “lower prayer hall” and is an integral part of the church building, which the agreement grants the Orthodox Society the right to administer and use permanently.

The historic Orthodox cemetery

The historic Orthodox cemetery in Jaffa is a cornerstone of the city’s history and that of its community, and its existence and development have been closely tied to St. George’s Church (Al-Khader):

• The cemetery lies on the southern (qibli) side immediately outside the walls of Old Jaffa. It was among the first Christian cemeteries established in that area, along the southern wall near the customs house and the port.
• The cemetery site (which now includes the church) is bounded on the north by Jaffa’s historic wall and moat, on the west by the Armenian monastery land stretching to Jaffa Port, on the east by Yefet Street (the schools), and on the south by the Orthodox and Armenian “quarantine” (lazaretto).
• The present St. George’s Church (Al-Khader) was built within the bounds of this cemetery on the initiative of Salim Dabbas, Jirjis Dabbas, and Abdullah al-Issa in the 1870s.
• Beside the church stands a monument containing the remains of those buried around the church between 1842 and 1916.
• In 1945–1946, Orthodox institutions gathered the remains of many of the dead who had been buried around the church grounds and placed them in a single mass grave, in order to prepare the edges of the land for building and development projects serving the community.