Located 22 km South of Tel Aviv, modern city of Lod or Ludd (in Hebrew) is famous for the Ben Gurion International Airport. However, the city has ancient roots and first mentioned on a list of Canaanite cities mentioned by the Egyptian King Thutmose III in 1465 BC. The city is also known as Georgiopolis, Diospolis and Lydda.
According to Bible, the city was founded by Shemed a Benjaminite (1 chron 8:12). In New Testament, Peter cured the paralytic Aeneas here (Acts 9:32-38). It appears in the list of places resettled after the return from the Babylonian Exile (Ezra 2:33; Neh. 7:37, 11:35). Later, Maccabees (I Macc. 11:34, 2nd cent BC), Romans (1-4 cent AD), Byzantines (5-6 cent AD), Muslims, Crusaders, Turks, British, Arabs and Israelis, all played their part in developing Lod. Today, Lod is a mixed Jewish-Arab city.
Coming to the site I visted....At least some of you might be familiar with the image of a Roman soldier mounted on a horse and slaying a dragon as being depicted in many church icons and medallions. Interestingly, very few know that he was a historic figure, a soldier in the army of Roman Ceaser Diocletian (244-311). Known as St. George or St. Geevarghese, he is famously remembered as the patron of England and one of the most adored martyrs in both catholic and orthodox churches. Unfortunately, it is difficult to separate the many mythical accretions to his biography. He has even reached the status of a cult figure in many parts of the Christian world. Tradition asserts that he was born in Lod around 275-281 to a Jewish mother. In 303, Diocletian issued an edict authorizing systematic persecution of Christians across the Empire. St George was beheaded on April 23, 303 for being a staunch follower of Christ in a predominantly anti-christian pagan Rome.
Today, the Greek Orthodox Church you see here is rebuilt in 1870 on the ruins of a Byzantine Church (6th cent AD). Normally, all churches face East, however this is one of the very rare churches that face North. Two flights of steps inside the church lead down to a crypt that contains the tomb of St George. The earliest account of a pilgrimage to his tomb in Lydda is by Theodosius writing in AD 530. Adjacent to the church is a mosque which contains a column that once stood in the nave of the same Byzantine basilica. The El Khadar Mosque as it is known is derived from 'El Khader" (The Green), the general name of St. George (Mar Jiryes) among Palestinian Christians and Muslim Arabs.
Some nice links for serious readers...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George.
http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/086discuss.html
http://www.jcjcr.org/index_item_view.php?iid=65
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