Collection of the Holy Relics of Saint George
Celebration date: 03/11/2021
After the cessation of the persecutions and the prevalence of Christianity throughout the Roman state, under Constantine the Great, the Christians erected a magnificent Temple in Lydda of Joppa, where they moved the holy relic of the Great Martyr George, so that they could now worship it without fear. The inauguration of the Church took place after the deposition of the Holy Relic on November 3rd and since then every year our Church, on this day, collects the Holy Relics of the Great Martyr, to the glory of God.
Brief history of the Temple and Lydda
The church of Agios Georgios testifies to the heyday of Christianity in Lydda, which was a diocese and later an archbishopric. Today there is (titular) Archbishop Lyddis, who resides in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Abbot of the Monastery lives in Lydda.
Until today, the prevailing opinion was that Lydda was built by the tribe of Benjamin, but recent archaeological excavations prove that Lydda was built by the Egyptians. The Jews call it Lod (LOD) and the Arabs Lid (LID).
Demetrius Nicator wrested Lydda from Samaria and included it in Judea. After the death of Julius Caesar, the Roman governor Cassius, after tyrannizing the inhabitants of Palestine for some time, sold the inhabitants of Lydda as slaves, but they were soon freed and returned to their city, following Antony’s decree.
The New Testament mentions the miracle of the healing of the paralyzed Aeneas in Lydda by the Apostle Peter (Acts i’ 32-35).
After Christ, the Roman proconsul Cestius the Gallus passed through Lydda and demolished it, but after a while the city returned to its original state, as it seems, because in later Judea it became the seat of a toparchus, which was surrendered.
As many cities under Roman rule were renamed, Lydda also took the name Diospolis, in honor of Zeus. And the name appears on the coins struck during the reign of Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
Lydda of the first Christian centuries was the seat of a bishop under the Metropolitan of Caesarea, but then it became an Archbishopric.
The synod against Pelagius took place in Lydda, in 415 AD, which said that man can be saved by his works, without needing divine grace.
We do not know exactly who built the church of Agios Georgios, because there is no accurate information. Others mention Constantine the Great as the builder, mainly the Synaxarists, and others Justinian. The bishop of Tyre, William, says that the temple was built by Justinian, but the historian Procopius, who wrote about Justinian’s buildings, says nothing. In the first Christian centuries, however, Lydda took the name Georgioupolis in honor of the Saint, and as the Synaxarists report, on November 3, the church was inaugurated.
During the reign of Chosroes, in 614 AD, the temple of Agios Georgios did not suffer any damage, because the Persians were limited to reaching Jerusalem.
During Muslim rule, in the 8th century AD, Suleiman, the son of the Caliph Abdu El Malek, demolished Lydda but left the temple of St. George intact, because the Mohammedans respect the Saint and have given it the name Hunter ( HADER), meaning green.
During the reign of Caliph Hakem, in 1010 AD, persecution broke out against the Christians, and the temple of Lydda was destroyed, but before the arrival of the Crusaders, it was renovated by Constantine the Gladiator or the locals with the help of the Byzantines and by others Stephen of Hungary.
It is stated that after the destruction of Hakem and the renovation of the temple, another destruction was done by the Mohammedans to the temple, and it was renovated by the Crusaders. But this is not entirely true, because after the battle of Antioch, the crusaders came to Lydda to worship and thank Saint George, who helped them. There they found a magnificent temple, as the historians of that time report. Only William, leader of the Crusaders, mentions that shortly before the arrival of the Crusaders, the Mohammedans destroyed the temple, but this contradicts the above.
Throughout the Crusader kingdom, Lydda as well as other cities were under the Crusaders.
The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem during the first years of the reign of the Crusaders, consisted of Jerusalem, Joppa (Jaffa), and Lydda.
John Phokas, in 1185 AD, came to Lydda and writes about the church of Agios Georgios that under the Holy Altar was the tomb of the Saint, as the clergy of the church told him. The Latin bishop removed the slabs of the temple and found the cave, which was the tomb of St. George, since previously the tomb was not visible and the pilgrims worshiped a marble mouth. Two people tried to lift the tombstone, but a fire broke out, leaving one half-burnt and the other dead.
After the battle of Hattin, Lydda, as well as other cities, fell into the hands of the Mohammedans, led by Salaheddin, who destroyed the temple of Agios Georgios.
In A.D. 1191, the same year of the destruction, Richard the Lionheart recaptured Lydda, and repaired the temple, and came to a capitulation with the Mohammedan chief, Saladin, but the treaty did not last long, for in 1291 A.D. X. the Saracens expelled the Crusaders from Palestine and destroyed the church of St. George of Lydda.
The church of St. George remained in ruins until 1349 AD, when the Emperor of Constantinople, John Catakouzinos, sent ambassadors to the Sultan of Egypt, Nasreddin Hassan Ibn El Nasser, for the renovation of the holy pilgrimages of Palestine, just as they were renovated.
In 1442 AD, a persecution broke out against the Christians of Palestine under the Sultan of Egypt Al Malek Daher Jakmak, who destroyed the temple and turned the western part into a mosque. Then also he must have taken the chapel of Saint John the Theologian, and used stones from the Church for the construction of the bridge of Daher.
As can be seen from the History of the Church of Jerusalem, the church of Agios Georgios was renovated after 1517 AD. under Sultan Selim I, who expelled the Mamluks and gave freedom for the practice of religious duties to Christians.
For the last destruction of the church of Agios Georgios we do not have exact data, but there are two possibilities. The first is that at the beginning of the 19th century AD. it was destroyed by the janissaries, because then the Patriarchate of Jerusalem suffered a great blow from them. The second is when in 1837 AD it was destroyed by an earthquake that occurred in the area, due to which the roof of the church and the sanctuary of the Chapel of the Entry of the Virgin fell.
In 1871 AD, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cyril II, renovated the church and in addition marbled the floor and the tomb of Saint George. That renovation was the last. Since then minor renovations have been carried out.