12950 - Choziba Monastery ‎ - SS. John and George of Choziba

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Choziba Monastery ‎ - SS. John and George of Choziba

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Choziba Monastery ‎
Identification: 
Deir Mar Jiryis. For more details on identification, see: Vailhé 1897–98; Thomsen 1907: 116; Abel 1938: 300; Chitty 1966: 150–152; Wilkinson 1977: 154; TIR: 104.
Church name: 
SS. John and George of Choziba
Functional Type: 
Monastic
Dedication: 
SS. John and George of Choziba
Church type: 
Cave chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
240.20
639.72
Coordinates, ICS system: 
190.20
1,139.70
Geographical region: 
Judean Desert
Topographical location: 
On the northern bank of Wadi Qelt, close to its source in Jericho.
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
ca. 19 km northeast of Jerusalem.
Distance from nearest settlement: 
ca. 2.5 km west of modern Jericho.
Distance from Roman roads: 
Near the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Regio Jericho

Source of knowledge

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
Monastery, currently active. Early ‎remains include a chapel (12 X 5.65 m) erected inside a cave. The north and east sides are hewn from the rock, and the west and south walls were built. Adjacent to it is a ‎hewn burial chamber of St. George ‎of Choziba; mosaic floor with geometric patterns.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Façade and entries: 

The entrance to the chapel is from the south-west corner, from a corridor.

Lateral walls: 

The walls are 0.65 m thick.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The apse is internal, rounded, approx. 1.15 m deep and 2.3 m wide. Its north half is hewn from the rock. North of the apse is a hewn niche.

Small finds

Small finds illustrative material: 

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
East end: 
Internal apse
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
elsewhere
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
In the southern wall, in a niche, George of Choziba is buried and over the niche is his skull; in the northern wall is a reliquary with the skulls of fourteen martyred monks from the period of the Persian conquest in 614.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Apsidal chapel with adjacent crypt. Part of a monastery.

According to Anthony of Choziba, the hermitage and the chapel were established by five Syrian monks at the first half or mid fifth century.

Phase 1
5th c.
Mid

The monastery was modified several times but is still in use. During the Early Islamic period most of the hermit cells were abandoned.

Abandonment
7th c?
Post Arab conquest history: 
Modified