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Church of Saint George, Ezra

كنيسة مار جرجس في إزرع

A church built in 515 CE, among the oldest continuously used churches in the world, standing on the site of an earlier Roman temple.

The Church of Saint George in the town of Izra', Daraa Governorate, is a Byzantine church built in 515 CE according to a foundation inscription preserved at the site, making it one of the oldest continuously used churches in the world. Izra', known in Roman times as Zorava, sits on the old road linking Bosra and Damascus; the church was built over the site of an earlier Roman temple, reusing parts of its stonework in its own construction.

The foundation inscription records that the high priest Ioannes, son of Diomedes, commissioned the church and placed within it a relic attributed to the martyr Saint George, a figure widely venerated across different Christian communities of the Levant, whose name is also attached to several other ancient churches in the region, including one in nearby Bosra.

The church is notable for its circular interior plan enclosed within square outer walls, an early Byzantine architectural type that rarely survives this intact, built of the local basalt common in the Hauran region. This plan is sometimes viewed as a transitional stage between earlier circular churches and the domed churches that followed in Byzantine architecture, giving it particular importance in architectural studies.

The church remains in use today by the local Orthodox community in Izra', and is considered a reference site for studying early Byzantine religious architecture in the Levant, alongside its location within a town that holds numerous other Roman and Byzantine remains not yet fully studied.

Through the ages

Roman: Built over the site of an earlier Roman temple, reusing parts of its stonework

Byzantine: Built in 515 CE according to the foundation inscription preserved at the site

For the visitor

Photos: Frank Kidner / Dumbarton Oaks — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)