The cliff-hanging complex, which emerged from a lavra established in the 420s and reorganised as a monastery around AD 500,[1] with its ancient chapel and irrigated gardens, is active and inhabited by Greek Orthodox monks.

The monastery is reached by a pedestrian bridge across Wadi Qelt, which many believe to be Psalm 23's "valley of the shadow of death".

That, allied with the Eastern Orthodox saints whose relics are kept in the monastery, both make it a site of intense pilgrimage.

There are young men with donkeys who will give you a ride down to the monastery, or back up to the parking lot, for a negotiable fee.

Monastic life at the future site of St. George's Monastery began around 420 CE as a lavra,[1] with a few monks who sought the desert experience of the prophets, and settled around a cave where they believed Elijah was fed by ravens (1 Kings 17:5–6).

Hermits living in caves in nearby cliffs would meet in the monastery for a weekly mass and communal meal.

[1] The monastery became an important spiritual centre in the sixth-seventh century under Saint George of Choziba (died c.

At this time the monastery contained the original small chapel dedicated to Saint Stephen and a church of the Virgin Mary.

In the late eighth-century writings the monastery starts being associated with the parents of St Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne.

[18][19] The traditions attached to the monastery include a visit by Elijah en route to the Sinai Peninsula, and St. Joachim, whose wife Anne was infertile, weeping here when an angel announced to him the news of Mary's conception.