[3] Chroniclers Leontios Machairas and Diomede Strambaldi wrote that the church had been built by the Lakhas brothers (also known as Lakhanopoulos) in around 1360.

The chroniclers pointed out to the architecture and decorations of the building, reminiscent of the Southern French and Italian Gothic churches of the time, hypothesizing that it may have been influenced by King Peter I's visit to Avignon in 1363.

This version of the church's history represents the virtual consensus of scholars of medieval Famagusta,[4] though scholar Michele Bacci has postulated a need to revise "name-identification and date of this church" as its architecture is reminiscent of the 12th–13th century Crusader architecture in Palestine and Syria.

[5] After the Ottoman capture of the city in the Siege of Famagusta in 1571, the church was converted into a stable for camels, with worship being allowed on only one day of the year, the Feast of "St. George the Exiler", according to the records.

[6][2] This was organized by a man called Michalakis Loizides, who persuaded the British administrators to give permission with the help of some Turkish Cypriot friends and got free wood for doors and windows from contractors in the port of Famagusta.

Between 1937 and 1939, the rubble in the northern part was removed and an excavation was carried out; the road to the west was also lowered to its level when the church was built.

[6] The church was, as of June 2013, the only one in Famagusta to have a bell, and one of the best preserved ones in its state from the medieval times due to the lack of use over the centuries.