It is located about two hundred meters (yards) away from the Garden Tomb,[1] a popular site of Anglican and Protestant pilgrimage and devotion.[2]
The church was built by the fourth bishop of the diocese, George Blyth. Most missionaries present in Palestine at the time were Evangelical Anglicans, but Blyth was from the Anglo-Catholic party of the Church of England. Finding that his use of St Paul's and Christ Church (both in Jerusalem) were limited, he resolved to found his own mission and build his own church. "He bought land in east Jerusalem where he built his cathedral and a missionary college, both called St. George's, making them the headquarters of a mission program independent of the two evangelical societies."[3]
Under Bishop Samuel Gobat, relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church had become strained. Blyth was eager to restore relations with the patriarch and as an Anglo-Catholic he had a great respect for the patriarch's office. Because of this he always called St George's a collegiate church rather than a cathedral, saying that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the one and only cathedral church of the city of Jerusalem.[4] For this reason, St. George's contains a pool – a rarity in Anglican churches – which allows baptisms to be done through immersion, per Orthodox custom.
Herbert Danby became the librarian there in 1919 and was residentiary canon from 1921 to 1936. The Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has been residing at the cathedral since his release from prison in 2004. St. George's College is located on the grounds and offers continuing theological education for clergy and laity from around the world.
^Milton, Giles (8 October 2013). The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveler. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 153. ISBN9781466807136.
^Monk, Daniel Bertand (25 February 2002). An Aesthetic Occupation: The Immediacy of Architecture and the Palestine Conflict. Duke University Press. pp. 170–. ISBN9780822383307.
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