“Our village of Taybeh is the only all Christian village that remains in Palestine twenty minutes outside Jerusalem before Jericho with 1300 residents all of whom are Christian and the majority is Greek Orthodox. All residents are Palestinians with a handful of outsiders. Following the l967 Israeli invasion of the West Bank approximately ten thousand people from Taybeh have emigrated to Australia , America and Europe due to the politics, bad economic situation and daily suffering faced under military occupation. The village is located between Jerusalem and Jericho in the biblical land of Judea known as the West Bank of Jordan and unfortunately does not exist on any modern map.
The village does exist here however since the time of Christ and it sits on the highest mountain region of Biblical Judea and Samaria called Mount Asur . On a clear day from the highest hill in Taybeh you can see the magnificent Dead Sea, the Jordan valley, the mountains of Samaria , the mountainous desert of Judea and also Jerusalem . It is really amazing and spiritually rewarding to stare down at the same valley where St. Mary of Egypt is said to have spent over forty years of her life in solitude. The village has five places of worship including the original St. George Greek Orthodox Church in ruins (built in the 4th century), the new St. George Greek Orthodox Church (rebuild in l929-1932), the Melkite Church (build in l964 but Melkite worship was founded in the village in 1869), the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to “The Last Retreat of Jesus” (inaugurated l971) and a small monastery build by a French monk Brother Jack Frant in l990.”
More:
http://www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org/maria_khourys_page/maria_khourys_archive/taybeh_roots.htm
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