Monk George Chozebite, Abbot

George was born on Cyprus. Orphaned young, he fled a relative who wanted him to marry his daughter and sailed to Jerusalem to join his elder brother Heraclides, a monk in the Jordan valley. Because George was still beardless, his brother placed him in the monastery of Choziba, on the cliffs of the Wadi Qelt between Jerusalem and Jericho. Later the brothers lived together as hermits; after Heraclides died, George returned to Choziba.

His disciple Antony, who wrote his Life, tells that he wore rags from rubbish heaps and ate the monks' leftovers pounded into balls and dried in the sun. He chose the hottest work, baking bread for pilgrims, and the brothers called him "iron". He survived the Persian invasion of 614 and died at Choziba in old age.