Children at an Orthodox Christmas Mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City on Jan. 7, 2023. Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty ImagesA bomb struck the complex of the historic Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza on Oct. 19, 2023, killing more than a dozen of the hundreds of Christians and Muslims taking shelter inside and wounding others. As a historian of Roman Christianity who focuses on the Eastern Mediterranean, I am often confronted by the complexity of this region. Many Christian and Musli
Alongside Palestinian Muslims, Palestinian Christians have also borne the brunt of the Israeli regime’s genocidal campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip, including the bombing of Gaza’s oldest church.
The Greek Orthodox Church was consecrated 1600 years ago, and is named after 5th century Saint Porphyrius, known for Christianizing the pagan city of Gaza.