Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis

June 12, 2001 - Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis, 34, a Greek Orthodox monk from St. George's Monastery in Wadi Kelt near Jericho, was shot and killed while driving on the Jerusalem-Ma'ale Adumim road.

Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis was returning to the monastery at about 22:30 on Tuesday night. He had just passed the Israeli Border Police roadblock outside Jerusalem when Palestinians opened fire on his car, which bears yellow Israeli plates. He was fatally wounded, and was announced dead at the scene.

Tsibouktzakis was born near Saloniki, in Greece. In 1990 he was sent to Jerusalem by Patriarch Deodoros I, for religious training. He became a monk in December 1993, and in 1994 was sent to the St. George Monastery. He was one of the two monks who lived in and maintained the monastery, perched on a ledge in Wadi Kelt in the Judean desert. In March 2000 he was appointed to the priesthood by the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.

Father Georgios Tsibouktzakis was well known to residents of the district and to veteran hikers. The Ma'ale Adumim police told yesterday of how the monk used his jeep last year to help retrieve the body of a tourist killed after falling into the wadi. He also helped the police when two Israeli youths were killed in the wadi three years ago by Palestinians. People who knew Tsibouktzakis said that he was a lover of peace and always glad to help others.

He was buried at St. George's Monastery.