Church of Saint John the Baptist, Jerusalem, Greek Orthodox church in the Christian Quarter, Jerusalem, Israel

The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a Greek Orthodox church in the Muristan area of Jerusalem's Christian Quarter. Its trefoil plan, with three apses and no nave, follows the shape of the Byzantine crypt beneath it, and the upper church stands about two metres below street level. Inside, a green and gold iconostasis from 1853, one of the longest in Jerusalem, faces 20th-century frescoes by the Romanian painters Michael and Gabriel Moroshan.

The church was founded around 450 CE by the empress Eudocia and ranks among Jerusalem's oldest religious buildings. It was destroyed by Persians in 614 but was later rebuilt in the 11th century by Italian merchants from Amalfi, who also established a hospice for pilgrims.

The church is the mother church of the English Knights Hospitaller, and its name shifted to John the Baptist after the Crusaders. The green-and-gold iconostasis of 1853, among the longest in Jerusalem, carries icons of the Baptist's life. A jeweled reliquary behind the entrance on the right holds a fragment of his skull.

The church stands in the Muristan, south of the Christian Quarter's main streets, and its plain facade with reused Roman stones makes it easy to miss. The upper church lies about two metres below today's street level, and the 5th-century crypt a further three metres down; the crypt is entered only from outside the church.

The relic is not kept in an icon but in a jewelled reliquary behind the iconostasis, just inside the entrance on the right. It is framed in gold and jewels and holds the base of the skull of John the Baptist, venerated by visiting pilgrims.