St. George where he fought. Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious - saints - history - catalog of articles - unconditional love
With Saint Great Martyr George the Victorious, originally from Cappadocia (a region in Asia Minor), he grew up in a deeply religious Christian family. His father suffered martyrdom for Christ when George was still a child. The mother, who owned estates in Palestine, moved with her son to her homeland and raised him in strict piety. Having entered the service of the Roman army, Saint George, handsome, courageous and brave in battle, was noticed by the emperor Diocletian (284-305) and accepted into his guard with the rank of comit - one of the senior military leaders. The pagan emperor, who did a lot to revive Roman power and clearly understood the danger the triumph of the Crucified Savior posed to pagan civilization, especially intensified the persecution of Christians in the last years of his reign. At the council of the Senate in Nicomedia, Diocletian gave all rulers complete freedom to deal with Christians and promised his full assistance.
Saint George, having learned about the emperor’s decision, distributed his inheritance to the poor, set his slaves free and appeared in the Senate. The courageous warrior of Christ openly opposed the imperial plan, confessed himself to be a Christian and called on everyone to recognize the true faith in Christ: “I am a servant of Christ my God, and, trusting in Him, I appeared among you of my own free will to testify to the Truth.” "What is Truth?" - one of the dignitaries repeated Pilate’s question. “The truth is Christ Himself, persecuted by you,” answered the saint. Stunned by the daring speech of the valiant warrior, the emperor, who loved and exalted George, tried to persuade him not to destroy his youth, glory and honor, but to make a sacrifice to the gods, according to the custom of the Romans. This was followed by a decisive response from the confessor: “Nothing in this fickle life will weaken my desire to serve God.” Then, by order of the angry emperor, the squires began to push Saint George out of the meeting hall with spears in order to take him to prison. But the deadly steel itself became soft and bent as soon as the spears touched the saint’s body, and did not cause him pain. In prison, the martyr's feet were put in stocks and his chest was pressed with a heavy stone. The next day, during interrogation, exhausted but strong in spirit, Saint George again answered the emperor: “It is more likely that you will become exhausted, tormenting me, than I, tormented by you.”
Then Diocletian ordered George to be subjected to the most sophisticated torture. The Great Martyr was tied to a wheel, under which were placed boards with iron points. As the wheel rotated, sharp blades cut the saint's naked body. At first the sufferer loudly called on the Lord, but soon fell silent, without emitting a single groan. Diocletian decided that the tortured man had already died, and, having ordered the removal of the tortured body from the wheel, he went to the temple to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice. At that moment it became dark all around, thunder struck, and a voice was heard: “Don’t be afraid, George, I am with you.” Then a wondrous light shone and the Angel of the Lord appeared at the wheel in the form of a luminous youth. And he barely laid his hand on the martyr, saying to him: “Rejoice!” -how Saint George rose healed.
When the soldiers took him to the temple where the emperor was, the latter did not believe his eyes and thought that before him was another person or a ghost. In bewilderment and horror, the pagans peered at Saint George and became convinced that a miracle had indeed happened. Many then believed in the Life-Giving God of Christians. Two noble dignitaries, Saints Anatoly and Protoleon, secret Christians, immediately openly confessed Christ. They were immediately, without trial, by order of the emperor, beheaded with a sword. Queen Alexandra, the wife of Diocletian, who was in the temple, also learned the truth. She also tried to glorify Christ, but one of the emperor’s servants restrained her and took her to the palace. The emperor became even more embittered. Without losing hope of breaking Saint George, he handed him over to new terrible tortures. Having been thrown into a deep ditch, the holy martyr was covered with quicklime.
Three days later they dug him up, but found him joyful and unharmed. They put the saint in iron boots with red-hot nails and drove him to prison with beatings. In the morning, when he was brought in for questioning, cheerful and with healthy legs, he told the emperor that he liked the boots. They beat him with ox sinews so that his body and blood mixed with the ground, but the courageous sufferer, strengthened by the power of God, remained adamant. Deciding that magic was helping the saint, the emperor called upon the sorcerer Athanasius so that he could deprive the saint of his miraculous powers, or poison him. The sorcerer presented Saint George with two bowls of potions, one of which was supposed to make him submissive, and the other to kill him. But the potions did not work either - the saint continued to denounce pagan superstitions and glorify the True God. To the emperor’s question what kind of power helps the martyr, Saint George answered: “Do not think that torment does not harm me thanks to human effort - I am saved only by the invocation of Christ and His power. He who believes in Him counts torture as nothing and is able to do the works that Christ did.” Diocletian asked what the works of Christ were. “To enlighten the blind, to cleanse lepers, to give walking to the lame, to give hearing to the deaf, to cast out demons, to raise the dead.” Knowing that neither sorcery nor the gods known to him had ever been able to resurrect the dead, the emperor, in order to disgrace the hope of the saint, ordered him to resurrect the dead before his eyes. To this the saint said: “You are tempting me, but for the sake of the salvation of the people who will see the work of Christ, my God will create this sign.”
And when Saint George was brought to the tomb, he cried out: “Lord! Show those present that You are the One God throughout the whole earth, so that they may know You, the Almighty Lord.” And the earth shook, the tomb opened, the dead man came to life and came out of it. Seeing with their own eyes the manifestation of the almighty power of Christ, the people wept and glorified the True God. The sorcerer Athanasius, falling at the feet of Saint George, confessed Christ as the Almighty God and asked forgiveness for sins committed in ignorance. However, the emperor, stubborn in wickedness, did not come to his senses: in a rage, he ordered the beheading of Athanasius, who believed, as well as the resurrected man, and again imprisoned Saint George. People burdened with illnesses began to enter the prison in various ways and there received healing and help from the saint. A certain farmer Glycerius, whose ox had fallen, also turned to him in grief. The saint comforted him with a smile and assured him that God would bring the ox back to life. Seeing the revived ox at home, the farmer began to glorify the Christian God throughout the city. By order of the emperor, Saint Glycerius was captured and beheaded. The exploits and miracles of the Great Martyr George multiplied the number of Christians, so Diocletian decided to make a last attempt to force the saint to sacrifice to idols. They began to prepare the court at the temple of Apollo.
On the last night, the holy martyr prayed fervently, and when he dozed off, he saw the Lord Himself, who lifted him with His hand, hugged him and kissed him. The Savior placed a crown on the head of the great martyr and said: “Do not be afraid, but dare and you will be worthy to reign with Me.” The next morning at the trial, the emperor offered Saint George a new test - he invited him to become his co-ruler. The holy martyr responded with apparent readiness that the emperor should not have tormented him from the very beginning, but should have shown him such mercy, and at the same time expressed a desire to immediately go to the temple of Apollo. Diocletian decided that the martyr accepted his offer, and followed him to the temple, accompanied by his retinue and people. Everyone expected Saint George to make a sacrifice to the gods. He, approaching the idol, made the sign of the cross and addressed it as if it were alive: “Do you want to accept a sacrifice from me as God?” The demon that lived in the idol shouted: “I am not God and none of my kind is God. There is only one God, the one you preach. We, from the Angels serving Him, have become apostates and, obsessed with envy, we deceive people.” “How dare you be here when I, the servant of the True God, came here?” asked the saint. There was noise and crying, the idols fell and were crushed. There was general confusion.
The priests and many from the crowd furiously attacked the holy martyr, tied him up, began to beat him and demand his immediate execution. The holy Queen Alexandra hurried to the noise and screams. Making her way through the crowd, she shouted: “God Georgiev, help me, since You alone are Omnipotent.” At the feet of the great martyr, the holy queen glorified Christ, humiliating idols and those who worshiped them. Diocletian, in a frenzy, immediately pronounced the death sentence on the Great Martyr George and the holy Queen Alexandra, who followed Saint George to execution without resistance. On the way, she became exhausted and leaned unconscious against the wall. Everyone decided that the queen had died. Saint George thanked God and prayed that his journey would end with dignity. At the place of execution, the saint in fervent prayer asked the Lord to forgive the torturers, who did not know what they were doing, and to lead them to the knowledge of the Truth. Calmly and courageously, the holy Great Martyr George bowed his head under the sword. It was April 23, 303. The executioners and judges looked at their Conqueror in confusion. In bloody agony and senseless tossing, the era of paganism ended ingloriously. Only ten years have passed - and Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine, one of Diocletian’s successors on the Roman throne, will order the Cross and the covenant, sealed with the blood of the Great Martyr and Victorious George and thousands of unknown martyrs, to be inscribed on the banners: “By this you will conquer.” Of the many miracles performed by the Holy Great Martyr George, the most famous is depicted in iconography. In the saint's homeland, in the city of Beirut, there were many idolaters. Near the city, near the Lebanese Mountains, there was a large lake in which a huge snake lived. Coming out of the lake, he devoured people, and the inhabitants could not do anything, since his very breath contaminated the air. According to the teachings of the demons who lived in the idols, the king made the following decision: every day the inhabitants had to give their children as food to the snake by lot, and when his turn came, he promised to give his only daughter. Time passed, and the king, dressed her in the best clothes, sent her to the lake. The girl cried bitterly, waiting for her death hour. Suddenly, the Great Martyr George rode up to her on horseback with a spear in his hand. The girl begged him not to stay with her so as not to die. But the saint, seeing the serpent, made the sign of the cross and with the words “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” rushed at him. The Great Martyr George pierced the serpent's throat with a spear and trampled it with his horse. Then he ordered the girl to tie the snake with her belt and lead it to the city like a dog.
The inhabitants fled in fear, but the saint stopped them with the words: “Do not be afraid, but trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in Him, for it was He who sent me to you to save you.” Then the saint killed the serpent with a sword, and the inhabitants burned it outside the city. Twenty-five thousand people, not counting women and children, were baptized then, and a church was built in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Great Martyr George. Saint George could become a talented commander and surprise the world with his military exploits. He died when he was not even 30 years old. Hastening to unite with the Heavenly army, he entered the history of the Church as the Victorious.
He became famous with this name from the very beginning of Christianity and in Holy Rus'. Saint George the Victorious was the angel and patron of several great builders of Russian statehood and Russian military power. The son of Saint Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Yaroslav the Wise, in Holy Baptism George (+1054), greatly contributed to the veneration of the saint in the Russian Church. He built the city of Yuryev, founded the Yuryevsky Monastery in Novgorod, and erected the Church of St. George the Victorious in Kyiv. The day of the consecration of the Kyiv St. George Church, performed on November 26, 1051 by Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv, entered the liturgical treasury of the Church as a special church holiday, St. George’s Day, beloved by the Russian people “autumn St. George”. The name of St. George was borne by the founder of Moscow Yuri Dolgoruky (+1157), the creator of many St. George's churches, the builder of the city of Yuryev-Polsky. In 1238, the heroic struggle of the Russian people against the Mongol hordes was led by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri (George) Vsevolodovich (+1238; commemorated February 4), who died in the Battle of the City. The memory of him as Yegor the Brave, defender of his native land, is reflected in Russian spiritual poems and epics. The first Grand Duke of Moscow, during the period when Moscow became the center of gathering of the Russian land, was Yuri Danilovich (+1325) - the son of St. Daniel of Moscow, grandson of St. Alexander Nevsky. Since that time, Saint George the Victorious - the horseman slaying the serpent - has become the coat of arms of Moscow and the emblem of the Russian state. And this further strengthened the ties of the Christian peoples of Russia with the same faith Iberia (Georgia, the country of George).
Name: George the Victorious (St. George)
Date of Birth: 275
Age: 28 years
Activity: Christian saint, great martyr
Family status: wasn't married
George the Victorious: biography
One of the most famous and revered Christian martyrs bears the name St. George the Victorious. There are many versions of the saint's life. According to canonical life, he suffered during the Great Persecution. The famous story about St. George the Victorious is called “The Miracle of the Serpent.”
Childhood and youth
The Byzantine version of existence was expounded by Symeon Metaphrastus. According to records, George was born in the 3rd century in Cappadocia. The boy's father, Gerontius, served as a senator, and his mother, Polychronia, had a large estate. The child's parents were considered rich and God-fearing people.
When George's father passed away, the mother and her child moved to Lydda. George was raised a Christian. He received a good education. The future saint grew up to be a strong young man, so he entered military service. In a short time he gained fame and became the favorite soldier of Emperor Diocletian.
When George was twenty years old, the young man’s mother passed away. He inherited a large sum of money.
The ruler of the Roman Empire revered the pagan gods and was an opponent of the Christian faith. When George learned that, by order of the emperor, they were destroying churches and burning sacred books, he distributed property to the poor and came to the Senate. There the young man publicly declared that Diocletian was a ruler who did not deserve to be at the head of the country. The young man was famous for his beauty and courage, people asked George not to ruin his life and give up his words, but the young man remained adamant. After making a speech and disobedience, George was thrown into prison and began to be tortured.
Death
After George’s fiery speech in the Senate, the young man was seized by guards and thrown into prison. There the young man was subjected to terrible torture, forced to renounce Christianity and embrace paganism. George bravely endured the torment and did not renounce God. The torture lasted 8 days. During the cruel torture, George's body was healed and strengthened.
The emperor concluded that the former army commander was using magic, and gave the order to kill the young man with poison. But that didn't work either. Then Diocletian ordered George to revive the dead man. He thought this way would disgrace the former military man and force him to renounce his faith. But after George’s prayer, the earth shook and the deceased was resurrected.
George bravely endured the torture and did not give up. After unsuccessful persuasion to accept paganism, the young man was sentenced to death. The night before his execution, the Savior appeared to the young man in a dream. He said that for the trials he endured and his resistance to the power of the tormentor, the young man would go to Paradise. After waking up, Georgy called a servant and dictated to him what he saw in the dream and wrote it down.
That same night the emperor himself came to the young man in the dungeon. He again appealed to the mind of George with a request to repent and recognize paganism. The young man responded by wishing that the prisoner be brought to the temple. When the request was fulfilled, he stood in front of the statue of the god and crossed himself and the idol. The demon that lived in the idol left its refuge, and the pagan statues split. The angry priests beat George.
Then Diocletian’s wife rushed to the noise, knelt before the martyr and began to beg for her husband’s forgiveness. At the same moment, she converted to the Orthodox faith after seeing what happened. The ruler, realizing what had happened, ordered the execution of the girl along with the young man. George prayed and laid his head on the block.
On April 23, in a new way - on May 6, George was executed. Since the young man endured trials and did not give up his faith, he was canonized. The exact date of canonization of St. George the Victorious is unknown.
According to legend, the saint was buried in a church in the city of Lod, and his severed head and sword were kept in Rome. In 1821, several heads were mentioned that were kept in Venice, Prague, Constantinople and other cities. Each of these chapters was sincerely taken for the head of St. George the Victorious. Some of the relics are kept in Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. The other part of the relics - the right hand - is located on the holy Mount Athos.
Today, on the day of the murder of the passion-bearer, the memory of George is honored, services are held in cathedrals, prayers are offered to the martyr of Christ. This date is also considered the memorial day of Queen Alexandra, the young wife of Diocletian. According to other sources, the ruler's wife was named Prisca.
Christian service
The real biography of the holy martyr is questionable, as are the descriptions of the lives of other ancient Christian saints. The story of Eusebius of Caesarea mentions a young man who fought back against a usurper. It is believed that this hero was George. There is a version that there were actually two Georges. But one came under persecution in Lydda, and the second in Cappadocia.
The miracles performed by the martyr occurred after the death of George. The most popular story is about the defeat of the terrible serpent by the Martyr. The monster rampaged through the possessions of the king in Berit, who preached paganism. It is written that when the lot fell to give the ruler’s daughter to the serpent, George appeared on horseback and killed the monster with a spear. The appearance of the saint so amazed the townspeople that they believed in God and converted to Christianity.
The incident with the serpent is sometimes interpreted differently: the princess means the church, the insidious serpent means paganism. In such an incarnation - on a horse with a spear slaying a serpent - the holy great martyr is depicted in icon painting.
Another scenario: George pacifies the dragon with the help of prayer, and brings the rescued princess to the city, whose residents immediately convert to Christianity. Then the young man kills the serpent with a sword. At the place where the Church of St. George the Victorious was erected, a living spring emerged from the ground. This is the place where, according to legend, the young man killed the serpent.
Another miracle is described that happened after the death of the martyr. It happened when the Arabs attacked Palestine. One of the soldiers entered a Christian church and saw a clergyman praying to St. George the Victorious. Showing disdain for the icon and the service, the Arab took out a bow and shot at the image.
But it turned out that the arrow pierced the hand of the shooter, but did not cause any harm to the image. Then the fighter turned to the priest, and he told the invader the legend about St. George. The Arab was so impressed by the story that he accepted the Christian faith.
Memory
Saint George has been revered since early Christianity. The first churches to the Holy Martyr were erected in the Roman Empire in the 4th century. The cult of St. George arose to replace the cult. On the sites of the sanctuaries of the god of paganism, cathedrals were erected to the Great Martyr of Orthodoxy.
Saint George became an example of bravery and courage. The martyr is especially revered in Georgia. The first temple erected in memory of the passion-bearer dates back to 335. Over time, the number of churches and chapels began to grow. There are 365 holy buildings in Georgia, as many as there are days in the year. There is not a single cathedral in the country that does not have an icon of St. George.
In Georgia, it is popular to give boys the name George. It is believed that the bearer of such a name is accompanied by luck and victory. Since ancient Russian times, George has been known as Yuri and Yegori. The Great in the 1030s founded the St. George monasteries in Kyiv and Novgorod and ordered to celebrate the martyr's day on November 26.
The central Christian church in North Ossetia is St. George's. And out of 56 working chapels, 10 are listed as St. George’s.
In 1769, the Empress approved the Order of St. George the Victorious. The award was given for merit in battle and length of service in military ranks. In 1917, the new Soviet government abolished the Order. In the 2000s, the Order was restored as a military award of the Russian Federation. The Order of St. George is accompanied by a two-color St. George ribbon. And the St. George Ribbon serves as a symbol of the celebration of Victory Day.
Since his reign, St. George has been considered the patron saint of Moscow. In heraldry, the image of a horseman piercing a winged serpent with a spear appeared in the 14th-15th centuries. This figure is located in the coat of arms of the Russian Federation, but there is no direct indication that the knight is St. George. The coat of arms shows the serpent, not the dragon, because in the heraldic convention the serpent is a negative character, and the dragon is a positive one. They differ from each other in the number of legs: the dragon has two limbs, the serpent has four.
In the 13th century, a man with a spear on a horse was depicted on coins. In 1997, a drawing of a horseman was placed on the Russian kopeck, copying the face of the 15th-century icon of St. George.
The image of St. George is used in modern art. Artists love to depict on canvas a horseman with a spear in his hand, killing a serpent. Despite the similarity of the drawings, each painting indicates a special vision of the creator.
Memorable dates
- April 23 - Memorial Day of the Great Martyr George the Victorious in the Catholic Church
- May 6 – Memorial Day of the Great Martyr George the Victorious in the Orthodox Church
- November 16 - renovation (consecration) of the Church of St. George in Lydda (IV century)
- November 23 - the wheeling of the Great Martyr George;
- December 9 - consecration of the Church of the Great Martyr George in Kyiv in 1051 (celebration of the Russian Orthodox Church, popularly known as the autumn St. George's Day)
November 23 is the Day of Remembrance of St. George the Victorious. It is believed that it was on this day that George was wheeled on the wheel by order of Emperor Diocletian for his devotion to the Orthodox faith. But an angel appeared, laid his hand on the tormented George, and he was healed. Having seen the miraculous healing, many of the pagans converted to the Orthodox faith. St. George the Victorious is one of the most revered Orthodox saints and the heavenly patron of Georgia. His memory is honored with special reverence.
George did not renounce his faith under terrible torture
According to legend, George's parents were deeply religious Christians. He himself rose to the rank of senior military commander in the army of Emperor Diocletian. But when persecution of Christians began in the country, George appeared in the Senate, declared that he was Orthodox, and distributed all his property to the poor. Diocletian's persuasion to abandon these views was in vain. Because of this, George was subjected to terrible torture.
He was wheeled on the wheel, but an angel healed his wounds, he was thrown into quicklime, and forced to run in boots with nails inside. They broke his legs and arms, fed him poison, beat him with whips, but he did not give up his ideas and remained unharmed. Then the emperor ordered his head to be cut off.
How St. George is revered in different countries
There is a version that, as happened quite often with Christian saints, the cult of St. George was put forward in opposition to the pagan Dionysus. Like this or not, this saint is highly revered in many countries. Traditionally, George is considered the patron saint of farmers, shepherds, warriors and travelers. It is probably due to the latter fact that this saint is very popular among the gypsies.
Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia pray to him to send rain. Georgians turn to Saint George with requests for good luck in hunting, for healing, for the offspring of livestock, for protection from evil, for childbearing. St. George's Day is officially declared a non-working day in Georgia.
Europeans believe that prayers addressed to this saint provide relief from infectious diseases and poisonous snakes. Saint George is well known to the Islamic peoples of Africa under the name Jirjis and the peoples of the Middle East under the name al-Khidr.
The oldest Russian temple was erected in honor of St. George the Victorious
The wooden Church of St. George the Victorious near the village of Rodionovo, built in 1493, is considered the oldest wooden church in Russia, which stands in its historical place. This temple is closed, but every year on St. George’s Day, May 6, a service is held in this temple. However, everyone who gets to Rodionovo can find the monk Methodius, who opens the doors of the church to everyone.
Relics of St. George the Victorious
The name of St. George the Victorious is inextricably linked with the Xenophon Monastery of Holy Mount Athos. The first temple on this site, according to legend, was built in 520 by a wealthy senator and dedicated this temple to the holy martyr Demetrius. A new cathedral on this site was built in 1819. Today it is the largest temple on Mount Athos with an iconostasis made of colored marble. Among the shrines that are kept in the monastery are the miraculous and St. George, the relics of the apostles Barnabas and Philip, the holy great martyr Theodore Tyrone, saints Modest and Marina, as well as the holy great martyr George.
Since October 30, the relics of the saint, with the blessing of Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, have been in Ukraine. On December 5, the Ark with the right hand of the Great Martyr George the Victorious will be greeted at the Holy Dormition Odessa Cathedral, where the relics will remain for a little more than a day. A prayer service will be held at the shrine with the reading of an akathist, and everyone who comes to the temple will be able to pray to the saint.
St. George the Victorious - patron saint of Moscow
The appearance of the city of Moscow is associated with the name of St. George the Victorious. When the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Monomakh had a son, he named him Yuri. St. George the Victorious became his heavenly patron, and the prince’s seal depicted St. George dismounted and drawing a sword (there was no snake in that image). According to legend, Yuri Dolgoruky was traveling from Kyiv to Vladimir and on the way he stopped to stay with the boyar Kuchka. The prince did not like the reception, and at first he decided to execute the boyar, but having loved his possessions, he gave the order to found the city of Moscow there. And for the coat of arms of the new city he gave the image of his heavenly patron.After the Great October Revolution, the coat of arms of Moscow was abolished, and in 1925 Moscow became the first city with revolutionary symbols. Instead of St. George, all the attributes of a workers' and peasants' state appeared on the coat of arms - a red star. A hammer and sickle, rye ears and a cogwheel, symbolizing the link between the village and the city, as well as the emblem of electrification - a dynamo.
The image of St. George was returned to Moscow during the Great Patriotic War - a cavalryman striking a swastika with snake heads, clearly inspired by the motifs of the ancient Moscow coat of arms.
The historical coat of arms of the 1781 model was returned to Moscow on November 23, 1993 by order of the mayor of the capital. It’s a little unfortunate that the coat of arms retains the appearance of a medieval knight, which is far from the Orthodox image of the saint, but the main thing is that Moscow is again under the protection of St. George the Victorious.
On May 6 (April 23, old style), the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious, born in the Lebanese Mountains.
Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious: history
Great Martyr George was the son of rich and pious parents who raised him in the Christian faith. He was born in the city of Beirut (in ancient times - Berit), at the foot of the Lebanese mountains.
Having entered military service, the Great Martyr George stood out among other soldiers for his intelligence, courage, physical strength, military posture and beauty. Having soon reached the rank of commander of a thousand, Saint George became the favorite of Emperor Diocletian. Diocletian was a talented ruler, but a fanatical supporter of the Roman gods. Having set himself the goal of reviving dying paganism in the Roman Empire, he went down in history as one of the most cruel persecutors of Christians.
Having once heard at trial an inhuman sentence about the extermination of Christians, Saint George was inflamed with compassion for them. Anticipating that suffering also awaited him, George distributed his property to the poor, set his slaves free, appeared to Diocletian and, declaring himself a Christian, accused him of cruelty and injustice. George's speech was full of strong and convincing objections to the imperial order to persecute Christians.
After unsuccessful persuasion to renounce Christ, the emperor ordered the saint to be subjected to various tortures. Saint George was imprisoned, where he was laid on his back on the ground, his feet were put in stocks, and a heavy stone was placed on his chest. But Saint George bravely endured suffering and glorified the Lord. Then George’s tormentors began to become more sophisticated in their cruelty. They beat the saint with ox sinews, wheeled him around, threw him into quicklime, and forced him to run in boots with sharp nails inside. The holy martyr endured everything patiently. In the end, the emperor ordered the saint's head to be cut off with a sword. So the holy sufferer went to Christ in Nicomedia in 303.
The Great Martyr George is also called the Victorious for his courage and spiritual victory over his tormentors who could not force him to renounce Christianity, as well as for his miraculous help to people in danger. The relics of Saint George the Victorious were placed in the Palestinian city of Lydda, in a temple bearing his name, and his head was kept in Rome in a temple also dedicated to him.
On the icons, the Great Martyr George is depicted sitting on a white horse and slaying a serpent with a spear. This image is based on legend and refers to the posthumous miracles of the Holy Great Martyr George. They say that not far from the place where Saint George was born in the city of Beirut, there lived a snake in a lake that often devoured the people of that area. What kind of animal it was - a boa constrictor, a crocodile or a large lizard - is unknown.
To quench the fury of the serpent, the superstitious inhabitants of that area began to regularly give him a young man or a girl by lot to be devoured. One day the lot fell on the daughter of the ruler of that area. She was taken to the shore of the lake and tied, where she waited in horror for the snake to appear.
When the beast began to approach her, a bright young man suddenly appeared on a white horse, struck the snake with a spear and saved the girl. This young man was the Holy Great Martyr George. With such a miraculous phenomenon, he stopped the destruction of young men and women within Beirut and converted the inhabitants of that country, who had previously been pagans, to Christ.
It can be assumed that the appearance of St. George on horseback to protect the inhabitants from the serpent, as well as the miraculous revival of the farmer’s only ox described in the life, served as the reason for the veneration of St. George as the patron of cattle breeding and protector from predatory animals.
In pre-revolutionary times, on the day of remembrance of St. George the Victorious, residents of Russian villages for the first time after a cold winter drove their cattle out to pasture, performing a prayer service to the holy great martyr and sprinkling houses and animals with holy water. The Day of the Great Martyr George is also popularly called “Yuriev’s Day,” on this day, before the reign of Boris Godunov, peasants could move to another landowner.
The Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious is the patron saint of the army. The image of St. George the Victorious on a horse symbolizes the victory over the devil - the “ancient serpent” (Rev. 12:3, 20:2); this image was included in the ancient coat of arms of the city of Moscow.
Troparion to the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious
Troparion: As the liberator of the captives and the protector of the poor, the physician of the infirm, the champion of kings, the victorious Great Martyr George, pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls.
Life of the Great Martyr George the Victorious
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Greek legends
According to his life, Saint George was born in the 3rd century in Cappadocia into a Christian family (option - he was born in Lydda, Palestine, and grew up in Cappadocia; or vice versa - his father was tortured for confessing Christ in Cappadocia, and his mother and son fled to Palestine). Having entered military service, he, distinguished by intelligence, courage and physical strength, became one of the commanders and the favorite of Emperor Diocletian. His mother died when he was 20 years old, and he received a rich inheritance. George went to court, hoping to achieve a high position, but when the persecution of Christians began, he, while in Nicomedia, distributed property to the poor and declared himself a Christian before the emperor, he was arrested and began to torture.
George endured all this torment and did not renounce Christ. After unsuccessful persuasion to renounce and offer a pagan sacrifice, he was sentenced to death. That night the Savior appeared to him in a dream with a golden crown on his head and said that Paradise awaited him. George immediately called a servant, who wrote down everything that was said (one of the apocrypha was written on behalf of this particular servant) and ordered after his death to take his body to Palestine.
At the end of George’s torment, Emperor Diocletian, going down to prison, once again suggested that the tortured former commander of his bodyguards renounce Christ. George said: " Take me to the temple of Apollo" And when this was done (on the 8th day), George stood up to his full height in front of the white stone statue, and everyone heard his speech: “ Is it really for you that I am going to the slaughter? And can you accept this sacrifice from me as a god?“At the same time, George made the sign of the cross over himself and the statue of Apollo - and thereby forced the demon who lived in it to declare himself a fallen angel. After this, all the idols in the temple were crushed.
Enraged by this, the priests rushed to beat George. And the wife of Emperor Alexander, who ran to the temple, threw herself at the feet of the great martyr and, sobbing, asked to be forgiven for the sins of her tyrant husband. She was converted by the miracle that had just happened. Diolectian shouted in anger: “ Cut it off! Cut off the heads! Cut off both!“And George, having prayed for the last time, laid his head on the block with a calm smile.
Together with George, Queen Alexandra of Rome, named in her life as the wife of Emperor Diocletian, suffered martyrdom (the emperor’s real wife, known from historical sources, was named Prisca).
Legends about Saint George were expounded by Simeon Metaphrastus, Andrew of Jerusalem, and Gregory of Cyprus. In the tradition of the Byzantine Empire, there is a legendary connection between St. George the Victorious and the holy warriors Theodores - Theodore Stratelates and Theodore Tyrone. Researchers explain this by the fact that Galatia and Paphlagonia, which were centers of veneration due to the proximity of Saint Theodore, were not far from Asia Minor and Cappadocia, where Saint George was venerated.
There is another connection between Theodore Stratelates and St. George the Victorious. In Russian spiritual poetic works, Theodore (without specification) is the father of Yegor (George the Victorious). There is also a German medieval poem in which the warrior Theodore is named as George’s brother (it is unclear from the context whether it is Tyrone or Stratilates).
Latin texts
The Latin texts of his life, being originally translations of the Greek ones, over time began to differ greatly from them. They say that, at the instigation of the devil, the Persian Emperor Dacian, ruler of 72 kings, subjected Christians to severe persecution. At this time there lived a certain George from Cappadocia, a native of Melitene, he lived there with a certain pious widow. He was subjected to numerous tortures (the rack, iron tongs, fire, a wheel with iron points, boots nailed to his feet, an iron chest studded with nails on the inside, which was thrown from a cliff, beaten with sledgehammers, a pole was placed on his chest, a heavy stone was thrown on his head, molten lead was poured onto a red-hot iron bed, thrown into a well, 40 long nails were driven in, and burned in a copper bull). After each torture, George was healed again. The torment continued for 7 years. His steadfastness and miracles converted 40,900 people to Christianity, including Queen Alexandra. When, on the orders of Dacian, George and Alexandra were executed, a fiery whirlwind descended from the sky and incinerated the emperor himself.
Reinbot von Thurn (13th century) retells the legend, simplifying it: his 72 kings turned into 7, and countless tortures were reduced to 8 (they are tied up and put a heavy load on his chest; they are beaten with sticks; they are starved; they are cut on the wheel; they are quartered and thrown into a pond; they bring him down from the mountain in a copper bull; they drive him under his nails with a poisoned sword), and finally, they cut off his head.
Yakov Voraginsky writes that they first tied him to a cross and tore him with iron hooks until his intestines came out, and then doused him with salt water. The next day they forced me to drink poison. Then they tied it to the wheel, but it broke; then they threw it into a cauldron of molten lead. Then, through his prayer, lightning came down from heaven and incinerated all the idols, and the earth opened up and swallowed up the priests. Dacian's wife (here the proconsul under Diocletian) converted to Christianity when she saw this; she and George were beheaded, and after that Dacian was also incinerated.
Apocryphal texts
The earliest sources of apocryphal tales about St. George include:
- « Martyrdom of George", mentioned in the Decree of Pope Gelasius (early edition, late 5th - early 6th centuries). Gelasius rejects the acts of martyrdom of St. George as a heretical falsification and classifies George among the saints who are better known to God than to men;
- Viennese palimpsest (5th century);
- « Acts of George"(Nessan fragments) (VI century, found in 1937 in the Negev desert).
Apocryphal hagiography dates the martyrdom of George to the reign of the legendary Persian king Dadian. These lives report his seven-year torment, triple death and resurrection, hammering nails into his head, etc. For the fourth time, George dies, beheaded by a sword, and heavenly punishment befalls his tormentors.
The martyrdom of St. George is known in Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic and Arabic translations, which contain various details about the sufferings the saint endured. One of the best texts of his life is in the Slavic Menaion.
In the East
In Islam, George ( Girgis, Girgis, El Khudi) is one of the main non-Koranic figures and his legend is very similar to Greek and Latin.
He lived at the same time as the Prophet Muhammad. Allah sent him to the ruler of Mosul with a call to accept the true faith, but the ruler ordered him to be executed. He was executed, but Allah resurrected him and sent him back to the ruler. He was executed a second time, then a third (they burned him and threw his ashes into the Tigris). He rose from the ashes, and the ruler and his entourage were exterminated.
The Life of St. George was translated into Arabic at the beginning of the 8th century, and under the influence of Christian Arabs, the veneration of St. George penetrated among Muslim Arabs. The Arabic apocryphal text of the life of St. George is contained in "Stories of Prophets and Kings"(beginning of the 10th century), in it George is called a disciple of one of the apostles of the prophet Isa, whom the pagan king of Mosul subjected to torture and execution, but George was resurrected by Allah each time.
The 14th-century Greek historian John Cantacuzenus notes that in his time there were several temples erected by Muslims in honor of St. George. The 19th century traveler Burckhard says the same thing. Dean Stanley recorded in the 19th century that he saw a Muslim "chapel" on the seashore near the city of Sarafend (ancient Sarepta), which was dedicated to El-Khuder. There was no tomb inside, but only a niche, which was a deviation from Muslim canons - and was explained, according to local peasants, by the fact that El-Khuder did not die, but flies all over the earth, and wherever he appears, people build similar “chapels” "
They note the great similarity of the legend with the story of the resurrecting Chaldean deity Tammuz, known from the “Book of Nabatean Agriculture”, whose holiday falls on approximately the same period, and this similarity was pointed out by its ancient translator Ibn Vakhshiya. Researchers suggest that the special reverence for St. George in the East and his extraordinary popularity were explained by the fact that he was a Christian version of Tammuz - a dying and resurrecting god, similar to Adonis and Osiris. According to some researchers, George, as a mythical character, is a Semitic deity who converted to Christianity, into whose story some changes were made during the adaptation process in order to clear it of unnecessary details and deprive it of an erotic connotation. Thus, the goddess of love of such myths turned into a pious widow, in whose house the holy youth lived, and the queen of the underworld turned into Queen Alexandra, who would follow him to the grave.
Miracles of St. George
One of the most famous posthumous miracles of St. George is the killing of a serpent (dragon) with a spear, which devastated the land of a pagan king in Beirut. As the legend says, when the lot fell to give the king’s daughter to be torn to pieces by the monster, George appeared on horseback and pierced the snake with a spear, saving the princess from death. The appearance of the saint contributed to the conversion of local residents to Christianity.
This legend was often interpreted allegorically: the princess - the church, the snake - paganism. This is also seen as a victory over the devil - “the ancient serpent” (Rev. 12:3; 20:2).
There is a variant description of this miracle relating to the life of George. In it, the saint subdues the snake with prayer and the girl destined for sacrifice leads him to the city, where the inhabitants, seeing this miracle, accept Christianity, and George kills the snake with a sword.
Relics
It is believed that the relics of St. George are currently in the Greek church in the Israeli city of Lod (Lydda), and the head is kept in the Roman basilica of San Giorgio in Velabro.
The reality of existence
The reality of the existence of St. George, like many early Christian saints, is in question. Eusebius of Caesarea says:
It is suggested that this martyr, whose name Eusebius does not name, could be Saint George, in which case this is all that is known about him from a reliable source.
An inscription from the year 346 in Greek is mentioned from a church in the city of Ezra (Syria), which was originally a pagan temple. It speaks of George as a martyr, which is important, since in the same period there was another George - Bishop of Alexandria (d. 362), with whom the martyr is sometimes confused. Calvin was the first to doubt that George the Victorious should be a revered saint, followed by Dr. Reynolds, according to whom he and the Bishop of Alexandria were one and the same person. Bishop George was an Arian (that is, for the modern church - a heretic), he was born in a fulling mill in Epiphania (Cilicia), was a supplier of provisions for the army (Constantinople), and when he was convicted of fraud, he fled to Cappadocia. His Arian friends forgave him after paying a fine and sent him to Alexandria, where he was elected bishop (in opposition to St. Athanasius) immediately after the death of the Arian prelate Gregory. Together with Dracontius and Diodorus, he immediately began brutal persecution of Christians and pagans, and the latter killed him, raising an uprising. Dr. Heylyn (1633) objected to this identification, but Dr. John Pettincal (1753) again raised the question of the identity of the Victorious. Dr. Samuel Pegg (1777) answered him in a report given to the Society of Antiquities. Gibbon also believed that St. George the Victorious and the Arian bishop were one and the same person. Sabin Baring-Gould (1866) strongly objected to such an identification of an unconditionally real bishop with a holy martyr: “... the improbability of such a transformation makes anyone doubt the truth of this statement. The enmity between Catholics and Arians was too great for an adherent of the latter, and even a persecutor of Catholics, to be mistaken for a saint. The works of Saint Athanasius, in which he painted a far from flattering portrait of his opponent, were quite widespread in the Middle Ages, and such a mistake would have been simply impossible.”
There is also a hypothesis about the existence of two saints with the name George, one of whom suffered in Cappadocia, and the other in Lydda.
Reverence
This saint has become extremely popular since early Christianity. He suffered torment in Nicomedia, and soon he began to be revered in Phenicia, Palestine, and then throughout the east. In Rome in the 7th century there were already two churches in honor of him, and in Gaul he has been revered since the 5th century.
Memory
In the Orthodox Church:
- May 6 (April 23, old style);
- November 16 (November 3, old style) - renovation (consecration) of the Church of the Great Martyr George in Lydda (IV century);
- November 23 (November 10, old style) - Wheeling of the Great Martyr George (Georgian celebration)
- December 9 (November 26, old style) - consecration of the Church of the Great Martyr George in Kyiv in 1051 (celebration of the Russian Orthodox Church, popularly known as autumn St. George's day)
In the Catholic Church:
- April 23
In the West, Saint George is the patron saint of chivalry and participants in the crusades; he is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Cult of Saint George
According to one version, the cult of St. George, as often happened with Christian saints, was put forward in opposition to the pagan cult of Dionysus (Greek georgos, farmer), temples were built on the site of the former sanctuaries of Dionysus and holidays were celebrated in his honor on the days of Dionysus.
George is considered the patron saint of warriors, farmers and shepherds, and in some places - of travelers. In Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia, believers turn to him with prayers for rain. In Georgia, people turn to George with requests for protection from evil, for good luck in hunting, for the harvest and offspring of livestock, for healing from illnesses, and for childbearing. In Western Europe, it is believed that prayers to St. George (George) help get rid of poisonous snakes and contagious diseases. Saint George is known to the Islamic peoples of Africa and the Middle East under the names Jirjis and al-Khadr.
In Rus' since ancient times, St. George was revered under the name Yuri or Yegory. In the 1030s, Grand Duke Yaroslav founded the monasteries of St. George in Kyiv and Novgorod (see Yuryev Monastery) and ordered throughout Rus' to “create a holiday” of St. George on November 26 (December 9).
In Orthodoxy he is considered the patron saint of agriculture and cattle breeding. April 23 and November 26 (old style) are known as spring and autumn St. George's Day. Images of St. George have been found since ancient times on grand ducal coins and seals.
Saint George, together with the Mother of God, is considered the heavenly patron of Georgia and is the most revered saint among Georgians. According to local legends, George was a relative of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, the enlightener of Georgia.
The first church in honor of St. George was built in Georgia in 335 by King Mirian at the burial site of St. Nina; from the 9th century, the construction of churches in honor of George became widespread.
The life of the saint was first translated into Georgian at the end of the 10th century. In the 11th century, George the Svyatogorets, when translating the “Great Synaxarion,” completed a brief translation of the life of George.
The Cross of St. George is present on the flag of the Georgian church. It first appeared on Georgian banners under Queen Tamara.
In Ossetian traditional beliefs, the most important place is occupied by Uastirdzhi (Uasgergi), who appears as a strong gray-bearded old man in armor on a three- or four-legged white horse. He patronizes men. Women are forbidden to say his name, instead of which they call him L?gty dzuar(patron of men). Celebrations in his honor, as in Georgia, begin on November 23 and last a week. Tuesday of this holiday week is especially revered. The cult itself is syncretic in nature: with the beginning of the spread of Christianity in Alania (5th century) and before its final adoption (10th century), a certain deity from the pantheon of ethnic Ossetian religion, the cult of which dates back to the times of the Indo-Iranian community, was subjected to transformation by the Church. As a result, the deity took the name George, also the name of the holiday in his honor ( Dzheorguyba) was borrowed as a result of the significant influence of Georgian Orthodoxy from the Georgian language. Otherwise, the cult of the patron remained ethnic in nature.
Theonym Uastirdzhi easily etymologized from the Old Ironic form Uasjirji, Where you- a word that in early Alan Christianity meant a saint, and the second part is an ironic version of the name Georgiy. The etymology of the theonym appears even more transparent when analyzing the Digor form Wasgergi.
Images
In art
There are two directions in the iconography of the miracle of St. George about the serpent: Western and Eastern.
- in the eastern school, the image of St. George is more spiritual: a not very muscular young man (without a beard) without heavy armor and a helmet, with a thin, clearly not physical, spear, on an unrealistic (spiritual) horse, without much physical effort, pierces with a spear an unrealistic (spiritual) serpent with wings and paws.
- in the Western school, the image of St. George is more materialistic: a muscular man in heavy armor and a helmet, with a thick spear, on a realistic horse with physical exertion pierces with a spear an almost realistic snake with wings and paws.
In heraldry
Since the time of Dmitry Donskoy, he has been considered the patron saint of Moscow, since the city was founded by his namesake Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. The image of a horseman slaying a serpent with a spear, which appeared in Moscow heraldry from the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, was perceived in the popular consciousness as the image of St. George; in 1730 this was formalized.
Currently, this figure in the coat of arms of the Russian Federation is described as “a silver rider in a blue cloak riding to the left on a silver horse, striking with a silver spear a black dragon, overturned on its back and trampled by the horse, also facing to the left”, that is, without a direct reference to St. George, and is depicted without a halo. It should be noted that in fact the coat of arms depicts not a dragon, but a serpent. In heraldry, the serpent is a negative character, and the dragon is a positive character; they can be distinguished by the number of paws - two for the dragon and four for the serpent. The use of references to a dragon instead of a serpent in official documents of the Russian Federation should be regarded as an unfortunate misunderstanding and unprofessionalism of the heraldic service. At the same time, the coat of arms of Moscow speaks of Saint George slaying the serpent:
The coat of arms of Georgia depicts a red heraldic shield with St. George the Victorious slaying a serpent.
Also, in heraldry and vexillology, the St. George Cross is used - a straight red cross on a white field. It is represented on the flags of Great Britain and England, Georgia, and on the flag and coat of arms of Milan. The Cross of St. George should not be confused with another Christian symbol - the Scandinavian cross.
In toponymy
The Russian prince Yaroslav the Wise founded and named the following cities in honor of his patron saint George: Yuryev (Gyurgev, now Tartu) and Yuryev Russky (now Belaya Tserkov).
Links and literature
- "Miracles of St. George." Text VII-IX centuries, Russian. language
- The Suffering of the Holy and Glorious Great Martyr George, written by Master Theodore Dafnopat
- Consecration of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr George in Kyiv
- Vlas Mikhailovich Doroshevich. “In the promised land. At the tomb of St. George the Victorious"
- George, Great Martyr // Orthodox Encyclopedia
