Saint George the Martyr

by Peter James

Despite most people having a strong belief that St George was English and may have slain a dragon, this is very far from the truth. True, he is the patron saint of England and one of the famous figures in Christian history, but he almost certainly did not visit England or any part of the British Isles during his lifetime. Of the man himself, nothing is known for certain. In fact, the only reason that we can be sure that he existed is the very lack of evidence concerning him at all! However, there are two reasons to think that he may have existed; 1) There were many Christian martyrs in the early centuries so it is quite conceivable that a man called George was amongst these, 2) In those preliterate years of the 1st centuries it is entirely conceivable that the story of a George would have been passed by word of mouth through the generations in the regions where he had lived, thus creating the legend of St George. The earliest source, Eusebius of Caesarea, writing c. 322, tells of a soldier of noble birth who was put to death under Diocletian at Nicomedia on 23 April, 303, but makes no mention of his name, his country or his place of burial. According to the apocryphal Acts of St George current in various versions in the Eastern Church from the fifth century, George held the rank of tribune in the Roman army and was beheaded by Diocletian for protesting against the Emperor's persecution of Christians.

Research which established what little we actually know about the historical George was carried out around the turn of the century by the Bollandists, a scholarly society within the Jesuits. On the evidence of fourth century inscriptions found in Syria, one dating from c346, and the testimony of the pilgrim Theodosius, who visited Lydda in 530 and is the first to mention the tomb of St George, they concluded that George had indeed actually existed. An ancient cult, going back to a very early epoch and connected with a definite locality, in itself constitutes a strong historical argument. Such we have in the case of St. George. The narratives of the early pilgrims Antoninus, and Arculphus, from the sixth to the eighth century, all speak of Lydda or Diospolis as the seat of the veneration of St. George, and as the resting-place of his remains. There seems, therefore, no ground for doubting the historical existence of St. George, even though he is not commemorated in the Syrian, or in the primitive Hieronymian Martyrologium, but no faith can be placed in the attempts that have been made up to fill in any of the missing details of his history. David Woods, Irish historian, asserts that as Eusebius of Caesarea reveals no knowledge of any martyr in Palestine by the name of George, provides a start of AD313 for the development of his cult, while the inscription from Zorava provides a firm end of AD515. Therefore something occurred during the period AD313-515 to lead to a belief that a martyr by the name of George had been buried at Diospolis. The passion was then invented as a result of popular demand for the story of this hitherto unrecognized martyr.

David Woods goes on further, to suggest that an explanation for such a belief is that someone had identified the grave of a certain George at Diospolis as that of a martyr. Now, this could have happened as a result of a dream or because someone believed that they had received a cure as a result of visiting this grave, a common occurrence with some early Christian beliefs. Strictly speaking, though, the name of this "martyr" might well be as fictitious as everything else that his early passion claims for him. He offers an alternative explanation, however, and that is that the burial place of a certain George at Diospolis had always been identified as that of a martyr. In the context of the period AD313-515, this suggests that we should seek to identify this George as a victim of the persecutions of Christianity by either of the emperors Licinius (AD308-24) in AD322-24 or Julian (AD360-63) in AD362-63. No George is known to have suffered under Licinius, but bishop George of Alexandria was one of the more famous victims of the persecutions under Julian. Writing in c.AD390, the pagan Latin historian Ammianus Marcellinus preserves a detailed account of the murder of a George on 24 December AD361. Could this be the real St George? , it is an intriguing thought though.

The Acts of St George, a fictional account of his life, were translated into Anglo-Saxon, and English churches were dedicated to him before the Norman Conquest, for example one at Doncaster, in 1061. The crusades no doubt added to his popularity. William of Malmesbury tells us that Saints George and Demetrius, "the martyr knights", were seen assisting the Franks at the battle of Antioch, 1098 (Gesta Regum, II, 420). It is conjectured, but not proved, that the "arms of St. George " (argent, a cross, gules) were introduced about the time of Richard Coeur de Lion. That being said, it should be stated here, that St George had no actual connection with the crusades at all, being dead many centuries before they commenced.

Because of his widespread following, particularly in the Near East, and the many miracles attributed to him, George became universally recognized as a saint sometime after 900. A holiday in honour of St George, to be kept on 23 April, was declared by the Synod of Oxford in 1222; and St George had become acknowledged as Patron Saint of England by the end of the fourteenth century. The feast of St George is still kept on the 23 rd April. In 1415, the year of Agincourt, Archbishop Chichele raised St George's Day to a great feast and ordered it to be observed like Christmas Day. In 1778 the holiday reverted to a simple day of devotion for English Catholics.

The fame of St George throughout Europe was greatly increased by the publication of the Legenda Sanctorum (Readings on the Saints), later known as the Legenda Aurea (The Golden Legend) by James of Voragine in 1265. The name 'golden legend' does not refer to St George but to the whole collection of stories, which were said to be worth their weight in gold. It was this book, which popularized the legend of George and the Dragon. The legend may have been particularly well received in England because of a similar legend in Anglo-Saxon literature. St George became a stock figure in the secular miracle plays derived from pagan sources, which continued to be performed at the beginning of spring. The origin of the legend remains obscure. It is first recorded in the late sixth century and may have been an allegory of the persecution of Diocletian, who was sometimes referred to as 'the dragon' in ancient texts. The story may also be a christianized version of the Greek legend of Perseus, who was said to have rescued the virgin Andromeda from a sea monster at Arsuf or Jaffa, near Lydda (Diospolis), where the cult of St George grew up around the site of his supposed tomb.

There are a number of sites throughout the Middle East, including Turkey and Syria, which claim to hold relics of St George, the most important being the supposed tomb of St George which can still be seen at Lod, south-east of Tel-Aviv in Israel and a convent in Cairo preserves personal objects which are believed to have belonged to St George.

St George is still venerated in a large number of places, by followers of particular occupations and sufferers from certain diseases. In addition to being the patron saint of England, George is also the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece; and of Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice. He is held sacred by Armenians. He is venerated by some Anglicans as well as by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. In addition and perhaps more surprisingly, he is also venerated by some Muslims in the middle east, were the Christian saint George seems to have been identified with a figure in the Koran known as Al-Khodor or the 'The Green Man' .

So where does this leave us with St George today? Moreover, what are we to think of a belief in St George today when some Christians would like to demote him and replace him by an English saint such as St Alban for whom much is known? Some persons would even like to remove him from Christian history itself? This problem is compounded when his name has been expropriated by certain groups for their own political ends with the result that others – Christians and non-Christians - feel alienated from such a figure.

Well, we know that he certainly was not an English dragon slayer, he was of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean origin and that he probably was an innocent Christian martyr, maybe even a bishop. George was one of many people who were murdered in their thousands for their faith in the early centuries after the birth of Christ, an event that was to be repeated as the centuries unfolded through the events of the reformation and then in the 20 th Century during the genocide of the Armenians, the Russian Revolution, the World Wars and more recently Cambodia and Africa. St George can be seen as the ‘unknown Christian soldier’, the martyr who would otherwise have no memorial. In a sense he presents the inner warfare to be waged against sin and ignorance that lies at the heart of these great injustices. As such a saint like this should be remembered and honored, even venerated for what he represents. Undeniably, given his ethnic origin, his Orthodox faith and honor given him by some Muslims, St George can and should be seen more as a multicultural, interdenominational and multi-faith figure whose image may draw people of different faiths, ethnic origins and beliefs together.

Icons of St George

St George can still be seen in the form of an icon or image in many churches having a Catholic or Orthodox tradition. Generally, these icons place George on a horse, although early icon painters depicted him standing up right as a foot solider armed with his sword, lance and shield, and in his military uniform; as is the case of the icon in St George’s church. Occasionally, the saint may be shown surrounded by excepts from his life, miracles or martyrdom. He is usually depicted sitting astride a white horse though an exception being an icon displayed in the British Museum which has George on a black challenger, the ‘Black George’. The white recalls the colour noted by the evangelists at the Transfiguration of the Lord; it is the enfoldment of light, an attribute of the glorified body and symbol of divine glory. The face is not an ordinary portrait, but depicts the divine presence in the human being. Very little background can be seen in many of these icons and a kind of inverted perspective is used to draw the viewer’s eye towards the saint, indeed an icon should be viewed not as a picture but rather as a story that links the observer through the saint to Christ himself. An icon of St George should not be worshipped or adored, but rather given veneration, that is beheld as a special object of value. A dragon or some such similar beast representing evil is shown emanating from a cave in the ground symbolizing the cosmos in darkness awaiting divine relation. George is then shown having plunged his lance into the dragon or serpent’s side a clear allegory to Christ’s victory over death and the devil. The colour red will be seen in the icon often forming some part of the clothing of the saint or as a background, symbolizing his martyrdom. The words ‘Saint George’ will be imposed upon the background forming part of the ‘writing’ of the icon. Finally the hand of God may be seen giving a blessing to the scene. Finally, three icons are presented here showing slightly different representations of the saint.

Icon of St George, Novgorod, based upon a 15 th Century Russian icon (click photo for large image)

Icon of St George, Novgorod, based upon an early 15 th Century Russian icon (click photo for large image)

An icon of St George based upon a modern 20th Century icon (click photo for large image)

Grateful thanks are made to the following sources for their help in assembling this short note:

• The British Museum, www.Britannia.com, and the online Catholic encyclopaedia


• David Woods, University College Cork


• Bob Atchison http://www.pallasweb.com/ikons/


• The Art of the Icon, Iain Zaczek, Studio Editions


• Icons a Sacred Art, Linda Proud, Pitkin


• Icons, Kurt Weizman, Alpine


• Icons, Art and Devotion, T. Talbot Rice, Bracken Books


• The Icon, Kurt Weizman, Bracken Books


• The Technique of Icon Painting, Guillem Ramos-Poqui, Search Press

For more information concerning the history of the cult of St George, icons
of St George and translations of the Golden Legend, please look at the following
excellent website by David Woods http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/grgorig.html

Forthcoming dates