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St.
George was born about 280 A.D. of a Christian family that
was wealthy and of noble origin, in the city of Capadocia,
a city of the Eastern Empire, in Asia Minor. He followed the
usual career of young nobleman and joined the Roman army,
where his ability and charm brought him quick promotion. The
Emperor heard about him and as a rcsult made him a tribune
or an officer in the Imperial Guard. One story says that he
was a frielld of Constantine another officer, who later became
the first Christian emperor. The legend says that St. George
came with Constantine to Britain and visited some holy places
as Glastonbury and Caerleon. On his return to Nicomedia, the
capital of the Eatern Empire where Diocletian settled, he
met the fiercy storm of persecution. Diocletian gave orders
for the issue of a formal edict against the Christians on
February 23, in the year 303 A.D., being the feast of Termhlalia.
The provisions of this edict which was published on the next
day in the market place, were as follows: "All churches
should be levelled to the ground. All sacred books to be burned.
All Christians who hold any honorable rank are not only to
be degraded, but to be deprived of civil rights. Also, All
Chris- tians who are not officials are to be reduced to slavery".
In great courage, the young man George, pushed his way through
the market place to read the proclamation, and then in front
of the awe-stricken crown, he deliberately tore down the Imperial
edict and threw it away. Consequently he was arrested and
brought to the presence of Diocletian. Some historians believe
that St. George was not the young man who tore the proclamation,
but as the edict was proclaimed and the great church in Nicomedia
was ransacked and destroyed by the pretorian guard, he liberated
his slaves, distributed all his wealth to the poor and prepared
himself for mar- tyrdom. he entered Diocletian's palace and
rebuked him for his behaviour against the Christians. The
Emperor tried to seduce him by promises that he would be granted
a higher positon in the Empire. But as these promises failed
to attract him, the Emperor began to threaten him with unbearable
tortures that he will in- flict on him. Lastly he put him
in prison.
ST. GEORGE'S CHASTITY:
Diocletian knew that nothing, except sin, could destroy the
strength, and demolish the integrity of this Saint. Thus he
arranged for a very beautiful woman to spend the night with
him in prison and try to debauch him. St. George who could
only look forward to heavenly joy, began to pray and within
a short while he managed to swing her heart to the christian
faith. Soon she seriously began to inquire about salvation,
and by the morning she declared that she found her true Bridegroom
Jesus Christ. With great courage she announced her Christianity
to the emperol and his mell, aild joined thc other saintly
martrys.
ST. GEORGE'S SUFFERlNGS
It is not the purpose of this paper to go through the tortures
that wer. applieci to St. George, in depth, but nevertheless
I wish to bring to light his utmost love for Christ, by listing
sorne of them. His body was torn by a special instrument that
had metallic teeth, and our Lord Jesus rose him, after his
death and many pagans were converted. He was put in a active
lime, and thell water was poured on it. Again the Lord returned
him back to life. The emperor became very agitated, imagining
that the Saint was USillg magic. He called his top magician,
Athanasius and requcsted hilll to prepare a lethal poison
to kill St. George. The Saint signcd over the CtAp with the
sign of the cross before drinking it, of course no harnrl
came to him. The Emperor's councillors informed him that St.
George's magic was in fact contailled in the sign of the Cross
itself. Another cup was also given to the Saint, but this
time with his hands tied behind his back. The Saint signed
it by his head saying: "shall I drink it from here or
here or here or here!!!" During all these tortures, although
the Saint had enollgh paills and sufferings of his own, but
nevertheless kept on talking to Diocletian about the powers
of the Christian faith. At the end the Emperor asked him if
he could raise a dead man he knew of. St. George prayed to
our Lord and the dead man came back to life. The result of
that was the conversion of both the dead man and the magician
as well as many others. They all were martyred.
IN THE EMPEROR'S PALACE
When all methods failed to incite St. George, the Emperor
invited him in his palace to entertain him. He offered him
an apointment as a prince if he only sacrificed once to the
idols. The Saint replied "Tomorrow you will see the powers
of your gods" At the palace, St. George met Empress Alexanefra,
who llad a f:air idea about the Saint's God. She spoke with
him, but the conversation quickly changed its course and the
Saint began to preach to her about Jesus Christ, the Saviour
of the world. On the following day many people went to thc
temple to witness St. George's saerifice to the idols. The
Saint stretched his hands, raised his eyes to Heaven..and
in a moment, the idols collapsed and fell to the ground!!.
The crowds shouted "we believe in George's God"
At this, the Emperor and his men put an end to the lives of
the new Christians, St. George, and Empress Alexandra in 23
Baramouda, 303 A.D.
St. George was buried in his mother's home that was situated
on the seashore at Lydda, in Palestine. Before long his fame
was spread all over the world. King Constantine, who took
over after Diocletian, considcred that St. George was the
true model of the young christian man, and ordered a church
to be built over his grave. In Egypt, the Copts call him,
"The Prince of Martyrs", and built over 200 churches
named after him. Moreover he is a personal friend of the majority
of the Copts, who believe in the power of his prayers for
them. The Greeks call him "the Great Martyr".
HIS FlGHT WITH THE DRAGON
Legends grew up about this Saint, but the most famous one
is about his fight with the dragon, which was documented in
a book called "the Colden l,egend" by James de Voragine,
a bishop of Genoa. It happened when St. George was once stationed
with the Roman army near Salone in Libya, North Africa. In
that area a Dragon which was described as a huge crocodile
with scaled wings, had eaten so many of the coun- try folks
around Salone that the remaining lot fled to the town and
took shelter behind its walls. There, the dragon was positioned
outside the city gates, and nobody could get in or out. Moreover
its poisonous breath was so lethal that as it snored over
the city wall, people could actually drop dead in the nearby
area. In order to keep the beast away from the walls, two
sheep were tethered every day, some distance away. The system
worked fine until they ran out of sheep and the miserable
people could not think of any other alternative but to sacriSlce
one child everyday.
One day the lot fell on the king's daughter, Sabra, a girl
of fourteen. sometimes called Cleodolinda. Dressed in her
most splendid clothers, as for her wedding, the poor girl
was taken outside the city walls. While she was waiting for
the dragon, weep- hlg, George the tribune came up mounting
his white horse. On hearing the story he decided to put an
end to that tragedy, and decided to kill the dragon. "Fair
girl" he said, "do not be afraid for I will save
you life with the aid of my I ord Jesus Christ". When
lhe dragon appeared George the hero got engaged with the wild
beast in a great combat. Finally he managed to wound it with
his lance so badly that it could fight no more. Now the two
of them tied a rope around its neck, and dragged it to the
town. There in the market place, George cut off its head in
front of all the cheering hlhabitants, and the people of the
whole town were baptized and became Christians.
The above story seems to be exaggerated, which is perhaps
true, and it could have started by a fight between St. George
and an ordinary crocodile. However, it became very popular
all over the world, because of its spiritual meaning that
St. George defeated the devil by the Cross and his righteousness
in Christ.
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