St George |
Life | The Emperor Dioklitianos | George is sent to prison | The emperor calls a meeting |
The magician Athanasios | The death of St George | The miracles. | St George and the Dragon |
Life: St George was born in Capadocia and lived towards the end of the third Century and the beginning of the fourth.He lived at a time of Christian persecution.His father died when he was ten years old.His mother then took him to Palestine where she had her home.He joined the army and was greatly respected for his courage and bravery.Dioklitianos,the emperor,greatly admired him. George confessed his faith in front of the emperor and was tortured and ultimately executed.He is known as St George the Great Martyr.He has performed many miracles. Dioklitianos: Up to the time of Dioklitianos 283 AD, the christian faith grew in strength.There was peace, and because of this, the Christians built many churches and schools.Dioklitianos worked hard to build his state. He eliminated his enemies and turned against the Christians to consolidate idolatry.He invited his top officials to three general meetings in 303AD. George,who was a count, was amongst these officials.They all met to propose measures which would ultimately eliminate the Christain faith.The emperor spoke first and urged them all to fight to destroy Christianity.They all agreed that they would use every means necessary to eliminate Christianity from Rome-everyone except George.He rose up and questioned the motives of the emperor and his followers and proceeded to explain to all the truth about the Christian faith and the Godliness of Jesus. The gathering were all shocked by Georges outburst and they all urged him to repent.He refused and was steadfast in his faith. George is sent
to prison: George told the emperor that these acts were a sign of holy intervention and not magic.The Emperor refused to believe this and ordered George to wear shoes with steel nails in them and to be forced to walk. George wore them and prayed, walked and was okay.The emperor was angrier than ever and ordered George to prison again. The emperor calls a meeting: Athanasios had two containers which contained poison.The first container made you go mad.The second caused death.The emperor ordered George to drink from the first.Without hesitation and praying, George drank.The poison had no effect.He drank from the second container and again nothing happened.Everyone was astounded.The emperor continued to insist that George had his own magic.Athanasios, realising the strength of the potions, knelt down and confessed his faith in God.The emperor was furious and ordered the magician to be executed. The emperors wife Alexandria, also turned up at that time.She too confessed her faith in God and was aslo executed. George was ordered back to
prison.That night he saw Jesus in a dream.The Lord assured him that he would wear the
crown of a martyr and inherit eternal life.The next day George was brought before the
emperor again.George was happy as he knew this was the end. The
miracles: The widows son: In Lesbos, pirates attacked intent on plunder.They decided to attack on St George's day as everyone would be in church.Amongst their prisoners was a widows son.He was given as a present to Amiran of Crete, who made him his slave.His mother prayed to St George constantly.St George rescued the boy and brought him home. Paflagonia: Children palyed in the courtyard of a large church in Paflagonia.There was one child who couldn't win any games and was constantly taunted by the others.He begged St George to help him win and he would cook him eggs with onions.He went out to compete and beat all the other children.He cooked the dinner himself and left it in front of the Saints icon.Three other children came to the icon, saw the dinner and ate it, believing that the Saint had no need for food.When they wanted to leave they could not get up as they were stuck to the marble church steps.It was not until they offered St George 1 florin each if they were released that they were freed. Punishment: A saracen, cousin to the king of Syria, saw St George's church and ordered his slaves to put all his belongings in it, where they would rest before continuing on their journey.He insisted that they also put twelve camels in the church.The priests begged him not to do this. He refused to listen and went to supervise.As the camels entered the church they all died.The saracen ordered the camels to be taken out of the church to be buried.He stayed there himself all night until the priest came the next day to conduct the liturgy.As the Holy Communion was about to begin, the saracen had a dream.The priest took into his hands a young child. He sacrificed it, and the blood of the child was shed into the Holy cup of Communion.His body was cut into small pieces, and placed on the Holy tray.When the Holy Communion was being conducted, and the saracen saw the priest giving the blood and the body of the child to the congregation, he was furious and asked for an explanation from the priest. The priest explained all to him-how he had been privileged to have seen a dream that only the great fathers of the church had seen.Even the priest had never seen this dream before in such clarity.He explained the mysteries of the Holy communion,and the saracen asked to be baptised into the church. The priest decided to send the saracen to Jerusalem to be baptised, as he knew full well that if the mans uncle-the King of Syria-found out about this, he would have started mass persecutions of the Christians.The saracen went to Jerusalem and was baptised.He then went to the patriarch and asked him what he should do to be saved.The patriarch advised him to become a monk on Mount Sinai.The saracen did this and was there for three years. After this time elapsed, he got permission to visit the priest at the Church of St George who had advised him to get baptised.The priest did not recognise him at first.The saracen longed to see Christ, and after talking it over with the priest, he decided to go to his uncle and confess his faith.His uncle merely dismissed him as crazy, in order to protect him from certain death, as he had criticised the prophet Mohamed. The Courtiers around were all incensed as they wanted the saracen stoned.Eventually the king, in fear, gave in, and his nephew was killed.Every night above his body which was covered by stones, a bright light shone which gave light to the area.After a while the king gave permission to the Christians to remove and bury the body.The body had not decayed and a sweet smelling aroma exuded from it. In the town of Alayia,there
reigned a king called Selvios.He hated the Christians and put many of them to death. Near
the town, there was a dragon which kept eating both people and animals.Everyone lived in
terror. The king had tried to kill it many times but had failed. George invited the Bishop Alexandros from a town in Antioch.In 15 days he baptised 45,000 people.A church was also built.As soon as St George went in and prayed, a spring gushed out with holy water.The spring still exists today. St George said his farewell
and left for Capadocia.On the road he met satan in the form of a man.The man greeted him.
The Saint was not fooled.He knew who he was speaking to.The man told St George that he was
an angel.St George said to him that if he was an angel he should follow him,otherwise he
would be rooted to the spot.The man could not move and started to curse his luck. |
Last Published:4/5/03
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