St George

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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:
In a rage, Dioklitianos ordered George to prison.His feet were tied together and a heavy stone was placed on his chest.The next day George was taken before the emperor.Again he refused to renounce his faith.The emperor ordered George to be tied to a large wheel which had sharp steel all the way around it.The idea was that George's body would be cut to shreds.Again George refused to renounce his faith, instead he continued to praise God.As the wheel turned, a voice cried from heaven, "Have faith George, I am with you!"
Immediately an angel appeared and released George from the wheel and healed his wounds.

George was taken before the emperor again. The emperor refused to believe it was George before him.Some of the emperors court thought it was a ghost.As the emperor was deciding what to do, two of his lieutenants appeared before him with one thousand soldiers.They all confessed their faith in God.In a rage Dioklitianos ordered them all to be executed. He ordered George to be thrown into a pit with lime and water  and to be left there for 3 days so all his bones would be dissolved.After 3 days the pit was opened. George was alive and in prayer.The people were amazed. "George's God is great!" many said.Dioklitianos was furious and demanded an explanantion from George as to where he learned this magic.

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:
Dioklitianos called a meeting of all his rich men to decide what to do with George.George was beaten badly and brought before the emperor. As he stood there in front of him, George shone like an angel.Dioklitianos attributed this to magic and ordered his magician Athanasios to break George's spell.

The magician Athanasios:

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.

The death of St George:

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.
Dioklitianos ordered George to go to Apollo's shrine to offer sacrifice.George went, made the sign of the cross, and ordered the idol to fall.It did and broke into bits.
The priests and the people were angry and called upon the emperor to execute George.
Thus, St George was beheaded.

The miracles:

The transportation of a pillar:
A woman bought a pillar for George's church in Rome.She couldn't transport it as it was too big.One night George came to her in a dream.Together they lifted the column, and threw it into the sea.It was found in Rome with an inscription saying it was to be placed at the right side of George's church.

The prisoner is released:
In a place called Paflagonia of Pontus, many believed in St George.There were many churches dedicated to his name.Every family gave his name to one of their male children.In one particular family, the son grew to be 20 years old.He joined the army as there were many battles in those days between the Christians and the barbarians.Many Christians died, many became slaves or were prisoners.This young man became a slave to a Lieutenant.He was greatly respected, although he was not free.His parents constantly cried and prayed for him.The young prisoner prayed constantly too, for the year he was in captivity.
It was St Georges day and the prisoners parents invited their family to dinner.At the same time the Lieutenant ordered the prisoner to wash his feet before he was to eat.The young man went to get some hot water. He had been praying constantly all day to St George.
Suddenly St George appeared before the prisoner on a white horse.He helped the prisoner onto it and brought him to his parents, as they were about to eat.Everyone praised God when it was revealed how the young prisoner had been freed.

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.

St George and the Dragon:

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.
When the people asked the king why his attempts had failed, he said it was the will of the gods, and, in accordance with their wishes it was decided that every family should send one of their children as food for the dragon.The king would also send his only daughter when it came to his turn.
It was soon the kings turn to send his only child and he was devastated.He begged to be let off,offering riches and his crown to the people.The people refused. It had been the kings law that had sent their own children to their deaths.The king accompanied his only daughter to the outskirts of the town.She was taken to the pool where the dragon lived by a few of the kings men.The men left her there alone and the town watched the scene from their walled city.
St George was in the army at the time.He had not yet confessed his faith.As he passed by the pool, he decided to water his horse and rest.He saw the girl crying.He asked her why she was crying and why the whole city was watching her from the walls.
The girl advised him to leave straight away and told him she did not have time to explain.He was in grave danger.He refused, insisting that he had to know wat the problem was.
She begged him to go.He would not budge.Eventually the princess told him why she was there.
St George told her that if she believed in his God, she would see his power.She confessed her faith.St George said that he would kill the beast and banish fear from the town.
He told the girl to call him when the dragon came.He went to pray.A voice was heard from heaven:"I am with you George.Do as you will."
The princess then called George.The dragon had come out of its lair.
George raced to meet the dragon.He made the sign of the cross and asked God to let the dragon fall before him so that all around would believe.It fell at the feet of George's horse foaming.The princess was overjoyed.George told the princess to take off her belt and tie it around the dragons neck.George got on his horse and told the princess to pull the dragon back to town with her belt.The town was amazed, watching the princess pulling the dragon along with her belt.George told them to accept the true faith which they did.He then raised his hand and killed the dragon.He took the princess to the king who was overjoyed.

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.
St George commanded the man to tell him what he intended to do.The man replied that he was jealous of the Saint and came to make him pay homage to him.George raised his hand and thanked God. As soon as he did this, the spirit vanished.

 


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Last Published:4/5/03
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