|
|
||
|
|
About Us:Father Nectarios Rozadilla (Father Email: fathernectariosrozadilla@yahoo.com) April 23, Feast of the Holy Great Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer
Returning to Cappadocia after a victorious campaign and passing through the region of Attalia in Pamphylia, he freed the king’s daughter, who had been left at the mercy of a dangerous dragon, and killed the beast with a divine strength that he was given by his faith. Marveling at this demonstration of the strength given by Christ to His faithful ones against the forces of evil, the local pagans were all converted to Christianity. At the time of the Great Persecution unleashed by Diocletian (c. 304), when the Emperor had summoned all the Eastern governors to Nicomedia to make them privy to his decrees against the Christians, Saint George, sensing that the moment had come for him to make public confession of Christ, gave all his goods away to the poor, freed his slaves and went to court. He appeared in the midst of the assembly and reproached the sovereign for unjustly shedding the innocent blood of Christians. Diocletian in stupefaction ordered his second-in-command Magnentius to interrogate this insolent young man about his faith. George replied that it was because he believed in Christ the true God that he had come without fear to reproach them. Having recovered from his amazement, the Emperor, fearing a tumult among those present, offered to heap honors on the Saint on condition that he sacrifice to the gods of the Empire. George replied: “Your reign will become corrupt and will quickly disappear at no gain to you; but those who offer a sacrifice of praise to the King of Heaven will reign with Him for all eternity!” At the sovereign’s orders, the guards beat the Saint on the stomach with their lances. His blood flowed down but, at the first blows, their weapons became twisted as thought they were made of some soft material. Christ’s soldier was then thrown into prison with a heavy stone on his breast. The next day, he appeared once more before the tyrant and showed the same firmness. They therefore tied him to a wheel suspended over sharp instruments, so that, when the wheel was turned, the Saint’s body would gradually be cut to pieces. Overcoming the pain with his overflowing love for God, Saint George unceasingly gave thanks to God. A voice was then heard from heaven, saying: “Fear nothing, George; I am with you!” And a white clad angel more resplendent than the sun descended to loose him and heal his wounds. When he
appeared safe and sound before the Emperor, two officers of the guard,
Anatolius and Protoleon, confessed Christ with loud voices. They were
beheaded at once. The Empress Alexandra (April 21) also declared herself
to be a Christian, but Magnentius constrained her to withdraw to the
palace. They then threw the Saint into a ditch filled with quicklime;
but, like the Three Young men in the Babylonian furnace, he emerged
unharmed after three days, greeted by the crowd with the cry, “Great is
George’s God!” The next day, Diocletian had George appear in the Temple of Apollo before a fairly large crowd. Pretending that he intended to offer sacrifice, the Martyr went into the temple and confronted the idol, making the sign of the Cross. The demons that lived in the idol then confessed in terror that Christ alone is the true God, and they escaped with a great hubbub, leaving the inert statues to fall to the ground. The priests and the pagans then drove the Saint out with loud cries and took him back to the palace. Attracted by the tumult, Empress Alexandra came out and forced her way through the crowd, crying out: “God of George, come to my aid!,” and she fell at the Saint’s feet. Unable any longer to contain his fury, the tyrant, whose heart was hardened as Pharaoh’s had been of old, ordered that they both be beheaded. But, some time before the execution, Alexandra peacefully gave her soul into God’s hands in prison. When the day arrived, Saint George went to the place of execution followed by a large crowd. He gave thanks to God for His benefits, and, begging His help for all those who would trustingly invoke his intercession throughout the centuries, bent his neck under the sword and went to carry off the trophies of eternal glory. Carrying out the Saint’s desire, his servant took his precious relics back to his country, to Lydda (Diospolis) in Palestine, where innumerable miracles were worked in the great church that was built in his honor. The
veneration of Saint George enjoyed enormous popularity throughout the
Christian world, both East and West. He was chosen to be the protector
of countries like Georgia and England; thousands of churches have been
dedicated to him and every Christian soul sees in him the incarnation of
the virtues of valor, patience in affliction and trust in the help of
grace that Christ, the Leader in battle, has enjoined on all the
soldiers enrolled in His army of devotion. If the
Feast of Saint George occurs during Great Lent or Holy Week, the feast
is transposed to the Monday after Pascha, the Monday of Bright Week.
This is done not only because the Divine Liturgy is not conducted on the
weekdays of Lent, but also because many of the hymns of the Feast are
Paschal in nature. This is due to the fact that under the Old Calendar,
this feast never occurred before the annual celebration of Pascha.
|
 |
|
|
||
By
the grace of God, he also escaped a poison prepared by a sorcerer called
Athanasius. When the latter and those of his sort were still incredulous
and reckoned that George was using magical arts, he, at their request,
raised a dead man who had been buried for three hundred years. The man
prostrated before the Saint and, declaring that he had been wrested from
hell at George’s prayers, he confessed Christ. The defeated sorcerer
then fell at the feet of the servant of God and, in his turn, proclaimed
the true Faith. Diocletian ordered that Athanasius and the resurrected
man be beheaded without delay.