April: Day 23: Teaching 1:
Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious
(Lessons From His Life)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious
(Lessons From His Life)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. Today we celebrate in honor the memory of the Holy Glorious Great Martyr and George the Victorious. Who was Saint George? Why in the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially in Holy Rus', was the custom of specially honoring this Holy Great Martyr established?
He was a Roman warrior of the end of the 3rd century, beautiful in soul and body. He was rich and noble, belonging to the highest circle. His internal and external virtues, especially the extraordinary affection of the Roman Emperor Diocletian for him, quickly not only led him up all the steps of military and state honors of the first ranks, but also placed him outside the ranks - above all, since the Emperor Diocletian intended to make him his co-ruler, and in the event of his death, his successor.
And all this was lost, all this was rejected, all was trampled underfoot by young George. We call him young because he died a martyr's death not yet 30 years old. George was a Christian. Great was the amazement, great was the grief of the emperor, when they began to whisper to him first, and then to speak loudly, that faith in the crucified Christ was penetrating not only into the palace, not only into the highest ranks of the army and nobles, but into the very family of the formidable Caesar. It is known that Diocletian was one of the most evil, if not the most evil persecutor of Christianity. He perceived all the danger posed by the spreading Christianity to the entire Roman pagan order. That is why he raised against Christianity the unlimited power of the Roman Caesar and the immense strength of the Roman pagan state that still existed at that time. All minds were sharpened in inventing and applying the most varied, most agonizing, and most slowly acting torments to Christians. What, then, was the astonishment and grief of the Caesar when he learned that his designated son, the brave and fearless George, and, to add to this, the emperor's own wife, Empress Alexandra, professed the Christian faith? Of course, everything around the grieved ruler came into motion, everything went to George and the Empress to convince them to abandon their faith in Jesus Christ, to worship their native gods and not to upset their spouse, not to upset their father - a benefactor, not to upset, not to disgrace the ruler of the world by the fact that in his own family there were insolent criminals - offenders of his will, his laws, his gods. The Emperor's grief and rage doubled when it turned out that George and Empress Alexandra were unyielding... George was beaten with leather whips, his body was torn to shreds, turning it on a wheel over sharpened teeth, boiled in quicklime... The Great Martyr remained unyielding. Knowing of his torment, Empress Alexandra remained unyielding. Finally, the death sentence was pronounced: both were beheaded.
II. a) The Holy Great Martyr George is called the Victorious because he was twice the victorious, since he did not know defeat in the many battles with the enemies of the Emperor; finally, he conquered the Emperor himself - he conquered first his gratitude to him, his affection, his love for his benefactor, his second father, the source of extraordinary happiness, his hope of eventually occupying the Roman throne, and with it the sole rule over the universe. This was the hardest victory. After that, enduring all hellish torments seemed to be of little consequence. To face a martyr's death for Jesus Christ even became a source of joy.
b) Upon his death, the love of the Christian world for this great ornament of the beautiful martyrs increased, one could say, as the memory of his death receded into the depths of the centuries. All who mourned, especially during fierce military clashes, turned to the victorious George. Many visions are recounted, in which the Great Martyr appeared on a white horse amidst the battles, fighting alongside his fellow Christian brethren.
Therefore, our great princes, the ancient great princes, incorporated into their arms, as the grand princely state emblem, the image of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious, a horse-mounted figure striking a dragon with a spear, topped with a cross. The dragon symbolizes paganism, and the dragon pierced by a spear, crowned with a cross, is an ancient symbol from the 4th-5th centuries representing the victory of Christianity over paganism – nothing more.
The image of George was then adopted into the royal state coat of arms, which became the coat of arms of the ancient Roman emperors - the double-headed eagle. This combination of the coats of arms of the ancient Roman with the ancient Russian grand ducal remains to this day the coat of arms of imperial Russia. That is why the wise and great Catherine II, when she established the order as a reward for selfless military valor, established the sign of the Cross with the image of the Great Martyr George, and established the glorious Saint George's cross in Russia.
III. Every Russian warrior, of course, is eager to join the ranks of the holy companions of the victorious George. And all, without a doubt, should aspire to emulate him in courage amidst battles, in selfless fulfillment of the warrior's duty, in Christian love for Christ and his brethren, to the readiness to lay down one's life for them.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
