By Fr. George Dorbarakis
We should first note that although today's feast is for the consecration of the Church of Saint George in the city of Lydda, the service is an exquisite encomium for the Great Martyr, without any reference whatsoever to the event of the day. We characterize the encomium as exquisite because indeed the Hymnographer, moving dithyrambically towards the Saint, feels dizziness and fear, wonder and ecstasy, in order, even slightly, to search for his virtues. "I am dizzy and fearful, at a loss and astounded, should I attempt to even search, O Trophy-bearer, for your virtues." And logically: how could the prosaic or even formal laudatory speech describe “the noetic diamond of patience,” the one who lived “worthy of the name” by becoming “a cultivator of Christ,” who “armed with the sign of the Cross, like a sword and a spear, subdued all the power of tyrants and all unbelief,” who roams the entire world, to protect people in any phase of their lives, who strengthens the faithful in overcoming their passions, and all this from the fervent eros that possessed him towards God? “O, your fervent eros towards God, all-blessed one!”
The first point of course on which the Hymnographer dwells, already at the beginning of Vespers, is the “self-invitation” of his presence before the Emperor’s council. Without being led there, he presents himself in order to joyfully and bravely declare that he is a Christian. “You have joined of your own accord the struggle with joy and courage.” And this is a point that requires an answer, given that our Church generally does not accept “intrusion,” that is, the believer’s initiative in seeking martyrdom. However, we see this in Saint George, as well as in other great martyrs. What explanation does the ecclesiastical poet give through the general Service? The answer is truly surprising: the poet compares Saint George – something we do not often encounter in hymns about other martyrs – to the Prophet Elijah. Without explicitly mentioning the name of the zealous Prophet, he refers to him in order to interpret George’s way of acting. “Because you could not bear to see the fire of deceit reign, O Saint, you said like the fiery and zealous prophet who rebuked the lawless: There is no other God like the Lord." Therefore, the zeal for the faith of Christ and the indignation of the Saint in the face of the phenomenon of the reign of deceit were the poetic reason for his unsolicited presence before the council, and consequently also for his martyrdom.
However, the Hymnographer insists: he connects the fiery zeal of Saint George with the flame of faith that Christ brought. If the heroic George had such fervor in his soul that he alone was led to martyrdom, it was because Christ Himself lit the flame of faith within him. “The fire of the Word, blessed one, which came to ignite everything in the world, touched your soul and did not let you keep it within yourself, but you cried out fervently: Christ is my stronghold." It is certainly unnecessary to remind that the hymn is based not on an inspiration of the Hymnographer, but on the word of the Lord Himself, who had said: “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” May the fire of this faith touch our own soul, through the intercessions of the Holy Great Martyr George, especially when the night of temptations pushes us from all sides towards the Charybdis of passions. He truly has the power, with his boldness before the Lord, to save us. “The night of temptations overwhelms me from all sides and I am inexorably drawn towards the Charybdis of passions, George, but you have come to save me.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
