The following in an excerpt from “Eros of Orthodoxy,” translated by Fr. Nicholas Palis and written by Mr. Pantelis Paschou.
The Saint and great martyr Saint George lived around the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century A.D. in the years of the dreadful persecutor of Christians, Diocletian. He came from the land of Cappadocia, from a great, glorious and renowned family. First he was an officer in the battalion of the Trivounons and then a little before his tortures began, he received a promotion and became a Count, an office which today we would call an Eparch, a Ruler, or General.
In those days the satan-plagued Emperor Diocletian full of admiration for idol gods which infuriatingly some modern Greek writers became nostalgic for, gave strict orders to all his subjects. These orders stated that whichever Christians left their religion, denied Christ and worshipped idols, would enjoy royal honors and many other things. And whichever Christians did not deny Christ and His religion would be put to death.
Saint George then very young—barely twenty years of age, with a bright and joyous future ahead of him—revealed on his own that he was a Christian. Before the Emperor and his officials he knocked down the false and weak idols, making fun of the idolaters who believed in the soulless statues of the false gods.
They put him in a boiling cauldron, and he remained unharmed. The faithful prayed, some idolaters were shocked and others converted to Christ.
The tyrannical Emperor, admiring Saint George’s glorious family and his bravery in wars, initiated petitions and promises to change his mind. But the Saint stood as firm and unshakable as a diamond in the religion of Christ. Threats and warnings began and the Saint scorned them all.
The threats became reality as they hit the saint with a pike. Even though much blood ran from the saint’s flesh, he miraculously remained alive and unharmed and the pike bent backwards avoiding penetrating his sanctified flesh. At that point they began greater tortures: they tied him naked to a wheel that had sharp knives stuck into it, and they dragged him downhill. While the saint’s body ran with blood and they cut him into pieces, an angel of the Lord pieced his body back together and the saint again appeared strong as before. Seeing the miracle working presence of the Saint’s God, many of the idolaters converted to Christianity. But Diocletian would not let them live for long. In his wrath he immediately beheaded them.
His wife Empress Alexandra also had the same fortune. Upon seeing the miracles she confessed Christ as the true God and not the idols.
The tortures of Saint George continued. They put him in a boiling cauldron, and he remained unharmed. The faithful prayed, some idolaters were shocked and others converted to Christ. They ordered a pair of iron shoes lined with nails which became red hot from the fire. They put them on the saint’s feet and forced him to run. But he needed no shove from the soldiers. He pushed himself forward saying, “run George, run to reach the desired one!” And he asked God to heal him and give him patience till his life ended “Look down from the heavens, O Lord and behold my toil and hear the sighs of your belabored servant, for my enemies have abounded and have hated me with an unjust hate, for Your holy name. But heal me O Master for my bones have been shaken, and give me patience till the end of my life, so that my enemies may not say, that they took revenge upon me.”
Oh what divine, oh holy faith of Saint George! The king and his court were dumbfounded.
When the bloodthirsty tyrant saw that even the hot iron footwear didn’t hurt the saint, he commanded him to be tied while strong-armed soldiers beat him mercilessly to death with dried cowhide whips. However, the soldiers became tired as the soldier of Christ the “noetic diamond of bravery” stood before them in good health.
The dictatorship of Diocletian was evidencing difficult times. Magnentius, a friend and advisor of the emperor, wished to spiritually trouble the saint, since physical tortures didn’t faze him. So he told Saint George that if his God was true, to resurrect a corpse lying near them which had been dead from ancient times. The saint became a bright torch ready to burn to enlighten the idolaters, in order that they believe. He knelt on the grave elevated his mind and hands and prayed to God.
Oh what divine, oh holy faith of Saint George! The corpse opened his tomb, arose, venerated the Saint and glorified the power and divinity of Christ. The king and his court were dumbfounded. They asked the resurrected corpse, who he was and he answered that he lived before Christ came into the world. And because he had been an idolater he was burning in fire, during the many years following his death. The resurrected one was a powerful censure for idolatry and many people came to the faith of Christ. For this reason the Emperor ordered that he be killed, to rid him and another former idolater, whose dead ox the saint had resurrected in order that he could plow his fields. They were martyred by the swords of the unbelievers.
The coup de grace for the heathen emperor and most of the idolaters was the Saint’s visit to the temple of the idols, where Magnentius secretly hoped he would turn him to idol worship. The Saint entered the temple, stood before the statue of Apollo and asked him if Christ is God and if we should worship him. Then the demon that was in the idol, almost crying and mourning responded that Christ is the only true God! And as he said this all the idols immediately fell and were smashed, as if an earthquake occurred. And the place was filled with the crushed marble pieces of the gods, who couldn’t save themselves from annihilation!
Then the idol-worshipping priests attacked him and took him to the emperor with bound hand and foot. He commanded them to behead the Saint and the Empress Alexandra who was outside the Castle cursing the emperor and the idols. The empress, exhausted, sat on a dry rock on the road and gave her soul up to the Lord.
The Saint continued and when he reached the appointed place, he lifted up his sanctified hands and prayed with these words. “May You be glorified O Lord my God, for You didn’t give me over to be prosecuted by those who sought me, nor did You let my enemies rejoice over me. But You delivered me like a bird from the hunter’s trap. And now hear me, Oh Holy Master and stand by me Your servant in this last hour, and let my soul escape from the wickedness of the evil demon and his servants. And do not remember the evils, which my enemies did to me but forgive them, and give them peace and love, and guide them into Your will. Receive my Lord, my own soul as well and give it rest with the souls of Your saints. And to those who call upon my name, grant them their petitions, for you are blessed and glorified unto the ages Amen.” And willingly bowing his neck, he was beheaded by the soldiers and gave his spirit up to the hands of God. The Christians took his holy relic to Palestine where it did an infinite number of miracles both there and throughout the Christian world, where the faithful seek refuge in his grace.
If we cannot do as they did, let us do as much as is in our strength.
We cannot expend more time even with a summary of Saint George’s miracles. But what is necessary is to stress today that seeing the sufferings, tortures, bravery and faith, with which the Saint struggled till the end, we must reconsider “the outcome of his life,” in order to imitate “his faith” (Hebrews 13:7).
For this reason on this day we celebrate them and honor them (the saints), petitioning them to free us from our sins. If we cannot do as they did, let us do as much as is in our strength. Does God rule over us to force us to become martyrs? Or does he force us to die of fasting? God only wants the good disposition of each one. Because it is better to joyously give a little, as Solomon also says, rather than give a great deal while complaining. It is better to have a few virtues with compunction of heart being pleasing to God, rather than have many virtues with pride, and have God not receive them.
The Church of Christ, beautified by blossoms,
shouts out to you, o trophy bearing great-martyr George.
Do not cease interceding for us to the Lord.
(Saint George is celebrated on April 23rd.)
