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St George – man or myth?
ST GEORGE, one of the most popular saints in Christianity, was a Turkish soldier in the guard of the Roman emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century.
The emperor was determined to stamp out Christianity that was spreading within the ranks of his army in Turkey, but George publicly declared himself as a Christian, thus challenging the Emperor’s edict that all Christians in the ranks be arrested. The Emperor valued George and tried to bribe him into giving up his belief with offers of gifts of land, money and slaves, but George resisted and was eventually executed by decapitation. Some parts of his story are believed to be rooted in historical fact.
But the story for which he is immortalised – his slaying of a dragon and rescue of a fair maiden – is a myth brought back by English soldiers returning from the Crusades.
However in the year 495, George was named as a saint by the Pope, and certainly his courage has always been respected and celebrated in the eastern Christian Church and in Palestine.
And English Crusaders adopted this legend as their protector. Then in 1212, this possibly mythical Turkish soldier became the patron saint of England.
However, his popularity means that England cannot claim him for its own. He is also patron saint in Georgia, Greece, Russia, Portugal, Lithuania and Aragon and Catalonia in Spain. |
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