Great Martyr George the Victorious

The church calendar marks several dates associated with the name of the Great Martyr George the Victorious, a Roman military commander who was executed in Nicomedia in 303 for openly confessing Christianity before the emperor Diocletian.

The future saint was born in 280 in Cappadocia. Father Gerontius, a noble pagan, believed after he was healed from fever through a prayer uttered on the advice of a ten-year-old son, and soon accepted a martyr’s death. The mother of Polychronius, who professed Christianity, moved the child to the Palestinian possessions. George chose a military career, stood out for his intelligence, composition and courage, quickly reached the rank of commander and entered the circle of Diocletian’s associates. Hearing the sentence of extermination of the followers of Christ, he distributed a fortune, freed the slaves and appeared to the ruler with public rebuke. After unsuccessful attempts to persuade him to abdicate, the warrior was subjected to wheeling, beating with oxen veins, imprisonment with a stone on his chest and other tortures, culminating in beheading. The relics were placed in the Lidda temple, the head was kept in the Roman church.

With posthumous events associated with the famous image of the rider, piercing a spear snake. According to legend, near Beirut in the lake lived a creature, which the locals gave to eat boys and girls. When the lot fell on the daughter of the mayor, a bright young man appeared on a white horse, killed the monster and stopped the bloody tribute. This plot, as well as the miracle with the revival of the ox at the farmer, formed the basis for the veneration of George as the protector of cattle from predators and the patron of the army. His image of the horseman-snake fighter entered the ancient coat of arms of Moscow.

In November, the Wheeling of the Saint is celebrated — a date especially venerated in Georgia, enlightened by Nina, a relative of George. Since 1891, pilgrims of different faiths gather at the Zagatala temple near the village of Kahi. November 16 remember the consecration of the renovated church in Lydda (1872), built on donations from Russia over the burial place of the martyr. In the crypt of the temple is a tomb, a chain of prisoners and a particle of relics. In the Russian folk tradition, the day of the Great Martyr was called Yuriev — until the end of the XVI century, peasants could go to another landlord, and cattle after wintering were driven out for the first time to pasture with a water sacred prayer service. The Kiev church, founded by Yaroslav the Wise (baptized by George) opposite the gates of Saint Sophia, was consecrated on December 9 under Metropolitan Hilarion, marking the beginning of another calendar date.