Saint George was born in Lyda, Palestine in 280 AD.,
when the emperor in Rome was the impious Diocletian.
His father was called Gerontius and he was a senior officer in the army of Emperor
Diocletian. His mother was called Polychronia
and she was a very pious and virtuous woman. She loved Christ with all the
power of her heart, that's why she wanted to raise her son according to
Christ's commandments.
Every day she was reading to him from the
holy gospel about the miracles of Christ, the parables, and the wonderful
teaching of love. At the same time, she was narrating him about the heroic achievements of the holy martyrs and confessors, who were
abandoning glory, ranks, and wealth and were dying as martyrs, so they would
not renounce the king of their hearts, Christ.
Little George was excited by the wonderful
stories of the holy martyrs and wanted to follow their holy example and, if
need be, to die as a martyr, just like them.
Polychronia, as a saintly mother, was
teaching George, from a young age, to absolutely
trust God and show complete
submission to His divine will.
She was teaching him to love God with all
his heart and to pray to Him with much adoration. She was always kneeling in
prayer with him and she herself was becoming the most beautiful example for the little child.
His father wanted
him to become an officer in the army, that’s why he was taking him regularly
with him on various military campaigns. There he discovered that his son was a military genius.
George's invincible bravery on the
battlefield as well as his heroic achievements were causing the admiration of all. His reputation
reached even the emperor. So, at 18
years old he became a commander of the imperial guard and at 20 years old a tribune, to command an army of a thousand men. No one until then
had acquired all these military posts so quickly and at such a young age.
He kills the dragon and
releases the princess.
releases the princess.
One day George, returning from a
victorious battle, met a beautiful young girl dressed as a queen and crying mournfully near a lake in the forest. He learned
that she was the daughter of the pagan king of that region. Around there a
great dragon was living, a giant snake, which was eating whatever it found, whether animal or human. Because they thought it was a god and in order
to appease it, the inhabitants of this region decided to regularly give it a
child to eat from each family. Now it was the king's turn to offer a child, but he had no other
children, except his only child, a beautiful young daughter. So, after dressing
her in royal garments, they brought her near the dragon's nest, so it could eat
her. George was very moved by the story of the young princess and said to her:
"Don't cry little princess and don't be afraid.
If you believe in the almighty power of my Lord Jesus Christ, in whom I believe
and love, not only will you not be harmed at all, but I will even kill the
dragon and I will save your city from this misfortune.
"I believe, glorious soldier, with all my heart, answered the young princess.
She did not manage to finish her words,
when the dragon appeared. The girl immediately fainted out of fear, while our
Saint walked fearlessly towards the beast and made the sign of the Cross upon
it. Then the beast, as if it was being struck by a thousand arrows, began
beating itself on the ground, until, weary from fatigue, it fell as if drugged
at the feet of our Saint. He then tied it tightly and dragged it to the city.
He told the people that if they abandoned the idols and believed in Christ, he
would kill this beast that filled them with terror and misfortune. Everyone
then believed in Christ and asked to be baptized as Christians. So, our Saint killed the terrible beast
in front of all the people. Since then the Saint's name has become well known
everywhere and a song on the lips of all people.
Terrible tortures and a divine vision
However, while the name of Christ was
spreading rapidly and the people were abandoning the demonic worship of the
false gods, the emperor
Diocletian decided to declare a great persecution against the Christians. A
multitude of Christians were arrested and
killed.
George refuses to obey the king and
persecute the Christians. On the contrary, with his fiery words he strengthens
the holy martyrs to remain strong and steadfast in their Christian faith.
The emperor learned about all this and
asked George to renounce Christ, in order not to kill him with terrible tortures. George refused. Then, furious
with rage, the emperor ordered the young officer George to be tortured in the
cruelest and most inhumane way.
With sharp
poles they pierce our Saint's entire body and then throw dozens of sharp
spears at him to finish him off. But the spears change course and, without
touching his body, bend as if made from wax and fall down.
He is then thrown into prison, they bind his arms and legs and
put a very large stone on his chest,
so that he cannot breathe.
The next day they tied him on a wheel, under which were various sharp
blades and iron hooks. As the wheel was turning with the young Christian on it,
the blades and hooks underneath cut and tore the martyr's flesh. Blood was
flowing abundantly from the body of the martyr and the soil became red.
Suddenly and while dark clouds covered the area and a multitude of
lightning strikes and thunder were tearing the sky, Christ's sweet voice was heard from above saying:
"George, don't be afraid. I am close to you and watching the
tortures that you are bravely and courageously suffering for My love."
A heavenly light then shone brightly and
they all saw, with surprise and admiration, the young martyr George standing upright in front of them, perfectly healthy.
Many then believed in Christ. The emperor,
however, became even more angry and ordered that they put George into a pit of lime to die. But even from
there he emerged safe and strong. He was then made to wear iron shoes which had been put into the fire and were red
hot. When the emperor saw George bearing this torture as well, he ordered that he be imprisoned again.
At midnight Jesus appeared again among a
multitude of angels and said to him, "Hail
My beloved child, George. My Grace is with you. Have courage and
patience." Afterwards He healed all his wounds.
Unfortunately, not
even this miracle convinced the emperor, but instead he ordered new terrible tortures. They flay his sanctified body with iron claws. They put an iron helmet on his head which they had
first put in the fire until it was red hot.
They lay him down on an iron bed, which had a great fire
underneath. They pour molten lead into his mouth to stop him
praying to Christ. They tried all known tortures!
In the end, the emperor brought a famous magician,
Athanasios, in order to kill George with the help of demons.
The magician made a strong poison and gave it to George to drink. Our Saint
made the sign of the Cross on the poison and then drank it without being
harmed. This miracle troubled the magician. After that when he saw George
resurrect a dead man, he was convinced that Christ is the true God and he
became a Christian as well.
On that day a multitude
of people believed in Christ. Among them were Queen Alexandra and many others from
the palace. They were all martyred for the love of Christ.
In a final attempt to bring down the young
martyr's morality, the king arrested George's mother, Polychronia. He subjected
her to numerous tortures, like her son, in order to renounce Christ.
Polychronia, however, remained firm in her faith and thus became the most
wonderful example of a Christian
mother.
Emotionally moved, George saw his sweet
mum, after many tortures, leaving her last breath with the name of Christ on her lips.
The next day they brought George to the
temple of idols in order to sacrifice
to the idols. There, the demons who were hidden in the statues of the false
gods, confessed
in terror in front of
all the people that they are not gods, but only the one that George proclaims
is the true God. After this confession, George ordered all demons to go back to
hell and the statues to fall and be destroyed. And so it happened. Seeing this
miracle, many pagans became Christians. Furious, the emperor then ordered that
our Saint was to be killed with a sword.
George knelt and
prayed for the last time to his beloved Jesus.
He appeared again
in front of him in a bright light to welcome him into His heavenly kingdom.
"Yes, my sweet Jesus, I come to You, to my
beloved God and King of my heart."
These were the last
words of Saint George.
