Saint George's Day Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons

I can remember several years ago discussions which suggested that St George was not a suitable patron saint, most of the comments were directed at the mythology of George slaying the dragon and the apparent lack of historical evidence for his life, not helped by a confusion of identity with another George. But times are a changing and it seems St George, like a few other ancient saints, have plenty to share with us.

We do know a bit about him, born around 280 probably in Lydda modern day Syria/Palestine, into a Christian family. He enrolled in the Roman army but refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan Gods in the reign of Diocletian, and so was beheaded in Nicomedia but then buried at Lydda. His cult rapidly spread, one aspect of it was the curing of madness, this still evidenced by the multi-faith pilgrims to his small shrine at Beit-Jala near Bethlehem.

Far from being a distant figure, an imposed saint brought here by warriors from the crusades, he has been venerated in the churches of east and west from about the fourth century onwards, was one of the saints left in the calendar of saints of the Anglican church and other reformation churches, as well as being regarded as a righteous one in Islamic tradition! One of the first literary mentions of him in this country was in St Bede's Martyrology from the 8th C: "April 23rd is the Feast of the Passion of Saint George the Martyr...He completed his martyrdom by being beheaded, although the history of his passion is numbered amongst the apocryphal writings."

We can distil from the 'apocryphal writings' deeper truths and connections, for mythology is not necessarily fancy, but a device that helps bring out qualities associated with the person, stories that cloak a basic reality. The story for the dragon for instance has very ancient roots and hints perhaps, in Georges story of battles, of the fight between good and evil, an unending struggle for human kind !

Because George is such an ancient saint of East and West, patron of other places than England, and because he represents that multi-culturalism of faith that knows no boundaries, he is still a good patron for us.

Let us invoke the prayer attributed to him in the 9th century English Martyrology:

Saviour Christ, receive my spirit. And I ask you that whichever man may celebrate my memory on earth, remove then from this man's dwellings every illness; let no enemy harm him, nor hunger, nor pestilence. And if anyone mentions my name in any danger, either at sea or on a journey, may he obtain your mercy.'

Amen!

Fr Robin is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain. He is also an Honorary Canon of Christchurch Cathedral Oxford.