The Great Martyr George the Victorious is a legendary warrior saint, one of the beloved and most revered in Russia. He was a Roman soldier who was martyred during the persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian.
Saint George the Victorious
The story of George and the Serpent is a variation on the theme of the victory of Jesus Christ over the Devil.
The legend of George of Cappadocia dates back to the medieval period. It tells how the princess Silena Kleodelinda had to be sacrificed to the dragon (according to another version of the snake), which devastated and set the kingdom on fire. But the brave George put on military armor, mounted a horse and, having covered himself with the sign of the cross, fought with the monster. At first, he defeated and tamed the snake by the power of prayer, and the princess saved from certain death led the monster to the city on her belt.
King Silena and his subjects, who witnessed this victory, abandoned paganism and converted to Christianity. One of the legends says that George married a princess, and another takes the hero to Palestine, where, for refusing to obey the decrees of Diocletian directed against Christianity, George was tortured, which he bravely endured, and beheaded.
George the Victorious is one of the 14 holy helpers and is considered the patron saint of Russia, England, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Georgia, Ossetia, Catalonia, Venice, as well as soldiers and gunsmiths, the protector of women and the knightly code.
In Christian art, George was portrayed in the guise of a handsome young knight in shining armor. A red cross was depicted on his banner, shield, and plate breastplate. The holy rider struck a fire-breathing dragon with a spear in front of a beautiful princess dressed in white.
George's attributes were a sword, a spear, a shield and a white banner with a red cross.
Icons of St. George the Victorious
The legend "The Miracle of George about the Serpent" brings the holy warrior closer to the Russian heroes from fairy tales, with the only difference that George defeats the monster first with a word, and only then with a sword. It is not surprising that the young martyr from Cappadocia was so fond of both the grand dukes and the people in Russia. Therefore, a lot of icons with his image were created.
The earliest surviving icon in Russia dates back to around 1170; it was painted specifically for the St. George Cathedral of the Yuryevsky Monastery in Novgorod. This is a magnificent icon of the pre-Mongol period. It depicts a warrior-martyr with easily recognizable portrait features. He has a spear in one hand, and George is leaning on a sword in the other.
Icons depicting the "Miracle of the Dragon" were also widespread in Russia. One of them is now kept in the Russian Museum. This is a hagiographic icon: its centerpiece with the main image is surrounded by stamps that recreate the deeds and episodes from the life of the saint. In the center of the icon is a soaring rider on a white horse.
The relics of the Holy Great Martyr George are kept in a Palestinian temple, which is under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church. The hand in a silver shrine is in the Athos monastery, and the head of the saint is in the Roman basilica.
A unique miraculous icon of St. George the Victorious is kept in Athos. During the time of iconoclasm, she was in Constantinople, and one of the pagans threw the icon into the fire. But a miracle happened - the fire did not touch the icon. Then one of the angry people pierced the image of George with a sword - and blood spattered from the wound of the warrior saint. After that, the icon was thrown into the sea, and it sailed to the shores of the Greek peninsula Athos. A monastery was erected at the place where the icon was discovered, and believers from all over the world have the opportunity to turn to St. George for help and intercession.
In 2011, Russian archaeologists found in the historical center of Veliky Novgorod another unique icon of St. George the Victorious, dated around the 14th-15th centuries. The size of the bone icon with traces of gilding is only 5 by 3 centimeters. This is a very fragile product with a three-layer deep embossed carving, which has no analogues.
