BRIGHT TUESDAY – St George‘s Feast  Day 

On Tuesday 22 April 2025 we commemorated the Feast Day of Great Martyr Saint George The Victorious  with a Vespers Service at St George‘s Cathedral. 

SAINT GEORGE – military man, miracle worker, martyr and dragon-slayer! 

Yes we are celebrating another great Feast Day! 

On 23 April we celebrated the great Saint George and  as we are in the Paschal period we also have the glorious  blessing of Pascha  as we sang Christos Anesti during the Vespers service and the Liturgy Service  commemorating our beloved Saint  George. 

It is a day  that is very dear to us as we commemorate Saint George the Triumphant who is the patron saint of our very beautiufiul cathedral which is also the oldest Greek Orthodox Church  in  South Africa. 

This little gem of a cathedral, under the guidance of His Eminence Archbishop Sergios and the cherished home of our own parish priest The Very Reverend Pater Nikolaos for well over 20 years, and now also home to Archimandrite Doukas Coulbanis , is the center of our spiritual lives as Orthodox Christians in Cape Town. 

The man behind the myth

Just about everyone has heard of Saint George and the dragon but  really who was this man apart from the hero of legends? 

Saint George is a soldier saint and we all love a brave military man especially if  that soldier’s image is enhanced  with a story of fabulous feats  which ultimately led to his death as a glorious martyr.

However very little is known about his life that is not myth and legend but these “ bytes” will fill you in and make you realize just why he is a hero saint. 

He  was  was born in  Cappadocia (which is in present-day Turkey) and  became a Roman military tribune serving  Emperor Diocletian. He was famous for his illustrious track record  in battle and highly honoured for his courage.

Then came the day when Diocletian started persecuting and killing Christians and George boldly confessed that he was a Christian and refused to give in or deny his confession despite being g brutally tortured.

Miraculously he survived several attempts to kill him, including being whipped to an inch of his life and being poisoned.

But he simply would not die  and survived every outrage and atrocity they devised  to the great amazement of the people. 

Although his faith and the fight he put up for Christianity was to prove his final undoing, his incredible tenacity and unshakable belief in Christ  impressed many and they embraced the Christian faith. 

Would you believe that one of them was the Emperor’s wife, Alexandra! 

In the end, on 23 April 303 AD,  the Emperor commanded that  both George and the Empress  were to be beheaded in Nikomdedia in Asia Minor.

His remains were taken by his servant to Palestine, to a town called Lydda, ( near modern-day Tel Aviv) which was the homeland of his mother, and then were finally transferred to the church which was raised up in his honour there. 

Why the dragon ?

Saint George is usually depicted on icons and sacred paintings  battling a dragon  while astride a white horse symbolising  the never-ending combat between good and evil, one of the “Sons of Light” destroying the “Dragon of Darkness.”

Another explanation of this icon is that the artists were trying to depict Diocletian as the dragon and Saint George conquering him. The woman in the background could have been Empress Alexandra who watched Saint George as he triumphed. 

But it was another 800 years before St George and the dragon were “officially” the stuff that legends are made of. 

The religious crusades that plagued the 11th and 13th centuries saw a resurgence of popularity of St George’s martyrdom and military service and this made him an appealing role model.

The  red-on-white cross that the Knights Templar wore is also known as St George’s cross. 

Now the dragon legend surfaced around the late 11 th century and featured a princess who was about to become a tasty morsel for a dragon terrorizing the people of Silene, somewhere in modern-day Libya. 

Saint George came to her rescue by beheading the dragon and the rest is history as the people were so impressed by his bravery and faith that they converted  to Christianity. 

Yes it sounds like a movie script and  indeed the tale of a famous 

 Christian soldier saving the maiden from the fiery jaws of the dragon fit perfectly with Medieval notions of chivalry and courtly love. 

Whether it’s fact or fiction, his legacy of fighting the good fight in the name of Christ has  endured for two millennia and will always be pertinent. 

One thing is for sure, our saints and their awesome stories of martyrdom and miracles were already block busters centuries before the good and evil battles in Game of Thrones were conceived!  

Xronia Polla to all the Georges, Georginas and Georgias out there.

So on  this day of our illustrious defender St George, we prayed that we too are saved from all the evils around us. Right  now, with the horrific wars in Gaza and  in Ukraine, we all need all the help and protection we can get.

(Text and photos: Pepe Sofianos)