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St George autobiography:
He was born in 236 AC in Cappadocia, (now known as
Turkey). His father Prince Anastaciuos was the governor of Meleta,
which was lying on the east of Cappadocia. His mother was Princess
Theopisty the daughter of Prince Dionsious the governor of the Lid
town in Palestine. He had two younger sisters Casia and Madrona. His
Grandfather Prince John was the governor of Cappadocia. The members of
St George family were all Christian, very rich and very powerfull.
His Father Anastsciuos
was martyred when St George was only 10 years old. They had to move to
Lid in Palestine when the Prince Youstus was the governor of the
region at the time. Youstus was a decent Christian man, he convinced
Theopisty, the mother of St George, to take St George and to look
after him. St George stayed 10 years with the Prince Youstus that he
become a second father to him. He enrolled him in his army and later
he entrusted him with the governing of the region and the leadership
of 5000 soldiers in his command
The Departure of Theopisty
and the prince Youstus:
His mother
Theopisty passed away when he was only 20 years old. She was a
righteous woman and our Saint grieved for her. Later the Prince
Youstus boosted St George by declaring his engagement to his only
daughter and that he will be the one to take his place after his
death. While St George was preparing for his wedding to the daughter
of Prince Youstus, the latter passed away. Afterwards the
circumstances of St George had changed due to the will of god.
St George and Dadious the
Emperor:
St George went to the town Sur in Lebanon to meet
the Emperor Dadious to claim his entitlement to govern Palestine after
Prince Youstus. He was accompanied by three of his servants one of
them was called Socratt. When he reached the city he got shocked when
he found the majority of people there are worshipping Idols and
offering incense to them. The Christians of the city were terrified to
declare their belief because of the extreme persecutions against
Christians at that time.
St George left up his
eyes to see the Arc angle Michael surrounded by great light. He said
to him. “Be strong George.. Be of good
courage. I will be with you. You shall get lots of tortures on the
name of the lord Jesus Christ but at the end you shall be taken to the
heavenly
Jerusalem
The Royal bulletin
(command):
Emperor Dadiuos established some strict command:
- TO demolish all the
churches in the emperor.
- To destroy all of the
Holly books and Bibles.
- To dismiss all the
Christian employers in the Emperor.
- To deprive Christian
slaves from liberty if they decided to keep their faith.
- Everyone should offer
incense and sacrifice to the gods. Whoever refuses to comply with
these orders will get an appalling punishment and tortures up to the
death sentence.
Due to the Emperor command the persecution had been
deployed all over the Emperor countries. The Emperor rebuilt new
alters for their idols and put hundreds and thousands of Christians in
prisons. At that time lots of Christians were tortured and murdered
for the name of God.
Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ?
Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
Or famine, or nakedness, or
peril. or sword?
Rom(8:35)
The courage and the
determination of St George:
St George set in his mind to defend his faith even
if that would lead him to be tortured or to be put to death. When St
George saw this bulletin, he came forward on front of the congregation
and ruptured it. He rushed into the Emperor palace and entered (dashed
into) the meeting room for the heads of the Emperor and called
loudly: “Lords, why do you pour your
anger on the innocent Christians? They are loyal to the Emperor and
they do not do anything wrong… Why do you force them to worship your
stony idols, which do not see or talk or feel any thing? How could you
impose Christians to leave their Holly God, which by Whom we live,
exist and move and follow some other Gods which are nothing but
demands…”
Dadious, the Emperor shocked by the intrusion of St
George and asked him:
who are you? How did you enter this place? And how
could you challenge my orders?
St George replied in an angelic manner:
“My name by faith is the servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by birth is George the son of the governor
Anastasious…I entered her to be a witness to my god who was born by
the virgin Mary and crucified for my redemption. The one who died and
resurrect from death. The living one who will judge the living and the
dead.”
The Emperor tried to manipulate with him to change
his belief and to make him offer incense to their God Appoloon. The
trials of the Emperor dashed on the flint faith of our Saint.
St George proclaimed his faith loudly:
‘I am Christian and a son of a Christian
man. We will never worship idols”
The Emperor got angry after he heard the speech of
St George and ordered his soldiers to torture St George and to throw
him in the prison.
“Peruse peace with all people, and holiness,
without which no one will see the Lord”
Heb (12:14):
St George’s purge:
After they tortured and put him in prison. The
Emperor started to think of different ways to make our Saint get away
from Christianity. He got an idea of enticing him to adultery, by
sending one of the most seductive women to stay over night with him
and make him fall in sin with her. Despite of the strength of the
temptation, St George managed to overcome this temptation by praying
and praising the Lord all that night not only for his purity but also
for the saviour of this woman.
By the next morning, the sinful woman approached
him and beSt Georgeed him to tell her the secret of his behaviour. St
George started to talk to her about the Lord Jesus Christ and the
eternal live. The woman was touched by the speech of St George. She
shed lots of tears for her sinful live and beSt Georgeed St George to
pray to God to accept her repentance. In the morning the guards came
to collect the woman. They were shocked to find the woman completely
covered and kneeling down praying to God with St George. She
proclaimed to the guards her conversion to Christianity. When the
Emperor knew about her conversion to Christianity, he ordered the
guards to cut her head. The woman been martyred and got the crown.
St George is more powerful
than magic.
The Emperor sent a bulletin throughout the region
to search for a magician who was capable to annual the magic of St
George. He set a great reward to whoever succeeds in this assignment.
A great
magician called Athanathius Came forward to the Emperor and
said: “ You majesty, Live forever. There is nothing I cannot do.
Whatever you ask me to do I will do it.” The Emperor rejoiced to find
a great magician. He thought that this magician would be capable to
get rid of St George. Dadious ordered the guards to bring St George
to their presence and told him: “George I can till You, You won’t be
able to use your magic this time. The Great Athanathious will annual
your magic”.
St George
looked at Athnathious and said:” carry on my brother, and do whatever
you want to do with me, because I can see that the grace of God is not
far from you.” Athanathiuos started to use the power of demons to kill
St George. He also mix some deadly poisons in a cup of water to make
sure that St George will surely die this time. Then they asked St
George to drink the water. St George crossed the top of the cup of the
water with his hand and drank it. They waited for something to happen
to St George but nothing did happen to our Saint. Dadious then ordered
the guards to tie St George hand and they did the same thing to him
again. This time St George crossed the cup of water with his head
while he was saying: “and if they drink anything deadly” (Mark16: 18).
He drank the entire cup yet no harm got him. When Athanathious saw
that magic has no power on St George, he knelt down to him and said:
“Oh George, you are a righteous man. You must be very close to the
heart of your God. Pay for me that God my have mercy on and accept me
in his kingdom. There is no other God can protect his servants from
this deadly poison. One drop of this poison can kill a whole elephant
in no time.”
When Dadious saw Athanathious converted to
Christianity. He ordered his guards to take him to the forum and cut
his head. Athanathious has been martyred and got his crown on the 7th
of Toba.
“I have fought the good
fight. I have finished the race. And I have kept the Faith.” (2 Tim(4:
7))
St George was the best example for a young man who
sacrificed his body, youth and his position as a Prince for the name
of Christ. The Emperor Dadious had used all kind of torturing
machines with him and St George undergo all kinds of unbearable
tortures for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Queen
Alexandra the wife of the Emperor Dadiuos met St George in her palace
and asked him for the secret behind his courage and his behaviour. He
told her about the Lord and the saviour Jesus Christ who was born from
a virgin and who was crucified and died to redeem us all from our
sins.
St George was the main reason behind the conversion
of the Queen Alexandra. When Dadiuos heard about the conversion of his
wife, Queen Alexandra, he ordered his guards to be drag from her hair
to the forum of his palace and to be hanged and beaten with sticks.
She withstood the tortures and pain that her husband Dadiuos ordered
his guards to cut her head. When St Alexandra heard about her death
conviction, she was rejoice to be martyred for the name of Christ and
said:
“Oh my Lord, I left my gates open to my people all
the time. Do not close the gate of your paradise in my face. You whom
accepted the repentance of the right thief, accept me in your kingdom
today”. They cut her head off on the 15th of Bermoda.
When the Emperor heard the news of his wife’s
death. He ordered his guards to torture St George again as revenge to
his wife’s death.
St George sufferings:
A St George spent 7 years in the capture of the
Emperor Dadiuos and his 69 governors who were ruling the regions at
that time. He endured all kinds of pains and tortures in the prison
and died four times on the name of the lord Jesus Christ.
These regions, including Syria and Palestine were
governed by… before Romans fought and won the battle with them.
Some of the tortures that St
George suffers during his capture:
- They put him in shoes of
nails to walk on.
- They cut his body with
sharp razors.
- They nailed him on a
wooden board and dragged St George on his face.
- They wiped him 100 times
on his tummy then they rubbed his tummy with calcium carbonate and
then dissolved sulphur in white vinegar and rubbed his tummy with.
The lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in the prison
and said to him: “Get up my beloved George because I will be with you
to shame those evil and vicious people. As among those of women there
has not risen one greater than John the Baptist, also there is no
martyr is like you or will be greater than you. You will be captured
for 7 years and die 3 times but I will raise you up you die and on the
fourth time I will come with my angles and take you up to heaven. Now
be strong and do not fear or tremble of them because I will be with
you.”
1.
They nailed
him on a bed of copper and poured a melted lead in his mouth.
2.
They put him
in a big cylinder with giant sharpened nails and turned the cylinder.
All his flesh and his bones were ruptured and broken and he died for
the first time. But the lord raised him from death.
3.
He has been
sawed in two halves and died for the second time. But the Lord raised
him from death for the second time.
4.
They squeezed
his body and put fire on each side of his body. He died for the third
time and the Lord raised him for the third time.
5.
On the third
of Bermoda, the first of May of 263 AC, they cut
St George’s head off. The Lord Jesus Christ took
his soul up to the heaven in the mid of his angles chanting.
St George’s titles:
- The Romans. Because he
had all the Romans rights.
- The Cappadocian. Where
his birthplace is (Turkey).
- The Malian. Attributed
to his fathers’ land.
- The Palestinian.
Attributed to his mother’s land.
- The …. Attributed to his
church in … in Syria.
- The fast recaller. Due
to his quick recall to his callers.
- The Prince of Martyrs.
Due to great pains he endured during his 7 years capture and due to
his 4 times death on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word George,
means the farmer.
St Georges’ days
Our Coptic Orthodox Church yearly memories gg for
several occasions:
·
His day of martyr on the 23rd
of Bermoda; first of May.
·
Inaugurate his first church in
Lid in Palestine on the 7th of
Hatoor, 16th of November.
·
Inaugurate his first church in
Egypt in Hesst Berma in Tanta in the 3rd
of Baoona; 10th of June in 316 Ac.
·
Move his relic to his monastery
in Old Egypt on the 16th of Abeeb;
23rd of July.
The blessing of his Pray
will be with us all
Amin
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