Once upon a time, there was a man named George. He believed in Jesus. He and his friends were killed in the Holy Land, and a church was built over their graves.[1]
The End.
Not a very good story, is it? Let’s try again.
Once upon a time, there was a man named George from Cappadocia. He was a great officer in the army. When he saw the Persian Emperor blaspheming the Lord, he began a debate concerning the value of pagan gods. As a result, George suffered a gruesome death: he was suspended on the rack and “scraped with metal claws so that his intestines came out.” He was then taken outside the city gates, beaten with clubs, his wounds filled with salt, and his bruises rubbed with coarse goat-hair cloths. All of this was to no avail, so the Emperor had George thrown in prison. After converting a magician to Christianity, George was then tortured again, chopped into ten pieces, died, and was resurrected later. Upset with this resurrection, the Emperor beat him again and this time sawed him in half. But, again, George was raised from the dead. This pattern continued: George preached the gospel and converted many souls in between his stays in prison (and the grave). The pinnacle of the story comes when George entered a pagan temple and outed the idol as Satan himself. George quickly defeated him in battle and banished him into the abyss. Eventually George died and stayed dead.[2]
The End.
Sadly, in the mid 490’s, Pope Gelasius declared that this story wasn’t true.
There was born in the year 900 a man named Simeon. He lived in the east and didn’t really care what the Pope had to say, so he tried his hand at a story about George. Once upon a time – the year 269, to be precise – there was born a man named George. He grew up in Cappadocia and moved to the Holy Land at a young age. George was “distinguished by his birth, education, and physical advantages,” and so he was admitted to the Roman army and granted the rank of Tribune. When granted a large audience, George called out the Roman Senate for worshipping false idols instead of Christ. Diocletian (an infamous persecutor of Christians) told George to renounce the faith, so he walked into the temple of Apollo and asked, “Shall I sacrifice to you as to God?” to which the idol replied “No.” George then performed an exorcism on the statue, and it fell to pieces.[3] The Emperor was still upset, so he had George held near a burning kiln, including wearing a pair of iron shoes with nails turned inward. George was beaten, led to prison, and sentenced to death. On April 23, in the year 290, George was beheaded (and, for what it’s worth, he remained dead). The End.
By this time, Saint George’s day was a staple of the Christian Calendar, and so this same Simeon, preaching on April 23rd, remarked that George was able to avoid “the frowns of an angry emperor,” and that “it was consoling to see this most astute dragon … eluded by a young man.”
By the 13th century, the studio execs had decided it was time for another re-make of the Saint George movie.
Once upon a time, there was a man named George. He was born in Cappadocia and traveled to Silene in Libya. The people of Silene were being besieged by a dragon. When they learned that the only way to keep the dragon at bay was to offer it a young person – this was decided by casting lots.
To the distress of the city, the princess was selected. After much weeping, the king dressed his daughter like a bride and sent her off to the dragon.
A gentle knight happened to be pricking on the plain, and when he saw the young woman, he asked her why she was sad, and learned the dark truth.
As all knights do, he vowed to help her in the name of Jesus Christ.
George drew his sword, made the sign of the cross, and galloped toward the dragon, striking a horrible blow to it.
He commanded the princess to tie her belt around the dragon’s neck, which she did. The defeated dragon followed the fair maiden into the city, startling all the citizens.
George told the people to stop worrying, “Doubt not! Believe in God and Jesus Christ and be baptized, and I shall slay the dragon.”
Naturally, the entire city (15,000 men, not including women and children) agreed to be baptized, the dragon was killed, George married the princess.
(Then follows the familiar story of George rebuking the pagan emperor and being beheaded).[4]
The End.
What do we do with George? We know he was a faithful Christian, remembered so fondly that a church was built over his grave. We also know that there is something about the trope of a knight saving the princess from the dragon that stirs us up to courage. The stories we tell shape us, even if they’re not “historical.” In terms of George’s sainthood, we Lutherans are freed from many concerns, since we don’t fret over silly thanks like invocation of the saints in prayer.
Whatever situation led to his death, George remained faithful to the end. What better way to slay the dragon that is Satan? We can certainly imitate such a faith. And if the fictional stories we tell stir up people to the true faith, then thanks be to God. After all, the truth of the gospel doesn’t depend on whether George fought a real dragon. The truth of the Gospel is rooted in the person and work of Christ, who really did defeat a real dragon.
[1] This is all we can gather from fragments, inscriptions, and mosaics in the Holy Land.
[2] Passion of George, allegedly by a man named Passecrates sometime in the 5th century.
[3] Life of St. George, Martyr, Simeon Metaphrastes, 10th Century.
[4] The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First Edition Published 1470. Englished by William Caxton, First Edition 1483.