Saint Great Martyr George

Today, the Church celebrates a martyr's feast. If we try to speak about the Saint being celebrated, we would rather belittle his greatness. This Saint is the glory of the Martyrs, the praise of the Saints, the honor of heaven and of the victorious Church. He is the great George. There is no Christian mouth, from infancy to the last beat of the dying heart, that does not call upon his most sweet name. There is no Christian country where there are not even the ruins of a church built in his memory.

This luminary hides a great mystery, which has not been sufficiently investigated, as it should be. What is the reason for this great love of the people towards him? But his love for the people is also so great that it prevents us from forgetting him, but incessantly urges us to call upon him in prayers. In three out of four Christian families, there will undoubtedly be someone with the name George. Why? Because there is no family in which the love of this Saint has not been shown by helping and strengthening. This hero managed to complete his Christian identity not only by confessing his faith, but also by martyrdom. And he continues to do so even after his martyrdom. He embraced the Church, the believers of all ages from the four corners of the world. And where Orthodoxy does not yet exist, where the darkness of idolatry reigns, even there, he arrives uninvited by anyone and makes his love present. He was rightly called by the Church “the winner of the crown”, “the bearer of victory”, and “the great martyr”. All martyrs are great, because all of them sacrificed their lives and showed perfect love for our Christ. But the titles of “victory bearer” and “great martyr” do not refer so much to the manhood shown during the torments, but, in my opinion, to the fullness of his love manifested not only during his lifetime, but also afterwards, until the end of the ages, so as to prevent any disturbance of sorrow and to support anyone who calls upon his name.

For us monks, Saint George is a nurturer of sons and a great defender. In the 9th song of the Canon of the Saint, it is said: “And you, the most holy mountain, leap. Dance now and rejoice, enlightened that you have found a very powerful guardian of many, the great George.” After our Lady, the Mother of God, comes this guardian of this holy place and its monks. Four aghiorite monasteries and quite a few cells and huts are dedicated to his holy name.

His father, Gerontius, who was a Christian and also ended his life as a martyr, is also mentioned in his synaxarion. And George, in turn, became a Christian as a young child. At the age of 22, he purchased the dignity of a commissioner. When he went to receive his title in order to be promoted, he saw that his superiors were preparing the order of persecution against Christians. He asked why they were ordering with such shamelessness and cunning the destruction of Christians without them having done them any wrong. Then, in front of his superiors, he took off his belt, threw it before them, and shouted to them: “I am a Christian. I will not obey your order.” From that moment on, his martyrdom began. And this great martyr, although young in age, patiently suffered all the insults and dishonors without resistance. With kindness and fatherly affection for his sons, he endured those terrible torments at the hands of his executioners and performed miracles, in order to make them believe - although he knew that they would not believe - but so that the power of grace would not be dishonored. Performing the miracle, he said, "I will perform the miracle, but you still will not believe." And he resurrected a dead man who had been dead for three years.

And what truly amazes us is his lack of malice, although he could have rebuked them harshly. He could have treated them harshly, but he spoke to them with great sympathy.

We, as monks, take an example from his spiritual courage and self-denial, because we are also strengthened in our own martyrdom of conscience. The martyrs were told: “Either you deny and save your lives, or confess and die.” And they did not deny and received death. We no longer face this situation. But there is the secret, unseen war of the understanding tyrant, who continually tempts us. It is as if he were saying to us: “Either you will worship the many-faced idol of sin, or I will bring upon you temptations, diseases, and turmoil.” And we respond with a loud voice: “The Lord my God I will worship and Him Only I will serve. I will not worship your gods, nor will I kiss your icon.” Truly, we receive much courage from this great martyr like a giant. We are of the same mind as him. For the love of Christ, he counted nothing; not only did he not think about his wealth, ranks, titles, the wealth that opened before him, but he did not even think about his own life, which he sacrificed.

And we, in the difficult days we are going through, believe that God Himself, who was then, is now, with the same paternal affection and co-suffering, strengthening our littleness. And we, with the same disposition of soul, prefer the love of our Christ, faith, and obedience to Him, before all others. For His sake, we too, with our poor strength, have crossed the rushing river of worldly confusion and vanity. We have left our families and our very nature and find ourselves self-exiled in this place, having the same impatient expectation: that fleeing from the pretexts of various causes, far from scandals and follies, within the framework of the freedom we have through the grace of our Christ, we may show in fact that we truly love Christ, and we detest the devil and sin, as is fitting.

Sometimes we do not succeed, either from lack of effort, or from ignorance, or from impotence, but we never abandon our intention. We also constantly confess that “we worship the Lord our God and serve Him alone” and for His love “we count all things as nothing,” receiving courage also from the company of martyrs, who have walked this path and left us a precious legacy. We firmly believe that divine grace will undoubtedly remain with us, and we will also succeed in our goal. In this way, we achieve two great goods. First, our salvation, and secondly, we form a support for our brothers in Christ, who remain in society and bear the hard and heavy yoke of life in the world and struggle with so many oppositions and hardships, with so many troubles, so that they too can remain strong and not deny themselves, but confess Christ to the extent of their strength. Light for us are the angels, and light for Christians in the world are the monks, because today I can no longer find the Great Anthony, Paisios, Pachomius; they have departed from this life. Today, the responsibility for them lies with us, the humble, carrying the same flags, the same lines, the same tradition, continuing the same path.

Let us all, with right determination, fall before the love of Saint George, because these goals are worthy of our placing before his all-powerful intercession, so that it may strengthen our striving. “Blessed is he who has acquaintances in Zion and householders in Jerusalem.” Here we too have acquaintances and householders in Saint George, whom we have praised in a few words, in order to give him reason and pretext to fulfill his love worthy of God and to grant us heaven. Amen.

Father Joseph of Vatopedi