40 Facts About Saint George

Saint George, George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity.

Saint George was a soldier of Cappadocian Greek origin and member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, who was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith.

Saint George became one of the most venerated saints and megalomartyrs in Christianity, and he has been especially venerated as a military saint since the Crusades.

Saint George is respected by Christians, Druze, as well as some Muslims as a martyr of monotheistic faith.

Saint George went on to become a soldier for the Roman army, but, because of his Christian faith, he was arrested and tortured, "at or near Lydda, called Diospolis"; on the following day, he was paraded and then beheaded, and his body was buried in Lydda.

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In later versions of the Greek legend, this name is rationalised to Diocletian, and Saint George's martyrdom is placed in the Diocletian persecution of AD 303.

Saint George's body was buried in Lydda, where Christians soon came to honour him as a martyr.

Saint George's martyrdom was greatly extended to more than twenty separate tortures over the course of seven years.

When Saint George finally died, the wicked Dacian was carried away in a whirlwind of fire.

St Saint George was apparently martyred there, at the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century; that is all that can be reasonably surmised about him.

Bishop Saint George was slain by Gentile Greeks for exacting onerous taxes, especially inheritance taxes.

Saint George adds that: "the connection of St George with a dragon-slaying legend does not relegate him to the region of the myth".

Saint George is included in some Muslim texts as a prophetic figure.

Saint George is described as a rich merchant who opposed erection of Apollo's statue by Mosul's king Dadan.

Saint George is able to convert the queen but she is put to death.

Saint George then prays to God to allow him to die, which is granted.

Saint George was killed many times by the king of Mosul, and resurrected each time.

Veneration of Saint George spread from Syria Palaestina through Lebanon to the rest of the Byzantine Empire – though the martyr is not mentioned in the Syriac Breviarium – and the region east of the Black Sea.

The first description of Lydda as a pilgrimage site where Saint George's relics were venerated is De Situ Terrae Sanctae bythe archdeacon Theodosius, written between 518 and 530.

Saint George is the patron saint of Lebanese Christians, Palestinian Christians, and Syrian Christians.

Saint George is described as a prophetic figure in Islamic sources.

Saint George is venerated by some Christians and Muslims because of his composite personality combining several biblical, Quranic and other ancient mythical heroes.

St Saint George killed the dragon in this country; and the place is shown close to Beyroot.

The church at Lydda is dedicated to Saint George; so is a convent near Bethlehem, and another small one just opposite the Jaffa gate, and others beside.

The Arabs believe that Saint George can restore mad people to their senses, and to say a person has been sent to St Saint George's is equivalent to saying he has been sent to a madhouse.

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Saint George is very much honoured by the Eastern Orthodox Church, wherein he is referred to as a "Great Martyr", and in Oriental Orthodoxy overall.

The sacred relics of Saint George were brought to Antioch from Mardin in 900 and were taken to Kerala, India, from Antioch in 1912 by Mar Dionysius of Vattasseril and kept in the Orthodox seminary at Kundara, Kerala.

Saint George is the patron saint of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; George slaying the dragon is one of the most frequently used subjects of icons in the church.

Saint George is the protector of the island of Gozo and the patron of Gozo's largest city, Victoria.

The flag of Saint George was carried by the Portuguese troops and hoisted in the fortresses, during the 15th century.

Additionally, George is the patron saint of Scouts and of the Cavalry of the Brazilian Army.

Saint George is revered in several Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda, where it is syncretized in the form of Ogum.

Saint George became the patron saint of the former Kingdom of Aragon and Crown of Aragon when King Pedro I of Aragon won the Battle of Alcoraz in 1096.

Legend has it that victory eventually fell to the Christian armies when Saint George appeared to them on the battlefield, helping them secure the reconquest of the city of Huesca which had been under the Muslim control of the Taifa of Zaragoza.

Cross of St Saint George, known in Aragon as The Cross of Alcoraz, continues to emblazon the flags of all of Aragon's provinces.

In Valencia, Catalonia, the Balearics, Malta, Sicily and Sardinia, the origins of the veneration of St Saint George go back to their shared history as territories under the Crown of Aragon, thereby sharing the same legend.

Saint George's cross appears in many buildings and local flags, including the flag of Barcelona, the Catalan capital.

Term "Saint George's cross" was at first associated with any plain Greek cross touching the edges of the field .

Saint George is most commonly depicted in early icons, mosaics, and frescos wearing armour contemporary with the depiction, executed in gilding and silver colour, intended to identify him as a Roman soldier.

Eastern Orthodox iconography permits Saint George to ride a black horse, as in a Russian icon in the British museum collection.