Talk given at Brecon Scouts St George’s Day Service 2009
No doubt all you scouts, cubs and beavers know the story of Saint George and the dragon. He’s the Patron Saint of England, but the English don’t pay as much attention to him as the Welsh, Scots and Irish do to their patron saints!
St. George is also the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Russia and Serbia. And, of course, of the Scout Movement.
A lot of the stories about George were made up in the Middle Ages – especially the one about him slaying the dragon.
What do we know about him historically?
The story of George
George was a Roman soldier who lived at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century. He was born and brought up in Lydda in Palestine, but he served as a soldier in Asia Minor ( modern day Turkey). George was a very good soldier and he rose to become an officer in the bodyguard of the Emperor Diocletian.
George was a Christian, and there were many other Christians in the Roman empire at the time. There were plenty of pagans too, who worshipped the old Roman gods, but generally the Christians were allowed to practice their religion in peace. But then, in 303 AD, the Emperor Diocletian banned the Christian faith and started torturing and killing Christians.
A choice
George had been a good soldier of Rome and a faithful servant of Christ, but now he had to chose between the two. If he remained a soldier he would have to deny Christ and worship the gods of Rome. Then he would be allowed to live in peace. If he remained faithful to Christ he would have to disobey the Emperor and face the consequences.
George set out to the Emperor’s court to plead for the law to be changed. His friends begged him not to go. They could see it would end in his death. When he got the message the Emperor Diocletian refused to see George and handed him over to the governor of the city of Nicomedia. There George was condemned to death. He was tortured and dragged though the streets of the city. Eventually he was beheaded. This happened on April 23rd. – St George’s Day.
Make a stand
So George was a great soldier, a brave man, a faithful servant of God. Perhaps the story of his slaying a dragon is just a way of saying he stood up against the “dragon” of paganism and of tyranny.
We can all learn from George. We all have our dragons – those bad things in our lives we need to struggle against – things like cruelty, unkindness, greed, laziness selfishness.
There are also many temptations to do wrong – to steal, or to lie, or to take drugs. There are also evils in society we should fight against – such thing as ignorance and poverty and corruption.
Sometimes we have to make a stand for truth or right or justice – even when it costs us. To speak up for the weak and the oppressed. To be a follower of Jesus, even when no one else seems to want to follow him. To not be afraid of being unpopular or appearing uncool because we stand up for what we believe.
