The Legend of Saint George

 

Author: Panagiota Vasiliou

 

Talis Project: Tales from Cyprus, Nigeria and Kenya

 

Saint George was born between 275-285 a.c in Armenia. Is one of the most popular saints in the entire Christian world, at a young age, George was ranked in the Roman army. He was distinguished for his courage and heroism. St. George is considered a protector of the Infantry and the Army of the Land, and he is also the patron saint of England.

 

There are a lot of achievements on his name, of which the most important is the one that talks about the killing of the dragon and rescue the princess. This beast kept the water of a source and let it run only when someone was coming there in order to eat him or her. In that region where the dragon was, they chose randomly every day one person in order to fight with it and kill it, because that dragon was a big threat for all the inhabitants of the village and everybody afraid of it. Until St. George turn came to face the dragon. After a big fight he killed him and he was the only one who manage to kill the dragon.

 

He confessed that he is christian so some bad people tried to change his religion but they couldn’t and according to the Christian tradition of all these tribulations, God held him miraculously alive.

 

Finally he died on 23 of April 303 a.c. this fact also led more people to confess that they are christians. He is also the patron saint of Moscow, Aragon, Georgia and Catalonia, and until the 18th century he was also of Portugal.

 

He was also the protective saint of Knights