George “Pobedonosets” The Protector

Saint George was a soldier of Cappadocian Greek origins, member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, who was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He became one of the most venerated saints and megalo-martyrs in Christianity, and he has been especially venerated as a military saint since the Crusades. In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. He is celebrated by various Christian Churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, Saint George is the patron saint of England, Germany, Portugal, Russia, The Boy Scouts and soldiers. However, he is probably best known for the fantastical tale of him slaying a dragon that was terrorizing a town in Libya and rescuing a princess. His true achievements are somewhat harder to decode, however. While he is known to have championed for Richard I during the crusades, and was believed to have been tortured and martyred after he tore up the edict which initiated the Emperor Diocletian's persecution of 303, it is extremely difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. The right hand of the Great Martyr George the Victorious (right hand to the elbow) is kept in a silver shrine on Mount Athos, in the monastery of Xenophon (Greece).