Feast of Saint George – April 23

Not much is known about him, but tradition holds that George was born to a Christian family in Lydda (Lod) in the third century. The connection with Lydda makes George a local saint of the Holy Land and a church in his honor was built and then destroyed a number of times during history. The present Church of Saint George in Lydda is Orthodox. George was a Roman soldier in the guard of Diocletian, who fought against Christianity. George died as a martyr when he refused to sacrifice to idols and to the emperor and proclaimed instead that he was a believer in Jesus Christ. He is one of many soldiers in the Roman army who died as martyrs in like fashion.

The story of his conflict with the dragon is well known from the Middle Ages onwards. George saved the daughter of a king from the dragon that was threatening the city. The inhabitants became Christians after the slaying of the dragon.

Saint George is one of the patron saints of the Holy Land. He is also patron saint of England and Ethiopia. In the Ethiopian Church his feast day is celebrated on the 23rd day of each month (unless there is some other feast day on that day).