Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Great-Martyr, Trophy-Bearer, and Wonderworker George. St. George is among the most beloved saints in the world — not only among the Orthodox, but also among the Catholics, and sometimes even among those who do not count themselves as Christians. Why is it that St. George stands out so strongly to so many people, even among the innumerable multitude of the saints and the heavenly hosts?
Of course, it is impossible to give a complete answer to such a question in mere words, especially in such a short time as I have to speak to you today. To truly understand the love of our Orthodox people for St. George, it is necessary to ourselves come to know and to love St. George — and ultimately, that process can only happen by entering into communion with St. George in our inner life of prayer. But to help us perhaps understand a little better who he is — even if only on a rational level — I want to read a brief passage from Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov)’s wonderful book, Everyday Saints, wherein he recounts a conversation he and his friends were having about the spiritual life:
Once a conversation started about whether there were any people in this world whom the Lord does not love. Everyone amiably hastened to give the correct and expected answer that of course “the Lord loves everyone.” But Father Raphael suddenly said: “No, that isn’t quite true. The Lord does not love cowards!”
This is a startling thing to hear, and perhaps it is not exactly true, because of course God does indeed love all of us despite our sins. Nevertheless, I think there is indeed something profoundly important about the point Fr. Raphael was trying to make, for as the Lord Himself said in the Holy Gospels: “whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26).
And I think that perhaps this is a large part of the reason why the Lord Himself, as well as so many of His people, love St. George so profoundly: because of the greatness of his courage. Not only did he boldly and courageously confess Christ before the persecutor, but he did so completely voluntarily. He could have kept his faith to himself, resolving simply not to betray Christ if someone came to put him to the question. But no: St. George — although he was a wealthy man and a favorite of the emperor — immediately gave up everything which we consider good in this life, and went before the most powerful people in the world, ready to lay down his life in order to preach to them the Gospel. They asked him why he would want to throw away all the good things which he had, and the saint answered: “Nothing in this inconstant life can weaken my resolve to serve God.”
There are a few things about the courage of St. George which I would like to speak briefly about. I will begin by saying that there were two main ways in which his courage expressed itself. The first is the way in which we often think about the courage of the martyrs: in enduring torture and affliction. Without any question, the sufferings which St. George endured for Christ were absolutely incredible. But the saint was also tempted to deny Christ by exactly the opposite means: by the promise of earthly pleasure, and power, and praise. In fact, the Emperor Diocletian even offered to allow St. George to rule over the entire empire itself, second only to him — if only he would deny Christ, and sacrifice to the pagan gods.
So too, my dear brothers and sisters, are both types of courage required of each of us in our own Christian lives. We must be ready and willing not only to endure in a Christian manner the suffering and sorrow which are absolutely inevitable in this broken and sinful world, but we must also be ready to let go even of the good things which it contains — if those good things begin separate us from God. We must all have the courage of our faith: faith that in the end God will comfort every sorrow and heal every hurt, but also the faith there is absolutely no comparison between any sacrifice we could possibly make — any good thing we could possibly give up — and the incomprehensible blessings which God desires with all His heart to give to us in their place. For truly, “as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Cor. 2:9).
And this brings us to the final thing I wish to say about the courage of St. George: that his courage was ultimately nothing other than an expression of his love. Not only his love for Christ, but even his love for the persecutors of Christ, for whose sake St. George made his witness, freely giving up everything in his life so that those pagan tyrants might to come to faith in the Savior. When we allow ourselves to act in a cowardly manner concerning our faith, we are not only choosing to love this world more than Christ and more than the Kingdom of God, but we are also choosing to love ourselves more than the people around us. The Life of St. George tells us that even the wife of Diocletian was moved to the point of glorying Christ because of the witness which the saint made. If we, too, acted in a like manner, how many of even the most hardened hearts around us might not be moved to saving repentance, through the grace of the Most-Holy Spirit which would be allowed to work through us?
My brothers and sisters, it is a good thing the praise the saints with our lips, but it is a far better thing to imitate them with our lives. Of course, all of us sinners are very far from the sanctity of St. George. But on this holy feast day, let us all make a firm resolution to imitate just a little more closely his faith, his courage, and his love. May God help all of us to do this, through the prayers of the Holy Great-Martyr, Trophy-bearer, and Wonderworker George. Amen!
Thank you for this en-COURAGE-ing homily!