The Google homepage Doodle today, April 23rd, celebrates St George’s Day.
St George is a very popular saint among Christians whether they are Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, or Anglican. He is the patron saint of England and in Greece he is considered the patron saint for the army.
St George’s depictions usually show him slaying a fire-breathing dragon while sitting on a rearing horse. Not much is known about the saint’s origin, and historians have been debating about his early life for years.
George was born during the era of the Roman emperor Diocletian, allegedly in the Palestinian city of Lydda, to an upper-class Greek Christian family from Cappadoccia, now in modern-day Turkey. At a young age he was recruited by the Roman army and very quickly he earned the title of ‘tribunus’.
The emperor asked George to make a sacrifice to the Roman gods, but George refused, saying he believed in Jesus Christ. Even though Diocletian asked him to reconsider and offered lands for George to convert, he would not change his mind. After various torture sessions, George was decapitated on April 23, 303 AD in Nicomedia, now Izmit, in Turkey. Before his death he gave his wealth to the poor. Since then he has been recognized by Christians as a martyr.
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