St. George the Great Martyr (c. 275-303)

A Roman officer from a Christian family of Cappadocia and Palestine, martyred at Nicomedia in 303 when Diocletian began the last and greatest persecution, and among the first of the martyrs whose cult spread across the whole Church. The Church calls him Great Martyr and Trophy-bearer, and his church at Lydda, where he was buried, was a place of pilgrimage within a century. The dragon on his icons is later than his cult by several hundred years and is read as it is painted: the victory of faith over the enemy, a warrior who belongs to Christ. He is the patron of Georgia and of England, of soldiers and farmers, and his feast in spring is one of the great days of the year in the Balkans and the Caucasus. Feast: April 23.