A saint's day
St George the Victory-Bearer
St George, born in Cappadocia to a Christian family, became a brave officer of the Roman army. When Diocletian launched his great persecution, George gave his wealth to the poor, set his servants at liberty and openly confessed Christ before the Senate; through terrible tortures the Lord raised him up unharmed, and many who saw it came to faith. He was beheaded around 303 and buried at Lydda, and the Church calls him the Victory-bearer, the liberator of captives, the defender of the poor and the physician of the sick.
The dates
- Kept on
- 23 April, or after Pascha when it falls before it (6 May on the Old Calendar)
- Next, New Calendar
- Next, Old Calendar
The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.
How the day is kept
Orthodox soldiers have carried his icon for centuries, and Orthodox Christians pray to him for those who serve and for the homeland.
In Russia, where he is lovingly called Yegory, his spring feast is Yegory Veshny: villagers drove their herds out to pasture for the first time that day, and the herds are still sprinkled with holy water as they go out.
When his day falls in Lent, many New-Calendar churches keep his feast on Bright Monday, the day after Pascha.
Name days
These names keep their name day on this feast:
The saint
Icons for the feast
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