The miracle of George about the serpent

The legend says that in the vicinity of the city of Beirut near the Lebanese mountains ^[1] (in a number of texts the fictional city of Lasia ^[2] or " Geval, in the land of Palestine " ^[3] appears, and at Jacob Voraginsky - the city of Silena in Libya) lived snake attacking people. The king ruled the city "a dirty idolater , a wicked man and a wicked man, merciless and merciless to those who believe in Christ ." The people, frightened by the monster, came to him, the king suggested compiling a list of citizens and taking turns to give their children to be torn to pieces by a snake, promising, when it was his turn, to give his daughter to death. Having fulfilled his promise, the king " dressed his daughter in purple and fine linen , adorned with gold and precious stones, and pearls " and ordered to lead to the snake.

The holy and great martyr, the sufferer for the faith of Christ, George, the warrior revered by the king of the heavens, who lived even after death, shining with great miracles, willingly to save us, perishing, save our city from this misfortune, at that very moment was in place volume in the form of a simple warrior ... ^[3]

- “The Miracle of George about the Serpent” ( 16th century list)

In Greek versions of the legend, the miracle is described as the only one in life (the Slavic tradition considers George to be posthumous ^[4] ) and it is reported that George was a military leader, " his army was disbanded, and he went to Cappadocian land , his fatherland ."

Seeing the crying princess, he asked her about the cause of her grief and, learning about the monster, promised to save her. Then, “ having overshadowed himself with the sign of the cross and calling on the Lord, with the words:“ “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he rushed upon his snake, shocking him with a spear and, striking the snake with force, hit him and pressed him to the ground; the saint’s horse trampled the serpent with its feet . ” ^[1] In some versions of the story, the serpent was struck only by the power of the saint's prayer. ^[2] Then George ordered the princess to tie the snake with a belt and lead him into the city. The people were surprised by the return of the princess, and when he saw the snake in terror, he scattered. George addressed them with the words:

“ Do not be afraid! if you believe in Christ , in whom I believe, you will now see your salvation . "
The king, coming out to meet him, said to him: “ What is your name, my lord? "
He answered: “ They call him George .”
Then people exclaimed all as one, saying: “ By you we believe in the one God Almighty and in the only Son of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Life-giving Spirit .”

George beheaded the serpent with a sword; the inhabitants carried the corpse out of the city and burned it. This miracle contributed to the conversion of local residents to Christianity , according to tradition, many people accepted baptism (in various lists from 25,000 ^[1] to 240,000 ^[2] ), and a church was built in the city in honor of the Virgin.

Researchers note that the snake-fighting drama has been known since ancient times (for example, the Sumero-Akkadian Marduk , the Vedic Indra ) and dates back to pre-Christian cults. ^{[5] [6] [7]} Ancient mythology also knows a number of similar plots ^[8] : Zeus defeats Typhon , who had a hundred dragon heads on the back of his head, Apollo defeated the dragon Python , and Hercules defeated the Lernean hydra . The closest plot to the miracle of George about the serpent is the myth of Perseus and Andromeda : Perseus defeats the sea monster and saves Princess Andromeda, given to him to be eaten.

In Christianity, the miracle of George about the serpent also has an allegorical interpretation: the princess is the church , the serpent is paganism , that is, George, by killing the dragon, saves the Christian church from the Gentiles. Also, this miracle is seen as a victory over the devil - the “ancient serpent” ( Rev. 12: 3 ; 20: 2 ) ^[9] .

The story of George and the serpent first appears in the " Golden Legend " by Jacob Voraginsky. It was easily received and reflected in the texts of church services, where it remained until the reform carried out by Pope Clement VII (XVI century), when some of the prayers that mentioned the battle with the dragon were removed from the treasury and other church books, and he just turned into a holy martyr, who is at the throne of heaven next to Christ ^[10] .

Images of George in the image of a horseman appear in the 10th-11th centuries in his homeland in Cappadocia, but miniatures depicting his victory over the dragon have been known since the 9th century (Lobkova Psalter ). ^[eleven]

The iconographic script provides the following lengthy description of the plot, which should be depicted on the icon:

The miracle of St. George, how to save the damsel from the serpent, is written as follows: the holy martyr George is sitting on a white horse, holding a spear in his hand and pricked the serpent into the larynx; and the serpent came out of the Jezerus Velmi terrible and great; The Jezero is great, the mountain beside the Jezero, and the mountain is on the other country, and on the Jezero’s shoulder there is a damsel, a royal daughter, the royal apparel on her is very good, she holds the serpent with her belt and leads the serpent into the city with her belt, and closes the other girl with the gates of the city; the city is surrounded by a fence and a tower, the tsar is looking from the tower, the image is Rus, the brad is small and the tsarina is with him, and behind them are boliers, soldiers and people with axes and copies. ^[12]

However, in most cases, the icons depict an abbreviated composition: an equestrian warrior strikes with a spear a serpent, and from heaven he is blessed by Christ or his hand. Sometimes over the head of George portray an angel with a crown in his hands. The city on icons is usually depicted as a tower. A distinctive feature of Russian icons depicting this plot is that George strikes the dragon with a spear not in the eye, as in Western painting, but in the mouth.

In the iconography, the plot of the miracle of George about the serpent is presented as a mystical battle between good and evil. ^[11] At the same time, " George makes no effort, his domination of the enemy looks like something eternal and predetermined from above ." ^[13]

George the Victorious since the time of Dmitry Donskoy is considered the patron saint of Moscow , since the city was founded by the namesake Prince Yuri Dolgoruky . The image of a horseman striking a serpent with a spear appears from the turn of the XIV - XV centuries in Moscow heraldry . During the reign of Ivan III, the image of the horseman-snake-rider was established as the emblem of the Moscow principality . In the 1710s , the first rider on the Moscow coat of arms called St. George Peter I.

In the Russian Empire, a shield with the figure of a horseman killing a serpent was part of the Great State Emblem of the empire :

On the eagle’s chest there is a Moscow coat of arms: in the shield scarlet with gold edges, the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George, in silver armament and lazure hair (mantle), on a silver, covered with a crimson fabric with gold fringe, a horse that defeats a golden, with green wings, a golden dragon, with the eight-pointed cross at the top, a spear. ^[14]

Currently, this figure in the coat of arms of the Russian Federation is described as follows: “in a red shield, - a silver horseman in a blue cloak on a silver horse, striking with a silver spear a black tilted back and trampled by a horse serpent” ^[15] , that is, without direct reference to St. George, and portrayed without a halo . At the same time, the coat of arms of Moscow speaks of St. George, striking precisely the serpent:

“The coat of arms of the city of Moscow is an image on a dark red heraldic shield with a ratio of width to height 8: 9 of the horseman deployed to the right of the viewer - St. George the Victorious in silver armor and a blue mantle (cloak), on a silver horse, striking with a golden spear a black Serpent” ^[sixteen]

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  Marijampole

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  White Stone, 1682

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  Lyuboml

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  Vladimir-Volynsky

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  Kamyanets-Podilskyi , 1374

The story "The Miracle of George about the Serpent" is a monument of ancient Russian literature . It appeared in the XI century as a translation from Greek of an episode from the life of the saint. At the end of the XII - the beginning of the XIII centuries a Russian revision of the translated legend appeared - the so-called “second Russian edition”. It is distinguished by the laconicism characteristic of the original ancient Russian works. It replaces some proper names (for example, the fictional city of Geval was introduced), the narrative is shortened, and the Christian side of the story is muffled (for example, in motivating the actions of George). ^[3]

• St. George and the Dragon - works of art on the plot of "The Miracle of George about the Serpent."

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