Christopher Walter

The Origins of the Cult of Saint George

In: Revue des études byzantines, tome 53, 1995. pp. 295-326.

Abstract
REB 53 1995 France p. 295-326
Ch. Walter, The Origins of the Cult of Saint George. — In this article, the author does not return to the traditional scholar's
thankless task of attempting to discover a «historical» figure beneath an incrustation of legends, although he considers that these
legends could be fruitfully studied under the guise of contes populaires. He concentrates rather on the «meta-historical» Saint
George, notably as he is presented in the Life of Theodore of Sykeon. To establish the character of the «meta-historical» Saint
George, it is not only necessary to take into account the clichés long since currently used for saints and martyrs, but also to
delineate the prestigious contemporaries of Saint George : Thecla, Menas, Demetrius, etc., for none of whom was there a regular
«set up» of miracula, eulogia, relics, sanctuary, etc. In the case of Saint George, it seems clear that a portrait-type of this
exceptionally handsome young man was established earlier than any icon known to exist today. It was devotion to his icon,
accompanied by beneficent apparitions, rather than veneration of his relics or fréquentation of his sanctuary, which maintained
his cult up to this day.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Walter Christopher. The Origins of the Cult of Saint George. In: Revue des études byzantines, tome 53, 1995. pp. 295-326.

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 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT
OF SAINT GEORGE

Christopher WALTER

At the fourth international symposium on Georgian art, held in Tbilissi in

May 1983, I presented a paper entitled "Le culte, les légendes et l'iconogra
phie de saint Georges, un projet de recherche". The organisers had the inten
tion of publishing all the papers given, and, in fact, two volumes did appear
in 1989 '. However, mine was not among them. It seems now unlikely that
the complete acts of the symposium will ever be published. In any case, my
own contribution would need to be updated, although I would still consider
my main point to be valid: some sort of comparative, structural method is
necessary for the study of Saint George.
In my Tbilissi paper, I was particularly concerned with the Lives of Saint
George. When the material was studied assiduously at the beginning of the
century, the main concern of scholars in hagiography was to establish what
was historically exact in the Life of a saint2. Their method was to eliminate
later accretions and so proceed back to the original authentic core. As is well
known, this method did not work for Saint George. The earliest Life had long
been recognized to be fabulous, and a main preoccupation of those who later
produced new versions was to make them historically more plausible. Ano
ther method used at that time, particularly when sceptics called in doubt the
very existence of a saint, was to establish the ancientness of his cult. Thus,
for Saint George, Hippolyte Delehaye maintained that his cult was "parfait
ement localisé: il avait son centre à Lydda ou Diospolis en Palestine"3. Howe
ver this statement may need some qualification.

1. IVe symposium international sur l'art, géorgien, 2 volumes, Tbilissi 1989.

2. The most, important publications for this period were: H. Delehaye, Les légendes
grecques des saints militaires, Paris 1909; K. Krumbacher, Der heilige Georg in der
griechischen Überlieferung, Munich 1911; J.B. Aufhauser, Der Drachenwunder des hei
ligen Georg in der griechischen und lateinischen Überlieferung, Leipzig 1911; Idem, Mira-
cula S. Georgii, Leipzig 1913. The bibliographies, regularly published in the Analecta
Boilandiana, help to make access more rapid to the vast Bibliography of Saint George.
W. Haubrichs, Georgslied und Georgslegende im frühen Mittelalter, Königstein 1977,
also gives an extensive bibliography.
3. H. Dei.ehaye. Sanclus. Brussels 1927. p. 194.

Revue des Etudes Byzantines 53. 1995. p. 295-326.

296 CH. WALTER

Let it be said at once that neither the analysis of the Lives nor precisions as
to the origins of his cult can bring us nearer to a historical Saint George.
Experts in hagiography do not deny that he actually existed (although the
evidence about his cult suggests that perhaps more than one martyr's relics
were venerated under that name4). Cumont considered that the Saint George
of the earliest Life could at least be affirmed to have been a soldier5. For the
rest dorn Henri Leclercq's lapidary phrase remains valid: "Né à? en?; mort à?
en?"6. Nevertheless at a certain moment, no doubt in the sixth century, a
single meta-historical (that is to say, known principally from his actions after
his death), well-defined personality called Saint George does come clearly and
irrefutably into existence. There was no question of "doubling", as in the case
of Saint Theodore; moreover, if there was fusion, as in the case of Saint
Nicolas, we have no evidence which could be used to trace the process.
Curiously, the main source for the nature and cult of this meta-historical
figure has hardly been exploited by hagiographers. I am referring to the Life
of Saint George's loyal devotee, Theodore of Sykeon7.
Perhaps one reason why this source has been neglected is that it provides
virtually no "historical" information about Saint George. There are refer
ences only to his "combat" as a martyr and to his connections with Cappado-
cia 8. However, the references in the Life of Theodore to Saint George's relics
surely merit more consideration9. On the other hand, this Life, probably
written in the early seventh century, offers an excellent starting-point for an
enquiry into the reasons for and nature of Saint George's immense, lasting
and universal popularity.
If the burdensome, possibly futile, task of establishing any sure historical
facts about Saint George's life and the origins of his cult can be set aside,
there is liberty to study the vast available material — texts, inscriptions and
artistic representations — in other ways. As I argued in my Tbilissi paper
(I do not intend to take up the subject here), if the Lives are considered as
conies — the English equivalent would be folk stories — , then they can be
analysed as conies, although with a double structure, because, whereas in a
folk story Saint George would have, after his various trials, lived "happily
ever afterwards", he is in fact executed 10. Consequently the basic structure
has to be set in a wider one, in which, as a reward for his endurance, a happier
ending may be added, that of immortality. These stories, happy or unhappy
in their ending, obviously need to be studied not only in the context of the

4. Haubrichs, op. cil. (note 2), p. 232-233.

5. F. Cumont, La plus ancienne légende de saint Georges, Revue de l'hisloire des
religions 114, 1936, p. 16.
6. H. Leclercq, Georges (Saint), DACL 6, 1924, col. 1021.
7. Vie de Théodore de Sykéon, edited A.-J. Festugière, Brussels 1970 (cited here
inafter: Festugière, § (number), 1 Greek text, II French translation). See also
M. Kaplan, cited note 122.
8. Festugière, § 100, I, p. 80 πολύαθλον μάρτυς; § 108, I, p. 80-82; II, p. 89.
9. Festugière, § 100-101, I, p. 80-82; II, p. 83-85.
10. See, for example, V. Propp, Morphologie du conte, a pioneer study, reprinted,
Paris 1965; A.J. Greimas, Sémantique structurale, recherche de méthode, Paris 1966;
J. Calloud, L'analyse structurale de récit, éléments de méthode, Lyon 1973.
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 297

universal literary genre of contes, but also in that of the more restricted
literary genre of other early Lives of martyrs. A conte could always be inte
rrupted or prolonged. In fact Saint George's later popularity was enhanced
and his more recent notoriety increased (by specious comparisons with Per
seus, Mithras, etc.), when the story was added, probably in the eleventh
century, of his intervention to rescue the princess from the dragon"11.
The principal purpose of such stories was to edify 12. However, by no means
all a saint's devotees were attracted to him by his example of endurance
under torture. Saints in general and martyrs in particular received cult
because they might or did intervene favorably in the terrestrial life of their
devotees. Theodore of Sykeon, according to his Life, was not only accompan
ied and aided from birth to death by Saint George, but also encouraged
others to look to him for aid. There can, in fact, be few more detailed
accounts of what a devotee might expect or receive from a celestial patron
than that which this Life provides for Theodore and Saint George. However,
by the early seventh century, when it was apparently written, the cult of
martyrs was already well established. This is one reason why the cult of Saint
George should be studied in the context of that of other martyrs, in order to
determine what is original and what is derivative.
The publications of two great scholars may help or hinder in the task.
Hippolyte Delehaye's Les origines du culte des martyrs, with related works,
has, if any defect, that of over-standardizing the notion of martyr13. André
Grabar's Martyrium is rendered difficult to exploit by the number, brilliance
and occasional unsoundness of his intuitions14.
In the Life of Theodore of Sykeon, Saint George is called a "holy martyr".
By the seventh century these words — άγιος and μάρτυς — had acquired the
connotations which they have for us today. However, this was a slow process,
during which Christian notions of saintliness and martyrdom changed consi
derably. Thus the Greek word άγιος, rarely applied to persons in pagan tradi
tion, was exploited in the Septuagint to translate over twenty Hebrew words
and widely used with the general meaning of holy. It was taken up in the
New Testament, with the same meaning, as an epithet applied to God, the
angels, the prophets and apostles as well as to the general run of Christians,
particularly by Saint Paul in his Letters. The "saints" whom he greets in
Rome, Corinth or Ephesus are usually paraphrased in translation as God's
people.
The Greek word μάρτυς retains its classical meaning of witness in both the
Septuagint and the New Testament. However, in the latter, it takes on a
special connotation in two cases. One is in Saint Paul's reference to the shed
ding of blood by Stephen "thy witness" (Acts 22, 20). The other reference is to

1 1 . See appendix.
12. Wanda Wolska-Conus & Ch. Walter, Un programme iconographique du
patriarche Tarasios?, HEB 38, 1980, p. 247-254.
13. H. Delrhaye, Les origines du culte des martyrs, 2nd edition, Brussels 1933.
14. Λ. Grabar, Martyrium. Recherches sur le culte des reliques et l'art antique, Paris
1946.
298 CH. WALTER

"Babylon the great... drunk with the blood... of those who had borne their
testimony to Jesus " (Apocalypse 17, 6).
There is no evidence in the Bible of special cult being offered to "saints" or
"martyrs", for every Christian was a potential martyr or saint. The Church
took over the practice, endemic among the Israelites, of giving a decent
burial to the dead. Just as Tobit had risked reprisals during the captivity by
going out after sunset to bury his dead compatriots (Tobit 1, 16-2, 8), so,
when John the Baptist was beheaded, his disciples came to take away his
body and bury it (Matthew 14, 12). Similarly Stephen, who would come to be
known as the "protomartyr", "was given burial by certain devout men who
made a great lamentation for him" (Acts 8, 2).
Also, with one unique exception, there is no evidence in the Bible that
martyrs or saints were expected to intervene in the life of terrestrial beings,
whether as intercessors or protectors. Indeed for the first Christians Jesus
Christ was the only mediator between God and man (Hebrews 7, 25). The
unique exception is, of course, the vision of Judas, recounted in II Maccabees
15, 12-16, according to which he saw Onias and the prophet Jeremiah
"praying earnestly for the whole Jewish people".
Origen (ca 185- ca 254), who cited this passage from II Maccabees, was
probably the first of the Christian Fathers to develop a theology of inter
cession 15. According to him souls and spirits share with the angels the office
of interceding for those who merit God's favour, even without being invoked.
They fight at our side against demons. Ambrose will be more useful to his
family interceding in heaven than living on earth. Pagan tradition was favo
rable to such a notion. According to Hippolyte Delehaye, Electra begged the
spirit of Agamemnon to make Orestes return from exile, while, in the Sympos
ium,Diotima referred to the intermediaries between gods and mortals, who
transmit men's sacrifices and petitions to the gods and divine orders and
recompense for their sacrifices to men I6.
One of Saint George's ways of intervening in Theodore's life was to protect
him from Satan and demons. On his first nocturnal visit to the saint's marty-
rium, Theodore was surrounded by demons in the form of wolves and other
fearsome beasts. The "martyr of God" shielded him like a man holding a
sword 17. Later Satan disguised as Theodore's friend Gerontius, challenged
him to jump off a precipice, a direct allusion to Christ's temptation (Matthew
4, 5-7; Luke 4, 9-12). Saint George protected him from "the enemy of the
human race", and led him to the martyrium 18. When Theodore fell ill, the
martyr asked what was the cause of the malady. Theodore referred to a
demon which duly appeared. The martyr tortured the demon and sent it
away. He then took Theodore by the hand and cured him 19.

15. Origen, Commentarium in Joannem (Clavis 1453), John 4, 46-53, PG 14, 509 b;
In canticum canlicorum III (Clavis 1433), PG 13, 160; De oratione II (Clavis 1477),
PG 11, 448 (-d.
16. Delehaye, op. cit. (note 13), p. 100-101.
17. Festugtère, §8, I, p. 7-8; II, p. 10-11.
18. Ibidem, § 11, I, p. 9-10; II, p. 12-13.
19. Ibidem, § 17, I, p. 14-15; II, p. 17-18.
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 299

Thus in Christian spirituality saints had been attributed, as early as Ori-

gen, the office of protecting their devotees against demons and evil beasts. It
would become, along with protection in war, the special function of warrior
saints. In the Life of Theodore, Saint George appears with one of their attr
ibutes — a sword. He also extended his personal protection to Domnitziolos,
nephew of the emperor Phocas (602-610), and saved his life when he was
ambushed by the Persians20. However, the attribution of this function to
warrior saints was not an immediate development. It will be considered in
more detail later.
Meanwhile it would be as well to examine the origins of the cult of Saint
George as a martyr in relationship to that of other martyrs. Probably the first
writer to use the term martyr specifically for someone who accepted death
rather than refuse to witness to his faith in Jesus Christ was Irenaeus of Lyon
(died 202): "Thus the martyrs give witness and despise death, not according
to the weakness of the flesh but according to the promptitude of the spirit"21.
This supernatural fortitude when faced with death is a theme which recurs
regularly in accounts of martyrdom. It had already been attributed to the
Maccabees (IV Maccabees 6, 5-7). However, the notion of which Grabar made
much that the martyr was privileged with a theophany at the moment of
death and that it was of this that he was a "witness" does not receive much
support from the Passions of the martyrs22. Saint Stephen, indeed, was pr
ivileged with a theophany; it was his testimony to it which actually provoked
the Jews to stone him (Acts 7, 55-56). The only other example known to me,
which Grabar did not cite, is that of Papylus of Pergamon. On being asked
why he was laughing as he was led to execution, he replied: "I saw the glory
of my God"23.
Grabar was led, by this association of martyrdom with a theophany recei
vedat the hour of death, to suppose that the word "martyrium" signified the
place where the martyr had expired, after receiving his theophany, where his
relics were placed and where a shrine (analogous to a heroôn) was built. He
was encouraged to formulate this ingenious but untenable hypothesis by the
puzzling practice of Eusebius who used the word martyrium for the edifices
which the emperor Constantine commissioned to be constructed on the site of
Christ's various theophanies. However, although Constantine did, indeed,
commission martyria to be constructed upon the site of the burial or martyr
dom of Saint Peter and Laurence in Rome, this was far from being his general
practice. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that, as we have seen, the inter
cessory office of saints in heaven was already currently accepted at the time
of Origen, there is absolutely no reason to associate it with the cult of their
relics, the construction of shrines in their honour, nor with a possible theo
phany at the hour of their death. Grabar, obviously, pushed this "contemplat
ive" aspect of martyrdom too far. Another example of such exaggeration

20. Ibidem, § 120, I, p. 96-97; II, p. 100-101.

21. Irenafits. Contre les hérésies V 92, edited A. Rousseau, Paris 1969, p. 110-1 13.
22. Grabar, op. cit. (note 14), I, p. 266; II, p. 156-158.
23. II. Musurii.i.o. The Ads of the Christian Martyrs. Oxford 1972, p. xv-xvi. 26-27.
32-34 (BUG 294, 295).
300 CH. WALTER

would be his application to early portraits of martyrs with a fixed stare of the
word επόπτης24. The word, signifying contemplator, was applied in the Eleusi-
nian mysteries to those who had attained to the highest grade of initiation25.
Signifying overseer, it is used (II Maccabees 3, 39) for God watching over
Jerusalem. Later Clement of Alexandria would use it, with its cognate terms,
for the contemplation of sacred realities26. However, I have found no
example — and Grabar certainly does not cite any — of this word being
applied to a martyr contemplating a theophany.
To attain to the concept of martyr, with its rich connotations, which was
prevalent in the seventh century, various preliminaries were essential. The
first was the commitment of all the "saints" to a conflict "against cosmic
powers..., against the superhuman forces of evil in the heavens" (Ephesians 6,
11-12). The second was to establish a connection between this cosmic struggle
against evil forces and the terrestrial situation of Christians, who would pro
gressively associate Satan and his machinations with the attitude of contem
porary society towards them27. After Nero's pogrom (62-63), persecution
until the third century was normally limited to a specific region, and initiated
by the local governor in virtue of the ius coercendi, provoked by the local
populace in the search of a scapegoat. As Tertullian wrote (ca 160-ca 220):
"If the Tiber has flooded the city, if the Nile has not flooded the countryside,
if it has not rained, if the earth has quaked, if there has been a famine or a
plague, at once there is an outcry: The Christians to the lions"28. Actually the
usual offence for which Christians were tried was refusal of an act of piety
towards a statue of a god or of the emperor.
There were some outstandingly bloody persecutions, notably in Lyon in
177 and in Alexandria in 202-203, so that Christians began to accept that the
violent death to which the martyr succumbed distinguished him from other
"saints". Since he received special graces, which enabled him to persevere to
the end, he merited special honour or cult. The second period of persecution,
which was theoretically universal, was provoked by the emperors themselves.
It lasted from the accession of Decius (249-251) up to the promulgation of
Constantine's edict, but it was no continuous. Based on the idea that the
Empire, threatened by barbarian invasion, was, through infidelity, losing the
patronage of the gods, attempts were made to restore a unique and universal
cult. The greatest obstacle to this restoration was the Christian Church, by
then the most powerful religious organisation.
Decius's edict (249) called for all citizens to sacrifice and to obtain a libellus
to that effect. Valerian (253-260) promulgated two edicts — 257 and 258 —

24. Grabar, op. cit. (note 14), II, p. 42-43.

25. G. E. Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries, Princeton 1961, p. 237,
274-278.
26. Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus (Clavis 1376), edited I. Marrou, Paris
1960-1970, I 28.1, I, p. 162-163; I 54.1, I, p. 206-207; II 118.5, II, p. 226-227.
27. Marta Sordt, The Christians and the Roman Empire, Oklahoma 1986 (for much
of what follows about Christian society under Roman rule).
28. Tertullian, Apologeticum 40.2; cf. J.-Cl. Fredouille, Les chrétiens aux lions,
Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé 46, 1987, p. 329.
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 301

closing churches, confiscating burial grounds, exiling clergy. Whereas Chris

tians had previously been pursued as individual delinquents, it was now reco
gnized officially that the Church existed — an institution which must be
dismantled. When Gallienus (253-268) rescinded his father's edicts, he also
gave the Church, for the first time, the right legally to exist. Forty years
later, Diocletian (284-305), together with his co-rulers Maximian (286-305),
Galerius (293-311) and Maximinus Daia (305-313), returned to the policy of
Valerian with even less success. This was the period of the greatest bloodshed,
in which the Passion of many martyrs was set, including the revised Fhission
of Saint George.
Yet it would seem that only in the reign of Constantine did it become the
practice to honour a martyr's burial place in a special way, except possibly in
the Roman catacombs. Even there the imagery was funerary and integrated
into the overall decorative programme: the two principal sacraments, Bap
tism and the Eucharist; the divine interventions in Old Testament history to
save Noah from the flood, the Israelites from the Egyptians, Suzanna from
false witnesses and the Three Youths from the furnace29. As Maraval remarke
d, in his earlier account of the Palestinian martyrs, Eusebius merely observ
ed that they had a decent funeral and were buried as was customary. In his
later account, he said that the martyrs were subsequently placed in splendid
temples or holy houses of prayer, that they might never be forgotten, but
honoured by the people of God30.
Eusebius recorded the names of 120 men and 15 women, martyrs in Pales
tine, who "carried off the crown of winning athletes in the sacred games of
religion"31. George's name does not figure there. Moreover we have no record
of their cult apart, perhaps, from the commemoration in some Byzantine
calendars of thirty-three Palestinian martyrs on August 16th32. However,
Eusebius's expressions when writing of martyrs are those which became
conventional: the deeds of the "athletes of religion", their victorious courage
under so many trials, the crowns and trophies which they won in their
struggle with demons and invisible enemies. Thus, for the most part, the
author of the Life of Theodore of Sykeon used expressions about Saint George
which had been used about martyrs at least since the time of Eusebius.
Other martyrs than the Palestinian ones were destined to achieve greater
and more lasting eminence and fame. For purposes of comparison with Saint

29. For the integration of Thecla's delivery from martyrdom, see below. The exe
cution of Saint Achilles, carved on a column of a ciborium in the catacomb of Domi-
tilla, like the portraits of three anonymous saints under the church of Santi Giovanni e
Paolo, would date from about, 400. Grabar considered them to be later imitations of
iconographical types — none of which have survided — used in the respective sanctuar
ies of the martyrs in question. Grabar. op. cit. (note 14), II, p. 17 note 3. The martyr
dom scene is reproduced by U. M. Fasola, Nereo e Achilleo, Bibliotheca sanctorum 10,
54-55.
30. P. Maravai., lAeux saints et pèlerinages d'Orient, Paris 1985, p. 28: Eusebius,
Histoire ecclésiastique III, Les martyrs de Palestine XI. 28, edited G. Bardy, Paris
1958. p. 167.
31. Ibidem ( Eusebius) 111. p. 126 et seq.
32. G. I). Gordini. Palestina XXIII Martiri di, Bibliotheca sanctorum 10, 51-55.
302 CH. WALTER

George a few examples will be given here. They are intended above all to
show that the development of their cult was by no means standardized, even
if it did generally depend on three principal factors: the zeal of pilgrims, the
existence of relics and the favours which the martyr was able to obtain for the
devotee.
Devotion to Saint Stephen, the protomartyr, was certainly widespread long
before the invention of his relics in 415 33. There is an eloquent witness in the
Encomium of Gregory of Nyssa (ca 334-394), in which he invites his audience
to emulate Saint Stephen, and to participate in the athlete's struggle rather
than to be simple spectators34. His feast was already celebrated on December
26th in the fourth-century Martyrologium syriacum 35. The whereabouts of his
relics was revealed in a dream. They were fragmented and dispersed parti
cularly in Africa and Europe, where they were responsible for an extraordi
nary number of prodigies, notably miraculous cures; Augustine of Hippo
gives a long list in his Civitas Dei36. Back in Palestine churches were built in
his honour. The earliest, on the presumed site of Saint Stephen's lapidation,
was inaugurated in 439 37.
Other churches were built in his honour by the empress Eudoxia and Mela-
nia38. Inscriptions witness to the spread of his cult in Syria and Palestine39.
The prodigies attributed to him do not abound as in the West, although
Leclercq does recount one, without clearly indicating his source. The empress
Eudoxia, accompanied by Melania, tripped and sprained her ankle. Thanks
to the prayers of Melania before the relics of Saint Stephen in her oratory, the
empress was miraculously cured40. Yet Saint Stephen, in spite of his emi
nence as the protomartyr, and his status as a New Testament figure, did not
acquire outstanding popularity in the East. No eulogia or other early arte
facts with his portrait are known41. The situation is rather different for the
first woman martyr, Thecla.
In his Life of Tarasius, the patriarch's former disciple wrote: "What man,
looking at Thecla and Stephen, who were the first, after Christ, to open the
door of combat to martyrs, Stephen stoned, yet recommending his murderers
to God by his prayers, Thecla despising the cruelty of wild beasts..., would

33. S. Vanderlinden, Revelatio sancti Stephani (BHL 7850-7856), BEB 4, 1946,

p. 178-217.
34. Gregory of Nyssa, Encomium in sanctum Stephanum protomarÎyrem (Clavis
3186; BHG 1654, 1654a), PG 46, 720 d.
35. G. D. Gordini, Stefano protomartire, Bibliotheca sanctorum 11, 1383.
36. Augustine of Hippo, De civitate Dei, XXII viii 11-72, edited G. Bardy,
Œuvres de saint Augustin 37, Paris 1960, p. 578-579, 828-831.
37. Gordini, art. cit. (note 35), 1381-1382.
38. Vie de sainte Melanie, edited D. Gorce, Paris 1962, p. 258-259.
39. Fr. Halkin, Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, Éludes d'épigraphie
et d'hagiographie byzantine, London Variorum 1973, sub nomine.
40. H. Leclercq, Melanie la jeune, DACL 11, 228.
41. For early representations of Saint Stephen, see Woi.ska-Conus & Walter, art.
cit. (note 12), p. 259. See also the sixth-century (?) mosaic at Dürres, well reproduced
by R. Cormack, Writing in Gold, London 1985, p. 84.
 THE ORIGINS OF" THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 303

not have immediately learnt not to curse his enemies?"4"-. Thecla, unlike
Saint George, who was miraculously resuscitated after being put to death and
only succumbed, according to the earliest Life, to beheading, was not strictly
a martyr. She was, indeed, harassed by wild beasts, a subject which occurs
early in her iconography and which persisted into the Byzantine epoch. She
was also put to be burned, but rain extinguished the fire. Yet she was never
actually executed.
Her renown was at first less due to her sufferings than to her association
with Saint Paul. The Acts of Saint Paul and Saint Thecla are very ancient.
They already existed at the end of the second century when Tertullian
condemned them as spurious in his De baptismoAi. They were also rejected by
Jerome and listed among the apocryphal books in the socalled Gelasian
decree44. Tertullian took exception particularly to a woman being licensed by
Saint Paul to evangelise and baptize. Other early Fathers were less squea
mish. In fact Thecla enjoyed considerable renown from the third century
onwards, more, it would seem, at this date than the Theotokos. Methodius of
Olympus, whose Banquet dates from the latter half of the third century,
introduced Thecla's eulogy of virginal chastity with the words: "As for evang
elical competence, let us not speak of it since it was Paul who formed
you" 4Γ\
In the simplest version of the Acts, she went, for no apparent reason, to
Seleucia, where, after evangelizing the local inhabitants, she died a natural
death. In another version, pursued by lubricious men, she escaped through a
crevice in the rocks, which miraculously opened for her and then closed
behind her. In a third version, she then journeyed underground to Rome,
where she died and where her relics were venerated. Nevertheless her sanc
tuary was at Meriamlik (Ayatekla) near Seleucia. It is well attested from the

42. Wolska-Conus & Walter, art. cit. (note 12), p. 250.

43. Ada aposlolorum apocrypha, edited R. A. Lipsius & M. Bonnet, Leipzig 1891
(reprinted New York/Hildesheim 1972), I, p. 235-269 (BHG 1710-1713); H. Leclercq,
Thècle (sainte), DACL 15, 2225-2236; U. M. Fasola, Bibliotheca sanctorum 12. 174-177;
G. Dagron, Vie et miracles de sainte Thècle, Brussels 1978, p. 31-32.
44. Standard critical edition by E. von Dobschütz, Das Decretum Gelasianum...,
Texte und Untersuchungen 38, 1912, p. 40-41 (text), p. 273-275 (commentary). More
easily accessible in H. Leclercq, Gélasien (Décret), DACL 6, 744. The Lives of George,
Cyriacus and Julitta are also, of course, condemned. En passant, it may be noted that
the oft-repeated statement that the patriarch Nicephorus confirmed the condemnation
is not supported by the evidence. Several errors have crept in the course of the trans
mission of the statement, which, in modern scholarship, probably began with
J.B. Pitra, edited, luris ecclesiastici graecorum historia et monumenta, II, Rome 1868,
p. 332, canon 46, attributed to Nicephorus: τα δύο μαρτύρια τοϋ άγιου Γεωργίου και τών
αγίων Κηρύκου και Ίουλίττης ... ού δει δέχεσθαι. (Delehaye, op. cit. [note 2], p. 70, gives an
incorrect reference to this text.) However, the Ordonnances ecclésiastiques (Regestes,
n° 406), in which this statement would have appeared, are of doubtful authenticity
(see the commentary by J. Darrouzès to the ordonnances). Moreover this canon 46
is not cited by Glykas, as Darrouzès wrote, but canon 45! M. Gi.ykas, Άπορίαι, edited
S. Eustratiades, Athens 1906, p. 491.
45. Methodius of Olympus. Le banquet, edited H. Misurii.i.o. Paris 1963. p. 200-
201.
304 CH. WALTER

fourth to the sixth century46. When Egeria went to the sanctuary in

May 384, she found a flourishing monastic settlement; she was able to read
the Acts in the library47. Gregory of Nazianzus, who highly esteemed Thecla,
had stayed at the sanctuary a few years earlier48. In all probability, the
emperor Zeno (474-475, 476-491) also visited the sanctuary. He was to have a
church built there in thanksgiving for the recovery of his throne from the
usurper Basiliscus. Theodoret of Cyrus records a visit made to the sanctuary
by two women pilgrims, Marana and Cyra49. John Moschus wrote in the
Pratum spirituale of a visit by the monk John50.
The most important source for the sanctuary is the Life and Miracles, long
attributed to Basil of Seleucia but actually written by an otherwise unknown
priest of Meriamlik around 450 51. He follows the Acts fairly closely but
embellishes them. The Miracles, of a literary genre common at the time, are
original. The next is in part apologetical, with explanations, as was customa
ry, how the cult of saints had superseded that of demons. The author
recounted that, in fact, the relics of Thecla were not in the sanctuary because
she actually lived there. Her thalamus, from which she emerged from time
to time to perform a miracle, was the focal point of her cult, like Saint
Demetrius's ciborium in his shrine at Thessaloniki, which he was supposed to
inhabit.
Excavations have uncovered at least three churches at Meriamlik, but no
information is available as to how they were decorated. In fact the Arabs
must have destroyed the sanctuary rather early. Although artefacts have
survived from the period when her sanctuary was still frequented, there is
only the silver reliquary, found at Çirga in Isauria, which may be plausibly
associated with Meriamlik, because it was nearby52.
Thecla had her sanctuary, then, which was mainly frequented by people
who lived nearby. However she was not revered just locally. She has the
double advantage of being the sort of legendary person who attracted devo
tion and of having a "biblical" status as the disciple of Saint Paul. Con
sequently her cult, which was not connected only with her sanctuary, still
remained popular after the destruction of her sanctuary, particularly in
Egypt. Representations of Thecla may be divided into two groups53. In the
first she accompanies Saint Paul. For example, on the ivory in the British
Museum Saint Paul is seated teaching, while Thecla listens from a nearby

46. C. Foss, Meriamlik, Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2, 1344.

47. Égérie, Journal de voyage, edited F. Maraval, Paris 1982, p. 226-231.
48. Gregory of Nazianzus, Carmina II, PG 37, 1067.
49. Theodoret of Cyrus, Histoire des moines de Syrie, edited P. Canivet & Alice
Leroy-Mounghen, II, Paris 1979, p. 238-239.
50. John Moschus, Pratum spirituale, PG 87 3, 3052.
51. Dagron, op. cit. (note 43), p. 31-32.
52. H. Buschhausen, Frühchristliches Silberreliquar aus Isaurien, JOB 11-12,
1962-1963, p. 137-163; A. Grabar, Un reliquaire provenant, d'Isaurie, CA 13, 1962,
p. 49-59.
53. C. Nauerth & R. Warns, Thekla, Ihre Bilder in der frühchristlichen Kunst,
Wiesbaden 1981; R. Warns, Weiterer Darstellungen der heiligen Thekla, Studien zur
frühchristlichen Kunst 2, Wiesbaden 1986, p. 75-137.
 THE OH1GINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEOBGE 305

building. In the second group, Theela is represented between wild beasts. She
figures thus on the Çirga casket, on Egyptian ampullae with Saint Menas on
the other side. In the decorative programme of a mausoleum at El Bagawat,
she is represented being saved from burning by a shower of rain54. She is also
probably represented disappearing under the earth. Her presence here is par
ticularly interesting, because the programme of the mausoleum is the one
familiar from Roman catacombs: divine interventions in the Old Testament.
The analogies of the Three Youths in the furnace and of Daniel in the lions'
den are evident.
Her popularity by no means declined even when that of the Mother of God
increased. She was also called καλλιπάρθενος, and Nicetas of Paphlagonia, writ
ing of her death, called it a κοίμησης or a μετάστασις :):\ In the illuminated
September Metaphrast, London Additional 11870, f. 174V, the traditional
iconography is maintained of Theela between two wild beasts ·)(|, and
M. Aubineau has noted some thirty patristic or Byzantine texts referring to
her57.
Thus the "pattern" of cult and iconography was quite different for the two
"protomartyrs" Stephen and Theela. It was different again for Menas58. His
sanctuary at Abu Minas, some forty kilometres from Alexandria, was excava
ted by Kaufmann at the beginning of the century59; recently the German
Institute of Archaeology in Cairo has resumed work on it60. The sanctuary's
production of eulogia was exceptionally rich. To judge from the number and
dispersion of ampullae, usually decorated with Menas's "iconographical
type", orans between two camels, his cult must have been particularly popul
ar(Figure 1). The exact date wrhen production of them began cannot be
fixed, although Kiss proposes the reign of Arcadius (395-408) as the terminus
post quemM . His dating is argued from the archaeological evidence in favour
of the construction of a sanctuary at Abu Mina under Arcadius. It remained
active until the Arab invasion of Egypt around 640. It then fell into desue
tude and was lost, to be rediscovered by archaeologists at the beginning of
this eenturv.

54. II. Stern, Les peintures du mausolée «de l'Exode», à El-Bagaout, CA 11, 1960,
p. 96-105, fig. 8.
55. Nicetas of Paphi.agonia, In laudem sanclae Theclae {BHG 1722), PG 105, 332.
56. Ch. Walter, The London September Metaphrast Additional 11870, Zograf 12,
1981, p. 18, fig. 16.
57. M. Aubineau, Le panégyrique de Thècle attribué à Jean Ghrysostome {BHG
1720). An. Boll. 93, 1975. p. 359-362.
58. H. Leci.ercq, Menas (saint), DACL 11, 324-397, a useful ''mosaïque" in his
characteristic style.
59. Κ. M. Kaufmann, Die Ausgrabungen der Menasheiligtümer, Cairo 1906-1908; Die
Menasstadt, Leipzig 1918; Die heilige Stadl der Wüste, Munich Î924.
60. See P. Grossmann's campaign reports, Abu Mina, Mitteilungen des deutschen
archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo, 38, 1982, p. 131-134; 40, 1984, p. 123-151.
61. Z. Kiss, Les ampoules de saint Menas découvertes à Kôm-el-Dikka (Alexandrie)
en 1965, Travaux du Centre d'archéologie méditerranéenne de Γ Académie polonaise des
sciences 14, Études et travaux 7, Warsaw 1973, p. 138-154. For earlier studies of these
ampullae by Kiss, see Études et travaux 3, 1969, p. 153-166; ibidem 5, 1971, p. 145-159.
306 CH. WALTER

Although the accounts of how they came there are varied, it would seem
that Menas's relics were believed to be at Abu Mina, possibly brought there
from Cotyaion (Phrygia), where his cult, or that of another Menas, existed.
Unfortunately all the versions of his Passion depend on a lost original, which
was itself plagiarized from Basil's In Gordium martyr em62. In Delehaye's
judgment, these "actes sont entièrement dépourvus de valeur historique".
His Miracula, collections of which vary in number according to the language
in which they exist, are also of doubtful authenticity63. They are associated
with his sanctuary at Abu Mina, where Menas would intervene on horseback.
He saved a man, who was taking a pig as an offering to the sanctuary, from a
crocodile. His rescues of victims of fraud led to the punishment and conver
sionof the perpetrator, usually with lucrative consequences for the
sanctuary.
Menas had a church dedicated to him in Constantinople as early as the
sixth century, when the Akoimetoi were established there64. This helps to
explain how his cult survived the destruction of his sanctuary in Egypt. In
fact his relics were miraculously rediscovered in Constantinople during the
reign of Basil I (867-886) 65. A new Passion was composed, that of Menas,
Hermogenes and Eugraphus. This was later revised and incorporated in the
Metaphrastic collection66. A new iconography also emerged, in which Menas
has a "fiddle-shaped" head with white hair and beard, as in Sümbüllü kilise
in Cappadocia67. He also acquired an attribute, a clipeate portrait of Christ
decorating his mantle68.
One might say that Menas was the most conventional of early martyrs to
receive extensive cult. He had his sanctuary with his relics, where miracles
were perpetrated. There were accounts of his Passion as well as of his Alira-
cula. He acquired an iconographical type, regularly reproduced on his eulogia.
His cult, having spread from his sanctuary at Abu Mina in Egypt, survived
the Arab invasions and Iconoclasm. His cult benefited from the foundation of
a church dedicated to him in Constantinople. With a new version of the
invention of his relics and a new iconographical type, he remained popular in
medieval Byzantium, but, perhaps, had few devotees elsewhere.
Menas was reputed to have been a soldier, like Theodore Tyron (recruit)
and Sergius and Bacchus. Of this latter pair, Sergius was by far the more

62. Basil, in Gordium martyrem {Clavis 2862, BUG 703), PG 31, 489-508.
63. II. Dei.ehaye, Les recueils antiques des Miracles des Saints, An. Boll. 43, 1925,
p. 46-49; P. Devos, Un récit des miracles de S. Menas en copte et en éthiopien,
An. Boll. 77, 1959, p. 451-463; 78, p. 154-160.
64. R. .Ianin, Les églises et les monastères, Paris 1969, p. 333; G. Dagron, La vie
ancienne de saint, Marcel l'Acémète, An. Boll. 86, 1968, p. 272, would date the church
to about 425.
65. II. Delehaye, L'invention des reliques de saint Menas à Constantinople,
An. Boit. 29, 1910, p. 117-150.
66. PG 116, 368-416 {BUG 1270, 1271).
67. N. & M. Thierry, Nouvelles églises rupestres de Cappadoce, Paris 1963, p. 176.
68. Th. Chatzidakis-Bacharas, Les peintures murales de Ilosios Loukas, Les
chapelles occidentales, Athens 1982, p. 70-74, fig. 7, 8.
 THE OHIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 307

popular, although the two are often associated69. Even if it is not certain
whether Sergius was martyred under Maximian or Maximinus Daia (305-315),
the place of his martyrdom would have been at a military encampment near
the Euphrates. The construction of his sanctuary at nearby Rusapha would
have begun soon after his death. It was rebuilt and enlarged several times,
renamed Sergiopolis and endowed by Justinian with walls, cisterns and other
amenities70.
Sergius's cult was particularly developed in Syria, where a number of in
scriptions with his name have been discovered71. Theodoret of Cyrus lists him
among the saints venerated in Syria7"2. He was probably invoked above all as
a military protector, but he also had a reputation for healing. The prodigies
wrought in his sanctuary at Rusapha were known to Gregory of Tours. This
makes it surprising that no eulogia connected with Sergius are known. Howe
ver, he was portrayed, according to Choricius, in the dedication picture in
the church built in his honour by Stephen, governor of Palestine, probably
before 536. Stephen, standing by Sergius, "asks him to accept the gift gra
ciously. Sergius consents, and... lays his right hand on Stephen's shoulder,
being evidently about to present him to the Virgin and her Son, the
Saviour"73. The surviving church in Constantinople, dedicated by Justinian
to Saints Sergius and Bacchus, has, of course, no pictorial decoration74.
There is, nevertheless, an ancient iconographical tradition for Sergius and
Bacchus, who had their badge of office, the maniakon removed when they
declared themselves Christians75. The earliest examples of a beardless youth
with thick rounded curly hair and a torque around his neck occur on a silver
flask in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore76. A mid- to late sixth century
date has been proposed for it. Since the portraits are not named, it can only
be inferred that they are Sergius and Bacchus. The seventh-century mosaic in
Saint Demetrius, Thessaloniki, has the advantage of a legend, which identit
ies the saint as Sergius77. Other objects with the same portrait type but no
identifying legend date from the seventh century. These seem to be Constan-

69. A. Amork. Sergio e Bacco, Ribliotheca sanctorum 11. 876-879.

70. Maria Mundell Mango, Sergiopolis, Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 3, 1877-
1878.
71. Hai. kin, op. cit. (note 39), sub nomine.
72. Theodoret of Cyrus, Thérapeutique des maladies helléniques (Clavis 6210),
edited P. Cavinft, Paris 1958, Π, p. 335.
73. Choricius, Laudatio Marciani, after C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire
312-1403, Englewood Cliffs 1972, p. 62.
74. Janin, op. cit. (note 64), p. 451-454; C. Mango, The Church of Sts Sergius and
Bacchus at Constantinople and the Alleged Tradition of Octagonal Palatine Churches;
The Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus once again. Studies in Conslantinopole,
Variorum London 1993. Study XIII & XIV.
75. Synaxarium Ecclesiae (ïonstantinopolilanae. 115. line 26.
76. Maria Mundeli, Mango, Silver from Early Byzantium, Baltimore 1986. n" 15;
Age of Spirituality. n° 536.
77. E. Kitzinger, Byzantium Art in the Period Between Justinian and Iconoclasm.
The Art of Byzantium and the Medieval World, edited B. Kleinbauer, Bloomington
London 1976, p. 25-26; B. Cormack, The Church of Saint Demetrius: The Water-
308 CH. WALTER

tinopolitan work, having no direct connection with Rusapha. Three further

martyrs merit brief examination before returning to Saint George. The first,
Babylas of Antioch, can be despatched rather summarily. It would seem that
his fame derived largely from the fact that he was one of the first martyrs to
have his relics publicly translated. The Caesar Gallus had them transferred
from the cemetery of Antioch to a shrine in the suburb of Daphni. Since the
relics obstructed the oracle in the nearby temple of Apollo, Julian, Gallus's
brother, had them removed. When the temple of Apollo was struck by light
ning, the prodigy was attributed to God's wrath at Julian's sacrilege. Under
bishop Meletius (360-381) a new sanctuary was built on the other side of the
Orontes78.
Yet, in spite of Babylas's renown — known to Eusebius, John Chrysostom,
Gregory of Tours79 — his cult did not develop locally. Theodoret of Cyrus
refers to him in his Historia ecclesiastical , but does not list him among the
martyrs venerated locally in his Graecarum affectionum curatio. There are no
early examples of his iconography, although he would later be represented in
the Menologium of Basil //81, while his Metaphrastic Life would be illustrated
in the London September volume, f. 52, by a cycle of his passion, which was
shared by three disciples82.
The situation is different for Theodore Tyron. His sanctuary at Euchaita,
first attested in a homily attributed to Gregory of Nyssa 83, was still active in
the mid-eleventh century, when Theodore's feast was the occasion of a popul
arfair84. Meanwhile his "twin" saint Theodore Stratilates had been trans
lated to Euchaita, where their relics were venerated together. Theodore
Tyron's passion was recounted, in the customary way, in the homily attribut
ed to Gregory of Nyssa. The author also provided a developed account of
Theodore's function in heaven: he not only intercedes himself, but also invites
other, more eminent, saints to intercede. His interventions in the life of ter
restrial men include, besides the traditional office of warding off demons,
protection on journeys, cure of diseases and procuring riches for the poor8;).
This extremely valuable text also includes a description of the decorative
programme of the sanctuary at Euchaita. There were representations of the
saint's "brave deeds, his resistance, his torments, the ferocious faces of the

colours and Drawings of W. S. George, The Byzantine Eye, Variorum London 1989, II,
n° 40.
78. Jean Chrysostome, Sur Babylas, edited Margaret, A. Schatkin, etc., Paris
1990, p. 15-23.
79. Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, I viii, PL 71, 175.
80. Theodoret of Cyrus, Historia ecclcsiastica (Clavis 6222), PG 82, 1097alj.
81. // Menologio di Basilio II, edited C. Stornajolo & P. Franchi de' Gavalieri,
Vatican/Milan 1907. p. 10.
82. Walter, art. cit. (note 56), p. 14, fig. 14. There was a church dedicated to Bahy-
las in Constantinople, which would have existed at the time of the composition of the
De cerimoniis, Janin, op. cit. (note 64), p. 55.
83. Gregory of Nyssa, De saneto Theodore (Clavis 3183; BUG 1760), PG 46, 736-
748.
84. C. Foss, Euchaita, Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2, 737.
85. PG 46, 748'·.
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 309

tyrants, the martyr's most blessed death and the representation in human
form of Christ who presides the contest"86. Unfortunately there is no other
witness to an early cycle of Theodore's passion in iconography. However a
literary Passion in two states adds to the account given in the homily
attributed to Gregory of Nyssa87. In the second state a legend is introduced,
not later than the end of the ninth century, according to which Theodore
destroyed a dragon near Euchaita which was killing many people. The "sol
dier of Christ" did this first by making the sign of the cross and then by
piercing the dragon's head with his lance 88.
Such incidents are fairly commonplace in the Lives of saints. On the other
hand killing a dragon did become a regular element in Theodore's ieonogra-
phical type. There is, for example, the wing of the diptych at Sinaï, which
was dated by G. & M. Sotiriou later than the seventh century, while Weitz-
mann opted for the ninth or tenth century89. Actually the earliest dated
representation of Theodore killing a dragon is at Aghtamar (915-921 )90.
In this context a group of objects in terra cotta, found on a site at Vinica in
former Yugoslav Macedonia, should be adduced91. For the present they are
difficult to exploit, because, apart from being problematical in themselves, no
external evidence is available to help determine their date and purpose.
These terra cotta reliefs were apparently produced in quantity, although
nothing quite like them has been found elsewhere. The site itself at Vinica
would seem to have been a kiln, established in an earlier ruin and then aban
doned. The legends on the reliefs are in Latin, not Greek. There is a mass of
broken fragments, but of some subjects several examples exist intact: the
archangel Michael, Joshua and Caleb, Daniel in the lions' den, Saints George
and Christopher and profane or unidentified subjects. Theodore is represented
on horseback, dressed in armour and holding a lance in his right hand. With
the lance he impales the head of a dragon placed behind the horse. The
archaeologist Kosta Balabanov who discovered these objects would attribute
them to the fifth or sixth century. If he is right, then Theodore was represent-

86. PG 46, 737Ί-74Ο1; Mango, op. cit. (note 73), p. 36-37.

87. Delehaye, op. cit. (note 2), p. 11-37.
88. Ibidem, p. 20.
89. G. & M. Sotiriou, Icônes du mont Sinaï, I. Athens 1956, η" 30; II. Athens 1958.
p. 34-35; Κ. Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinaï, the Icons. I.
From the Sixth to the Tenth Century, Princeton 1976, Β 33-34, p. 71-73.
90. Sirarpie Der Nersessian, Aght 'Amar, Church of the Holy Cross, Cambridge
Mass. 1965, p. 19.
91. These terracottas were first exhibited in the Vatican Museums, Icône dalla Maced
onia, Vatican City 1986. A second exhibition took place in Zagreb, Ikone iz Makedo-
nije, Zagreb 1987, and a third in Skopje, Terakotni ikoni od Vinica, Skopje 1991. The
introductory text to the catalogues is in each case by K. Balabanov. See also Idem,
Ikoni υο Makedonija, Skopje (no date); H. Melovski, Keramickite ikoni od Vinickoto
Kale, Ziva Antika 9, 1991, p. 179-187, is prepared to date them from the end of the
fourth up to the sixth century. He detects pagan influence in their iconography. Anal
ogies have been proposed, none entirely convincing, with Arab and Coptic artefacts, as
well as with ninth-tenth century ceramics from Tuzalka, near Preslav. Bulgaria, and
other terracottas in the Museo Bardo, Tunis.
310 GH. WALTER

ed killing a dragon long before the earliest date attributed to the second state
of his Passion.
The cult of Theodore had spread to Constantinople by the fifth century,
when Sphorakius, saved from perishing in a fire by the intervention of Theod
ore, built a more sumptuous church in the saint's honour on the site of an
earlier one92. At about the same time, during the reign of his uncle Justin I
(518-527), Justinian rebuilt another church dedicated to Saint Theodore93. It
seems that his portrait type was early established. At least there are no rivals
to the identity of the figure with a long, narrow head, dark hair and a dark
beard portrayed on a textile in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachus
etts, for which a sixth-century date and an Egyptian provenance are pro
posed94, and on the well-known Sinai icon of the Virgin and Child (sixth or
seventh century?)95.
Finally Saint Demetrius, who was in due course to succeed Saint Theodore
Tyron as Saint George's regular companion, must be adduced96. The develop
ment and spread of his cult were quite original. He was primarily, and for
long almost exclusively, the protector of Thessaloniki and its citizens. Until
recently, no testimony to the first state of his Life in Greek, the Passio prima,
was known which was earlier than the ninth century. However, the prologue
to bishop John of Thessaloniki's collection of Miracula, made in the seventh
century, reveals that the author was familiar with the Passio prima (Cornelius
de Bye had omitted the prologue in the Bollandist edition of the Miracula).
Bishop John quoted the following sentence from the prologue: "By inex
pressible signs of great power, prodigies, healings and charisms his efficacity
became famous everywhere"97. Bishop John, in fact, was more interested in
the meta-historical Demetrius than the historical one. Indeed by the seventh
century it may have been as impossible to ascertain the facts about the
historical figure as it is today.

92. Janin, op. cit. (note 64), p. 152-153.

93. Ibidem, p. 150-151.
94. Age of Spirituality, n° 494.
95. Ibidem, n° 478; Wkitzmann, op. cil. (note 89), Β 3, p. 18-21, who calls Theodore
Stratilates, not Tyron. In any case the identification of both Theodore Tyron/ Strati-
lates and George/Demetrius remains hypothetical in the absence of legends. See below
note 110. For the later iconography of both Theodores, see Liljana Mavrodinova,
Sv. Teodor — razvitie i osobestnosti na ikonografija mu tip ν srednovekovnata zivopis,
Izvestija na Instituta za Iskustvoznanie 13, 1969, p. 33-52.
96. Much has been written about Saint Demetrius since I published my article:
St Demetrius: the Myroblytos of Thessalonika, Eastern Churches Review 5, 1971, p. 157-
178. For some of the later bibliography, see Cormack, art. cil. (note 77); Idf.m, The
Making of a Patron Saint: The Powers of Art and Ritual in Byzantine Thessaloniki,
World Art: Themes of Unity in Diversity, edited I. Lavin, Pennsylvania State Univers
ity 1989, III, p. 547-554; Vassilka Tapkova-Zaimova, Le culte de saint Démétrius à
Byzance et aux Balkans, Miscellanea Bulgarica 5, Vienna 1987, p. 139-146; J. Radova-
novic, Heiliger Demetrius — Die Ikonographie seines Lebens auf den Fresken des
Klosters Decani, L'art de Thessalonique et des pays balkaniques et les courants spirituels
au xiV siècle, edited D. Davidov, Belgrade 1987, p. 75-88.
97. P. Lemerle, Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de saint Démétrius et la péné
tration des Slaves dans les Balkans, I, Paris 1979, p. 53.
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 311

The Passio altéra, which is more circumstantial than the Passio prima, is
not for this reason to be regarded as possessing greater verisimilitude98.
However the "editor" seems to have been quite differently motivated from
that of the revised Passion of Saint George. Apart from killing a scorpion by
making the sign of the Cross, the living Demetrius neither performs nor is the
object of prodigies, although he is a powerful intercessor. Thanks to his
prayers, Nestor vanquishes the emperor's favorite gladiator, the Vandal
Lyaeus. In fact the main purpose of the composer of the Passio altéra would
seem to be to clarify — or perhaps render more complex — Demetrius'
double relationship with Thessaloniki and Sirmium. This need not concern us
here, for, once Sirmium had been sacked by the Avars, Thessaloniki had no
rival as the centre of Saint Demetrius' cult. "He lives for us, he intercedes for
us with God and obtains for us what is good", wrote bishop John·1·1.
Apart from emerging from his ciborium to perform a miracle, Saint Demet
rius also intervened in battle to protect Thessaloniki from invaders, some
times walking on the battlements and sometimes, wearing a white cloak,
seated on a white horse. Much later, he would perform a similar exploit by
killing the Bulgarian voivod Kalojan. Perhaps only Constantinople, which
was to put its trust in the Mother of God, had a more efficacious celestial
protector.
The question was often debated, without leading to a generally acceptable
solution, whether Saint Demetrius's relics were conserved in his church.
Apparently Leontius, Prefect of Illyria, who would have had two churches
built in honour of Demetrius, one in Sirmium and one in Thessaloniki, wished
to take the relics to Sirmium. However, he was allowed to take away only the
saint's bloodstained cloak and orarion (the Sirmium Demetrius had been a
deacon).
Emperors of Constantinople regularly failed to obtain a relic. Bishop John
maintained that the inhabitants of Thessaloniki did not offer cult to the relics
of their saints; generally they did not know where the relics were and prefer
red to revere their saints in their hearts. When the emperor Justinian sought
relics, flames rose from the earth at the place where the relics were supposed
to be hidden and the emperor was obliged to make do with eulogia made from
the earth. The emperor Maurice was later fobbed off with the same story l0°.
Nevertheless Justinian II's edict granting a saltpan exempt from taxes to the
church refers explicitly to the "venerable temple where lie his holy relics" U)1.
The question of where Saint Demetrius' relics were — if anywhere — was
not resolved in the Byzantine epoch, nor, later, when excavations began after
the fire of 1917. Paul Lemerle refused, with acerbity, the suggestion that the
basilica had been built as a martyrium, that is, specifically, to house the

98. Ibidem, II, Paris 1981, p. 199-200; PC, 116, 1185-1201 (BHG 498). For Photius's
version, see now R. Henry's edition of the Ribliothera "cod. 255".
99. Lemerle, op. cit. (note 97), I. p. 48.
100. Ibidem. I. p. 87-90.
101. .J.-M. Spieser, Inventaire en vue d'un recueil des inscriptions historiques de
Hyzanee, I, Les inscriptions de Thessalonique, I'M 5. 1973, n" 8, p. 156-159.
312 CH. WALTER

saint's relics102. Yet, in fact, during the excavations after 1917, there was
discovered under the altar a cruciform hole accessible by stairs. It contained
a small marble casket, placed within an omphalos. In the casket was a fra
gment of disintegrated cloth, reduced to powder, and possibly once soaked in
blood. Whatever this may have been, it was not the focal point of Saint
Demetrius' cult, which was definitely the ciborium 103. Consequently his
apparitions, when he emerged from the ciborium, were particularly sought
after, although he could travel far to aid citizens of Thessaloniki in distress,
"releasing prisoners, curing the sick, helping in war, guiding sailors", even
diverting a ship near Chios which was carrying corn to relieve famine in the
city 104.
Fire has often been a determining factor in the history of the sanctuary's
decorations. The mosaics which survived the disaster of 620 are all ex voto.
Some may date back to the fifth century, considerably earlier than the extant
literary sources for Saint Demetrius105. Others, of inferior quality, were
added after the fire. Owing to the considerable damage caused by another
fire in 1917, many are now only known from early photographs and
W. S. George's water colours. Although he did not describe them, bishop
John referred three times to icons of Saint Demetrius which made it possible
to authentify an apparition. This use of icons was not unusual; it occurs for
Saint George in the Life of Theodore 1()6. However, as Cormack had pointed
out, the mosaic portraits of Saint Demetrius do not endow him with strictly
individual features 107. Except that his hair is more closely cropped and roun
ded, he resembles the youthful figures portrayed in the nearby Rotonda, who
were themselves modelled on portraits of antique athletes.
Evidence for Saint Demetrius extending his patronage to others than cit
izens of Thessaloniki is, for the early period, extremely rare. He would have
helped the bishop of Thenai, whom he rescued from pirates and guided to
Thessaloniki, to build a sanctuary in his honour back in Thenai 108. Nothing
further is known of this project. A second example is provided by an inscrip
tion probably dating from the late sixth century in the atrium of basilica A at
Nicopolis in Epirus 1()9. The bishop Dometius thanks Saint Demetrius for his
protection. A single portrait, identified by a legend and dated to the seventh
century, has survived in Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome. Kitzinger has drawn

102. Lemerlr, op. at. (note 97), II, p. 205-218.

103. D. Pallas, Le Ciborium hexagonal de Saint-Démètrius de Thessalonique,
Essai d'interprétation, Zograf 10, 1979, p. 44-58.
104. Lemerle, op. cit. (note 97), II, p. 190.
105. Kitzinger, art. cit. (note 77), p. 21; Cormack, op. cit. (note 41), p. 86.
106. For connections between visions, apparitions, icons and relies, see below
note 146.
107. Cormack, op. cit. (note 41), p. 86.
108. Lemerle, op. cit. (note 97), § 313 (but the miracle would have been a later
addition to the collection).
109. Ε. Kitzinger, Studies in Late Antique and Early Byzantine Floor Mosaics, I,
Mosaics in Nikopolis, DOP 6, 1951, p. 86-87, 92.
 THE OR IG IN ri OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 313

attention to its startling resemblance to one of the saints on the Sinai icon of
the Virgin and Child who would otherwise be identified with Saint George 11((.
The spread of Saint Demetrius' cult to Constantinople may have been held
back by the refusal of Thessaloniki to surrender his relics. However a church
dedicated to him was restored by Basil I (867-886), another was built by
Leo VI (886-912) in, and his portrait figures with that of other military saints
around Basil II on the frontispiece to Marc, graec. 17 m. It was above all as a
military saint that he became popular, while the myron, with its therapeutic
and apotropaic properties, besides being used for baptism, was poured into
capsules. These were worn like an amulet or encolpion. On that which be
longed to Demetrius Palaeologus, Despot of Thessaloniki (died 1340), was an
inscription composed by Manuel Philes: "The Despot's bosom is the city of
Thessaloniki, because Demetrius reposes there in a golden tomb" 11:i.
Thus the origins and development of the cult of the martyr Demetrius also
have their peculiarities.
The Passions were not elaborated like that of Thecla to give an example of
heroic endurance under trial and torture. Dialogues were not attributed to
him, in which he defended sound Christian doctrine against pagan criticism,
although, in fact, the Encomium of bishop John is principally devoted to a
presentation of the teaching of the fifth general council on the Incarnation 114.
There is no evidence for an orderly development of his cult from respect for
the dead to honour given to the relics and then to his icon. During the phase
before Iconoclasm, Demetrius remained virtually a local saint. Only later did
his cult extend throughout the East and notably to Slav countries. He
became immensely popular in the Byzantine Church, but — curiously —
never in the West like Saint George. The situation has not altered to this day.
Other saints and martyrs could be examined here, Saint Euphemia, for
example. However these are enough to set the figure of George in relief and to
make it clear that the origin and development of a martyr's cult by no means
followed a standard pattern. Thus the martyr might or might not have an
authentic Passion. We must, presumably, accept Stephen's and possibly some
details from those of Babylas, Sergius and Theodore Tyron, while rejecting
those of Thecla, Menas and Demetrius. For George we can retain, with Theo
dore of Sykeon's biographer, his military profession, his connection with
Cappadocia and his cruel death.
With two exceptions these seven martyrs had relics. In Stephen's case they
were parcelled and distributed, so that he did not have a single outstanding
shrine. The cult of Menas, Theodore, Sergius and Babylas was closely con
nected to their relics and shrine. Thecla and Demetrius had important
shrines. Thecla's relics were certainlv not believed to be at Meriamlik, while

110. Idem, On Some Icons of the Seventh Century, op. cit. (note 77), p. 137, fig. 4,
See above note 95.
.

111. Janin, op. cit. (note 64), p. 89-90.

112. A. Cutler, The Aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium, Paris 1984, p. 116.
113. Waitkr. art. at. (note 96). p. 162-165.
114. Anna Phii.ippidis-Braat. L'enkômion de saint Démétrius par Jean de Thessa-
miqur. 7"Λ/ <s. 1US1. p. 397-414.
314 CH. WALTER

the whereabouts of those of Demetrius remained a mystery. In any case these

two saints (not, of course, exclusively) made an apparition when they
wrought a miracle for a client.
The case of George's relics is more complicated and perhaps insoluble. The
Lydda "dossier" is wellknown. The first pilgrim's account, that of Theodo-
sius, dates from about 530: "In Diospolim, ubi sanctus Georgius martyrizatus
est, ibi et corpus eius est et multa miracula fiunt"115. His testimony could
hardly be more explicit. It is supported by that of other pilgrims, Antoninus
of Piacenza (about 570) and Adamnanus (about 670). The cult of Saint
George's relics certainly continued at Lydda. However, we have evidence of
the cult of the relics of (a) Saint George clearly dated to 514/5.
The church of Saint George at Ezra (Zorava) is a fascinating building110.
When Melchior de Vogué visited Ezra in the mid-nineteenth century and
wrote the first scholarly description of the church, he found that it was still
being used for cult. Over a century later, in 1994, this is still true. Moreover
the dedicatory inscription, which has been copied or recopied by so many
scholars, is still in place. The priest in charge will show the visitor a shaft in
the sanctuary behind the altar, which contains, according to him, the relics of
Saint George. I do not know if this shaft has been scientifically investigated.
In any case, Saint George's relics would not have originally been there but in
the southern apse chapel which is accessible only from the main body of the
church. (The northern apse chapel is accessible only from the sanctuary.)
It may be worth while repeating the dedicatory inscription once more: "A
house of God has replaced the dwelling of demons. The light of salvation has
shone in a place which darkness previously covered. Where sacrifices were
made to idols, there are now choirs of angels. Where God was provoked, God
is now appeased. A certain man, a friend of Ghrist, the first magistrate Ioan-
nis, son of Diomedes, has offered this edifice to God, as a gift at his own
expense, having deposed there the precious relic of the victorious saint and
martyr George, who appeared to John not in sleep but, in reality" (ίδρύσας έν
τούτω του καλλινίκου αγίου μάρτυρος Γεωργίου το τίμιον λίψανον [sic] του φανεντος
αύτω 'Ιωάννη ού καθ' ΰπνον αλλά φανερώς).
That the erection of a Christian sanctuary on a pagan cemetery eliminated
demons was a fairly commonplace belief. Unfortunately the inscription tells
us nothing about the size or provenance of the relic, which could have been a
fragment brought from Lydda (not so very far from Ezra). The remark that
Saint George appeared to John in reality, not in a dream, suggests that there
were different qualities of apparition. Once, when Saint George led the young
Theodore to his martyrium "in the form of a youth", he was said to be visible

115. Pilgrims' visits to Lydda: P. Geyer, Itinera hierosolymitana saeculi IV-VIII,

Vienna 1898, p. 139 (Theodosius); p. 176-177, 182 (Antoninus); p. 288-294 (Adamn
anus).
116. The main facts which the church's voluminous bibliography contains Nare
perhaps most easily accessible in H. C. Butler's Early Churches in Syria, edited
E. Baldwin Smith, reprinted, Amsterdam 1969, p. 122, and in II. Leclercq, Ezra,
DACL 5, 1052-1056.
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CL'LT OF SAINT GEORGE 31 f)

to the eye (αφθαλμοφανώς) n7. To the wrestler, he appears in a dream11*. For

other apparitions, for example to Theodore's mother and grandmother, the
mode of the apparition is not indicated119.
However this may be, it does seem to be the case, with most of the martyrs
discussed here, that apparitions were more esteemed than relics, which did
not necessarily exist at the martyr's sanctuary, and which had no formal
connection with the martyr's apparitions. Here the case of Theodore and
Saint George's relics is particularly à-propos. During the early part, of Theo
dore's life, in spite of the frequent apparitions of Saint George, the question of
the saint's relics was never raised. Only after Theodore had built a large
church in Saint George's honour, did he become concerned about the acquisi
tion of relics. Meanwhile, he had travelled to the Holy Land, with never a
recorded detour to Lydda, the obvious place, if the witness of early pilgrims is
to be taken seriously, to obtain relics of Saint George. Instead Theodore
obtained them, with Saint George's help, from Aemilianus, bishop of nearby
Germia: a piece of the martyr's head, a finger of his hand, one of his teeth and
another piece of his body. Where did the bishop of Germia obtain these
relics1'20? Of course we do not know. Perhaps from Lydda or Ezra. A third
hypothesis might be that relics of another martyr called George existed in
Cappadocia vi] . But, in the absence of any known sanctuary claiming to have
them, this is unadulterated conjecture. Moreover Theodore's sanctuary did
not keep Saint George's relics after the founder's death. The relics of both
saints were translated to Constantinople by Heraclius, who had them deposed
in a newly built sanctuary near the Adrianople Gate. The Russian pilgrim,
Antony of Novgorod, would have venerated them about 1200 '--,
There are a number of other traditions about Saint George's relics. The
thirteenth-century Coptic writer, Abu Sâlih, witnesses to the veneration of
Saint George's relics in Egypt 123. The passage in the Liber pontificalis about a
church built in Saint George's honour in Velabro (Rome) by Leo II (682-683)
is of doubtful authenticity. It is more probable that his head was venerated
there when Zacharias was pope (741-742) 124. It would turn up later in the
church of San Giorgio in Venice v'·'.
It is extraordinary how widely Saint George's relics and cult spread in
Western Europe. They were known to Saint Gregory of Tours, who records
the miracles which the relics produced, much as Saint Augustine did for those

17. Festugière, § 7, I, p. 6; II, p. 10.

18. Ibidem, § 86, I, p. 73; II, p. 72-73.
19. Ibidem, § 5, I, p. 4-5; II, p. 8; § 32, I, p. 29; II, p. 31-32.
120. Ibidem, § 100, I, p. 80; II, p. 83.
121. Haubrichs. op. cii. (note 2). p. 233.
122. M. Kaplan, Les sanctuaires de Théodore de Sykéôn, Les saints et leurs sanc
tuaires à Byzanee, edited Catherine Jolivet-Lévy. etc., Paris 1993, p. 75-79.
123. Delehaye, op. cil. (note 13), p. 221.
124. Le Liber pontificalis, edited L. Duchesne, second edition, Paris 1955-1957,
p. 360; cf. p. 362 note 13; p. 434 line 12; cf. p. 439 note 51.
125. A. M. Setton, Saint George's Head, Speculum 48, 1973, p. 1-12. The author
writes that there were two or three other well-authenticated heads of Saint George. I
have not had access to L. Vai.lh. Le reliquie di S. (iioryio, Pavia 1903.
316 CH. WALTER

of Saint Stephen 126. Numerous other references to the precocious cult of

Saint George in Western Europe are given by scholars, often without ade
quate documentation. Actually in most cases they can be traced back to the
remarkable study of Papebroch in the Ada sanctorum 127. However, as he
refers to unspecified manuscript sources, it would be an arduous task to verify
his statements. Among contemporary scholars, Ewig provides the most sober
account of the spread of Saint George's relics and cult, naming among
churches dedicated to him in the sixth and seventh centuries those at Mainz,
Amay, Metz, Chelles and Saint Bohaire, as well, perhaps, as at Soissons,
Paris, Bordeaux and Aries128.
Inscriptions referring to Saint George's cult are also given without proper
control, one scholar transmitting the error of an earlier one 129. An out
standing example of this procedure is provided by the inscription at Saccaea/
Shaqqa, which is read as yielding a date of 354/7 (or even 323!, surely sus
piciously early). Waddington, in fact, in his Corpus, n° 2158, had proposed
this interpretation with reservations, since the era used was not certain. The
fact that Alt — and later Thomsen — disputed this date, proposing a more
plausible one in the sixth century has largely been ignored 130.
Haubrichs gives an impressive list of no less than eighty-six references to
the cult of Saint George, starting in 354/7 (Shaqqa, of course!) and continuing
up to the seventh century. However, this list with its references needs to
undergo a rigorous control131. For example, for Sykeon (82), Haubrichs cites
an Armenian synaxary, with no reference to Theodore's Life, which would, in
fact, have yielded him up two more churches dedicated to Saint George. In
sum, I would maintain that any identification of a building or inscription
connected with Saint George's cult earlier than 400 should be treated with
circumspection. This would bring his cult into line with that of the other
martyrs examined here.
In his study of early collections of miracles, concerned only with those
made of posthumous miracles up to the seventh century, Delehaye did not
include Saint George for whom the first collections are not earlier than the
eleventh century 132. This is true of the surviving Greek collections. However,

126. Gregory of Tours (538-594), In gloria rnartyrum, PL 71, 792-793.

127. Ada sanctorum, Aprilis III, Antwerp 1675, p. 132-136.
128. E. Ewig, Die Verehrung orientalischer Heiliger im spätrömischen Gallien und
im Merowingerreich, Festschrift P. E. Schramm, Wiesbaden 1964, p. 395.
129. For early Oriental Christian inscriptions, see above all Halkin, op. cit.
(note 39).
130. W. II. Waddington, Inscriptions grecques et latines en Syrie, Paris 1870,
p. 505-506; A. Alt, Palästinajahrbuch 29, 1932, p. 90 note 1; P. Thomsen, Zeitschrift
des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 65, 1942, p. 128. Halkin, op. cit. (note 39), gave the
erroneous dating, I, p. 105. He corrected it, ibidem, VI, p. 336. Other scholars have not.
been so assiduous. For example, the unconnected date is repeated by A. Kazhdan,
George, Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2, p. 834.
131. Haubrichs, op. cit. (note 2), p. 225-232.
132. Delehaye, art. cit. (note 63), p. 5-73. For the later miracles of Saint George,
see Miracula S. Georgii, edited J. B. Aufhauser, Leipzig 1913; Collections grecques de
miracles, edited A.-J. Festugière, Paris 1971.
 THE OH IG INS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEOHGE 317

there is a Coptic version of a collection of Saint George's Miracula, which,

since it contains many Greek words, was probably translated from a lost
Greek original, and another in Ethiopie 133. Whatever the date of these trans
lations, the original text obviously belongs to the same literary genre as the
early Miracula which Delehaye published. Most of Saint George's miracles are
associated with the sanctuary at Lydda 134. Their themes, are, usually, at
once familiar: a Jew who robs the church is punished by Saint George; he is
converted to Christianity. Saint George cures a Persian of leprosy; his father
give 1200 ounces of gold to the sanctuary at Lydda. Gifts vowed to the
sanctuary but not actually given go there miraculously. Avaricious people
and thieves are punished. The collection includes an account of Gonstantine's
(no doubt apocryphal) foundation of the sanctuary at Lydda. It also includes,
surely a later addition, the wellknown story of Saint George rescuing from the
Arabs a youth who had been made a steward. The most interesting is perhaps
the miracle concerned with Diocletian, which exists in Coptic and Arabic as
well as Ethiopie 13Γ\ Diocletian sends an official to Lydda. When he breaks a
glass lamp before Saint George's icon, a piece of glass sticks in his head. He
develops leprosy and dies. Then Diocletian himself goes to Lydda, where the
archangel Michael intervenes. Diocletian goes blind and dies shortly after.
Thus we can be fairly certain that an early collection of Saint George's
Miracula did exist in Greek, containing incidents similar to those in the Mirac
ula of Thecla and Menas, for example: healing, "police work", helping to
enrich the sanctuary.
The Diocletian story does not exactly correspond to the story of Mercurius'
intervention to kill Julian the Apostate136. Nevertheless it provides a pre
cious link between the saint and the emperor, which helps to explain the
origin of the iconographical type, particularly prevalent in early Georgian
art. of Saint George spearing a fallen man137.
By contrast with the large numbers of later pictures of Saint George,
whether portraits or biographical, his early dossier is lamentably sparsely
furnished. In most of the examples registered of a representation of Saint
George, either the identification or the date — or both — are too hypothetical
to be of genuine help in establishing the origins of his iconography. Since he
was renowned less as a "healing" saint than as a protector, it is not surprising
that there should be no eulogia. Unfortunately, there are no objects either
which can be associated with his sanctuary at Lydda.
The two earliest surviving portraits of Saint George would seem to be in
Egypt, more specifically at Bawît. In the north church, which Clédat was
prepared to date to the sixth century, Saint George is represented full-length

133. E. A. Waixis-Budge, George of Lydda, The Patron Saint of England. Λ Study of

the (Juttas of Saint George in Ethiopia. London 1931. p. 62-63.
134. Ibidem, p. 69-75.
135. Ibidem, p. 20-21, 145.
136. St. Binon, Essai sur le ryrle de saint Mercure, Paris 1937, p. 12-14, 24.
137. See particularly <ί. Ν. Tschubinashvili, Georgian Repousse Work, Tbilissi
1957.
318 CH. WALTE H

on a column 138. He is haloed, wears a cuirass under his cloak and has a sword
girded to his left side. He is therefore evidently a warrior. He is beardless
with abundant hair in a circle round his head. His features are those of a
young man. The accompanying legend gives his name. In chapel 18 of the
monastery of Apollo, he is represented in bust form with similar features and
an accompanying inscription: Saint George, martyr139.
Unfortunately the Sinai icon of the Virgin and Child accompanied by two
saints is not much help, because the saints are not named and the one so often
identified by scholars as Saint George could equally be Demetrius140.
More promising, perhaps, is the representation on a processional cross, once
in the private collection of Gustave Schlumberger and now in the Cabinet
des médailles, Paris141. It is 30 centimetres high and 14 centimetres wide
(Figure 2). On the lower part Saint George in military dress and haloed holds
a shield in his left hand and with his right hand draws a kneeling figure to his
feet. Grabar, who was prepared to accept a sixth-century date for this object,
pointed out that the gesture of Saint George is that of the imperial restitutor
or liberator; it is, in fact, the gesture of the resurrected Christ drawing Adam
from his tomb. There are several legends: KE ΒΟΗΘΗ ΓΕΝΝΑΔΙΑΝ ΦΩΣ
ZOH ΑΓΙΕ ΓΕΟΡΓΙ ΒΟΗΘΗ ΜΕΣΕΒΡΙΟΤ ΚΑΤΑ ΘΕΟΓΝΙ ΑΓΙΕ ΓΕΟΡΓΙ
ΒΟΙΘΙ.
There is no knowing who Gennadia was, but Henri Grégoire suggested, in a
private letter to Gustave Schlumberger, that Μεσεβρίου κατά Θεόγνι(ν) could
well be Mesembrius Theognis, a general whose name is attested for the
year 581 14~. On these grounds, Schlumberger dates the cross earlier than the
seventh century. Unfortunately, plausible as this dating is, the condition of
the cross is not such as to give a clear example of Saint George's portrait
type. It can only be said that he is beardless with abundant hair.
There do not seem to be any other pre-Iconoelast representations of Saint
George which are worth taking seriously. Thus the Syrian manuscript with a
miniature of Saint George holding a lance and shield, once placed in the
eighth or ninth century, must, it seems, be reallocated to the twelfth or
thirteenth century 143. The presence of a dragon in no way permits the identi-

138. J. Clédat, Baouît, DACL 2, 221, fig. 1263. I have found no trace of the more
detailed study to be undertaken by MM. Chassinat & Palanque, to which Clédat refers
(219-220 note 1).
139. Idem, Les fouilles exécutées à Baouît, Mémoire» de Γ hisliiul d'archéologie orien
'

taledu Caire 12, 1904, p. ι.χιι, ι.χιιΐ, 91.

140. See above, notes 95 and 110.
141. G. Schlumberger, Monuments byzantins inédits, Florilegiiim ou recueil de Ira-
vaux d'érudition dédiés à Monsieur le marquis Melchior de Vogué à l'occasion de son
quatre-vingtième anniversaire, Paris 1909, p. 555-559; Grakar, op. cit. (note 14), 1,
p. 348-349; II, p. 86.
142. Schlumberger, art. cit., quotes Henri Grégoire's letter, p. 556. For Mesem-
brios, see Menandros Protector, Excerpla historiae, Bonn 1829, p. 424-425.
143. W. Haubrichs, Georg, Heiliger, Theologische Ftealenzyklopädie XII, p. 380-
385, lists some early objects of doubtful pertinence, quite apart from transmitting the
inaccuracies of earlier scholars. Unfortunately, he gives no reference for a sixth-century
Coptic textile on which Saint George on horseback fights against a demon. He "dates"
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 319

fixation of an unnamed saint as George (particularly at so early a date when

he would have been spearing a man).
From a slightly later date may be cited an unidentified saint in the much-
restored mosaic in San Teodoro, Rome, dating originally from the pontifi
catesof Leo III (795-816) and Gregory IV (827-844) 144. This could be George,
since he was often associated with Theodore at that time. Nevertheless the
identification is purely hypothetical. The Fieschi-Morgan reliquary, for which
all sorts of dates have been proposed, is decorated with, among other sub
jects, a series of saints on the borders145. On the right side are four martyrs:
Platon, Theodore, Procopius and George. Saint George is beardless with dark
hair (Figure 3). I am incompetent to enter into discussion in technical
grounds about the date of this reliquary. However, the developed "echelons"
of saints suggest to me that the object would not be pre-Iconoclast. Rather it
should be related to ivories which have similar echelons. On these grounds a
tenth-century dating would not be, to my mind, too late.
Whatever date is attributed to this casket, it does not really help us to
establish an archetypal portrait for Saint George. For this reason the Life of
Theodore of Sykeon becomes particularly precious. It makes it quite clear
that by the beginning of the seventh century a portrait type of Saint George
had been established, and that icons of him already existed. There was, in
fact, whatever had gone to the making of it, a distinct and unique meta-
historical Saint in the early seventh (or even the sixth) century, who exists to
this day. The most telling passage in the Life is perhaps the description of
Saint George's features in his apparition to Theodore's grandmother: εΐδον...
νεανίσκον σφόδρα ώραΐον, λαμπρόν τη έσθήτι, χαΐς δε θριξίν ούλον, χρυσαυγουντα,
έοίκότα τη ιστορία του αγίου μάρτυρος Γεωργίου 14(>. I saw... a young man, of utter
beauty, in shining garments, with curly hair as brilliant as gold, like the
representations of Saint George.

the cross mentioned above to 581 It is not clear why the stamp of George on horseback
.

(fig. 9) should be dated to the sixth or seventh century. For the Syrian miniature, see
J. Leroy, Lex manuscrits syriaques à peintures. Paris 1964, p. 341-349, pi. 1 17, 4 (Berlin
Preuss. Hibl. Sachau 220, f. 50).
144. V. Casei.i.î, Visite a ehiese romane. Rome 19(12, p. 66-68.
145. Age of Spirituality, n" 574. The author of the notice (M. E. Phaser) proposes
the sixth to eighth century. Frolow had preferred the tenth or eleventh century.
A. Kartsonis, Anastasis. The Making of an Image. Princeton 1986, p. 116. proposes
the first half of the ninth century. This agrees with D. Buckton, British Enamel and
the West, Byzantium and the West c. 850 -c. 1200, Amsterdam 1988, p. 242. I thank
David Buckton for help with this object.
146. Festugière, §32, I, p. 29; II, p. 31-32. Compare the ωραιότατος and ευειδος
νεανίσκος, § 9, I, p. 8-9; II. p. 1 1-12, and the wrestlers dream, § 86, 1, p. 73; II, p. 76. A
relic could no doubt guarantee the proximity of the saint whose favours were sought,
but obviously it was the actual vision of the saint which counted. Great confidence
seems to have been placed in the fidelity of the image to the prototype, and the image
served as a means of controlling the authenticity of the vision or apparition. Compare
the monk who travelled to Constantinople in order to see the relic of the Holy Face and
thus confirm that the person appearing to him in visions really was Christ. Vila
S. Pauli iunioris in Monte Latro (Bill', 1474). ed. II. Dei.ehave, An. Boll. II. 1892.
i). 150-151.
320 CH. WALTER

Here, then, was the person, to whom requests for intercession were addresse
d. There can be no doubt that he had an exceptional affective appeal, diffi
cult, perhaps, for us to grasp, since the Byzantines have not bequeathed us
many empirical descriptions of their feelings. Some reconstruction can be
tentatively undertaken. For example John Eisner has recently published a
remarkable account of what a (highly sophisticated) pilgrim might have expe
rienced on a visit to Mount Sinai 147. Thomas Mathews has studied the affec
tive attitude of the Byzantines towards their icons and the saints represented
on the icons. "One was supposed to fall in love with these saints." Or, els
ewhere: "The involvement of the Orthodox beholder with his painted images
was complete... The believer entered a world of images in a way the modern
viewer of paintings cannot accomplish" 148. However, empathy, as a character
istic of human psychology, must keep pace with developments and changes
in artistic media. It may therefore not be amiss to quote James Baldwin's
description of a budding actor in a film. It seems to me to give some insight
into the way that a Byzantine saw an icon of Saint George: "...the face of a
man, of a tormented man. Yet, in precisely the way that great music
depends, ultimately, on great silence, this masculinity was defined and made
powerful by something which was not masculine. It was not feminine either
and something... resisted the word androgynous. It was a quality to which
numbers of persons would respond without knowing to what it was that they
were responding. There was great force in the face and great gentleness... It
was a face which suggested, resonantly in the depths, the truth about our
natures" 149.

Appendix: Saint George Rescues the Princess from the Dragon

It was a regular exploit, both of Antique heroes and of early Christian
saints, to protect mankind against obnoxious beasts ll)0. No saint had a monop
oly of this bénéficient work. Even women saints, for example one of the
Saints Paraskevi, killed dragons1·'1. There is consequently no reason to iden
tify early unnamed pictures of a saint killing a dragon with Saint George. On
the contrary such a figure is unlikely to be Saint George, who was at first
represented on horseback killing a man (the emperor Diocletian?). The ear
liest certain picture of Saint George killing a dragon is in the church of Saint
Barbara, Soganh, Cappadocia (1006 or 1021) 1:)''. However this is only indi-

147. J. Elsnek, The Viewer and the Viewed: the Case of the Sinai Apse, Art History
17, 1994, p. 81-102.
148. T. Mathews, The Sequel to Nicaea II in Byzantine Church Decoration,
Perkins Journal, July 1988, p. 14, 19.
149. J. Baldwin, Another Country, London 1963 (cited here from Penguin Books,
1990, p. 324).
150. Ch. Walter, The Thracian Horseman: Ancestor of the Warrior Saints?, Byzant
inische Forschungen 14, 1989, p. G61-662.
151 S. Κουκί ARis, Ό κύκλος τοϋ βίου της αγίας Παρασκευής της Ρωμαίας, Athens 1994,
.

ρ. 95-97.
152. G. de Jerphanion, Les églises rupeslres de Cappadoce, II 1, Paris 1936, p. 322,
pi. 187, 2; 189, 2-3.
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CULT OF SAINT GEORGE 321

rectly relevant, because Saint George received his renewed notoriety, not so
much by killing a dragon but by rescuing a princess. This delightful "best-
selling" conte is first attested in an 11th-century Georgian manuscript pre
served in the Greek patriarchal library in Jerusalem, cod. 2, and containing
three accounts of miracles wrought by Saint George 153. The text has been
translated into Russian by the Georgian scholar Eka Privalova 154. For con
venience, I give here an English translation of Privalova's version:
In the city of Lasia reigned a godless emperor, the idolator Selinus. As a
punishment for his unbelief, God sent to a nearby lake a terrifying dragon
which devoured the inhabitants of the city. On many occasions, the emperor
took measures against the dragon but in vain, so huge and awful was the
dragon. The time came when the inhabitants of the city met together to
reproach the emperor for his ineffectiveness and to insist that he take some
steps. Then the emperor proposed that a list should be drawn up of the
inhabitants, such that each would sacrifice a child, and he promised that he
would offer his only daughter, when his turn came. And so it was decided.
When the emperor's turn came, he dressed his daughter in the imperial
purple, and having decked her as for a wedding, with tears and weeping he
brought her along. The emperor offered the people gold and silver and his
empire in compensation if he could keep his only daughter, but the people
were inexorable. They all met to look at the emperor's daughter.
However, the Lord wished to perform a miracle in the name of Saint
George, who was alive at that time. He was returning from Diocletian's army
to Cappadocia to his estate, and he stopped by the lake to water his horse.
Then he saw a girl weeping on the bank. The girl told the handsome youth
that he should flee to escape death; she told him of her plight. George asked
what god was worshipped in her city. She replied: Hercules, Apollo, Scaman-
der and the great goddess Artemis. George reassured her, and, lifting his eyes
to God, asked him to perform a miracle and help him to vanquish the dragon,
so that all might see that God was with George. And a voice replied:
"Do what you wish; I am with you."
At that moment, the dragon appeared. George hastened towards it, made
the sign of the cross and asked the Lord to change the wild beast into an
animal which would be docile with him. As George said this, the dragon fell at
his feet. The saint tied it with the girl's girdle, handed it to her and told her to
go to the nearby city. The people, seeing this, were terrified and prepared to
flee. George calmed them and required them to become Christian. After that,
all acknowledged their faith in Christ. Then George took out his sword and
killed the dragon. Then the people assembled and prostrated themselves at
the saint's feet and gave thanks to the Lord. Then Saint George sent for
bishop Alexander, who baptized the emperor, his court and all the people in
the course of the following days, in all 45,000 persons. And there was great
joy in the city. The emperor had a shrine built in honour of the saint, and
Saint George went into the shrine and performed a miracle. By the altar, he
caused a lifegiving spring to flow which even now performs miracles.

153. P. Blake, Catalogue des manuscrits géorgiens de la Bibliothèque patriarcale

grecque à Jérusalem, Revue de l'Orient chrétien. 3e série, 3 (13), 3, 4. 1922-1925, Paris
1934, p. 17.
154. h. Privalova, Pannisi, Tbilissi 1977, p. 73.
322 CII. WALTER

Of course in a popular conte George should have married the princess and
lived happily ever afterwards! The fact that the culminating point of the
story, after the slaying of the dragon, is the conversion of all the inhabitants
of the city shows how adept Christians were at adapting an ancient literary
genre to the requirements of their faith.
That the story of the rescue of the princess was Georgian in origin is made
more plausible by the fact that the first representations, in which the icono
graphy is established, are found in Georgia: saint George on horseback, and
the princess leading the dragon by her girdle towards the terrified people,
watching from the ramparts of the city. The earliest dated example would
seem to be that at Pavnisi (1158-1184) 155, but other examples can be dated
earlier on stylistic grounds: Bocorma (ca 1100), Adisi (late eleventh century),
Ikvi (12th century)156. It must have spread quickly to Russia, if Lazarev's
dating of the rescue of the princess at Stara Ladoga to 1167 is correct157.
The oldest Greek text, Rome, Bibliotheca Angelica 46, f. 189-191 v, would
seem to date from the 12th or 13th century 158. Here the text follows the
Georgian version fairly closely. There was never much effort to integrate the
incident into Lives of Saint George, nor, on the other hand, to eliminate it159.

Christopher Walter
Centre byzantin
67 Asklipiou Street
GR - 106 80 Athens

155. Ibidem, p. 18, fig. 5.

156. Ibidem, p. 83, fig. 20; p. 77, fig. 18; p. 80, fig. 19.
157. V. Lazarev, Freske staroj Ladogi, Moscow 1960, p. 34, fig. 10.
158. Aufhauser, op. cit. (note 2), p. 31-33, 62-69.
159. See for example J. Popovic, Sveti velikomucenik Georgije-Djurdjic, Belgrade
1980, p. 28-31.
Credit lines: Figure 1, London, British Museum; Figure 2, Paris, Cabinet, des
médailles; Figure 3, New York, Metropolitan Museum.
Planche I 323

Illustration non autorisée à la diffusion

324 Planche II

Illustration non autorisée à la diffusion

2a. Schlumberger Cross. Cabinet des médailles, Paris.

Planche III

Illustration non autorisée à la diffusion

Schlumberger Cross (detail) Saint George.

326 Planche IV

Illustration non autorisée à la diffusion

3a. Fieschi-Morgan casket. Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Illustration non autorisée à la diffusion

3b. Fieschi-Morgan jcasket (detail) Saint (leorgt