St. George and the Dragon

The Rev. Julia W. Messer
April 29, 2012

St. George and the Dragon

A-h-h-h-h.  St. George.  For my last 2 years of seminary, I lived in St. George’s Hall.  Every spring we, as seminarians who had lived in St. George’s did before us, would celebrate St. George’s birthday as close to April 23rd as we could.  We would create a play and have a celebration in his honor.  There are many versions of St. George’s story, but today I will share with you my story of St. George. 

Once upon a time, in a time of dragons, probably around 302 AD there lived a young knight named George. George was brave, strong, and good, but unlike many people in those far-off days, George was also a Christian.  

One day the Emperor demanded that all soldiers in his army had to offer sacrifice to the Romans gods of the time. Because George was a Christian and a high ranking knight, he chose instead to give up all that he had and set out on his own for an adventure. In his adventures he faced many evils, but one of his adventures took him to a far away land called Sylene because the fieriest dragon was laying waste to the land. The dragon lived in the great marshy swamp and would leave the swamp to raid the city.

Of course this dragon had steal-like scales, breathed fire, and had wings that had him fly faster than any horse, so that no one could track him back to exactly where he was hiding in the swamp.

In order to prevent the dragon from eating the people, the people of Sylene started to offer two sheep every day, until they ran out of sheep. Then they offered goats, then cows, then horses. A wizard in the city had a vision that if they offered one of their children once a year the dragon would leave them alone for the whole year.

So the King of Sylene and council called all of the citizens together and told them their plan. Every citizen must pick a pebble out of a sack. One of the pebbles would be white, the rest, black. Whoever picked the white people would be sacrificed to the dragon.

The next day everyone gathered together and each pulled a stone from the bag. The King pulled a black pebble and the knights pulled black pebbles.  Slowly but surely, the people pulled a pebble from the bag.  And then it happened, one person drew the white pebble, the princess of Sylene. The King tried to offer all that he had to have some else take her place, but she wouldn’t let her father and so the princess was dressed up and lead out to the edge of the marsh and left  there.

And that is exactly where the knight George found her. After she told him the story, he waited for the dragon to appear. When the dragon did appear George attacked the dragon. The battle raged on, but in the middle of the fight, the knight prayed for help from God. Suddenly the dragon stopped fighting and knelt down.  George tied a rope around the dragon and he, the princess and the dragon walked into the city. When the people saw the dragon was defeated, they merrily rejoiced and they converted to Christianity.

What happened to the dragon? Most stories end with St. George killing the dragon, but other stories say that the dragon lived out its days protecting the very city that it once tried to destroy. There are a few stories that end with George and the dragon joining together and traveling the world, fighting the evil of the world.

 

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Why do we remember St. George? Why is St. George the patron Saint of England and other countries? A lot is lost to history, but we do know that King Edward III made George the patron saint when he formed the Order of the Garter in St. George’s name in 1350.  I think what has endured is the image and story of a person of strength and character who was willing at any cost to fight dragons.

Dragons can be viewed as many different things in history.  Ancient tales from all over the world are filled with stories of dragons. In the Middle Ages, the dragon was commonly used in stories to represent the devil.  And of course, in recent history, we have the dragons of Harry Potter books.  As author G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

What are today’s dragons? And can they be killed?  They are everything. Dragons can be our worst fears, obstacles we place before ourselves or things beyond our control.  Dragons are things that seem unbeatable, the things that we wrestle with, the things that we have to choose to face or they will slowly eat away at us.

There are real fire-breathing dragons that bring misery and terrorize – emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. Dragons that terrorize all they touch can be anything from physical disease, financial problems, addictions, or our vices such as giving into self-doubt, worry, gossip, or even explosive or physical anger.

Most of us do not set out to defeat our dragons. Most of us do not view ourselves as dragon slayers. Sometimes we are even comfortable with the dragons – we would rather feed them quietly than face them. Most of us will only fight our dragons when forced to face them.

We all have our dragons.

How we face them can have different endings, much like the story of St. George. In this version when the Sylenes weren't able to fight their dragon, they got help.  Their method to fight was NOT healthy--sacrificing what was important to them is not a way to defeat the dragons in their lives.   An outside source could slay the dragon when those involved could not.

An example of that today would be people who fight their addiction, learn to come face to face with it and start on the road to recovery, and then use their personal history to help others fight their dragons. What it boils down to is that a person, like George, can choose to fight another’s group’s obstacles and evils. Or after the fight people can, like George, turn the evil into a way to help others. 

The dragons we carry with us and fight are not ones we can easily slay and let go of. Dragons are powerful forces.  But what’s great is that there is a slayer of dragons or one who works with our dragons lives within each and every one of us. You see, there is a St. George in each of us!

+In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. +