St. George
Patron Saint of Scouting

"Prepared and alert a Scout follows the lead
Of our Patron Saint George and his spirited steed."
- Baden-Powell in "Scouting for Boys"

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Saint George probably lived during the 3rd century and died in Lydda, Palestine [now Lod, Israel]. His feast day is April 23. "He was an early Christian martyr who during the Middle Ages became an ideal of martial valor and selflessness. He is the patron saint of England."

".... Legends about him as a warrior-saint, dating from the 6th century, became popular and increasingly extravagant. Jacob de Voragine's Legenda aurea (1265-66; Golden Legend) repeats the story of his rescuing a Libyan king's daughter from a dragon and then slaying the monster in return for a promise by the king's subjects to be baptized. George's slaying of the dragon may be a Christian version of the legend of Perseus, who was said to have rescued Andromeda from a sea monster near Lydda. It is a theme much represented in art, the saint frequently being depicted as a youth wearing knight's armor with a scarlet cross...."

From Britannica Online, Copyright © 1996 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of Saint George on April 23. The life of "Great­Martyr George the Trophy­Bearer," according to church tradition, is related in Lives of the Saints (Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Washington, D.C.).

Icons bearing the image of Christ or saints are venerated as sacred in the Orthodox Church. They are painted on a wooden panel or done in mosaics. Icons of Saint George have been important in the Russian Orthodox Church since early times. The following collection of icons comes from the Novgorad Icon Gallery of the Novgorod State University in Russia. They date from the 12th to the 16th century.

© 2002,  Scouting 502, Woburn, Massachusetts 01801
Last revised: January 12, 2002