Years ago, when I was at college preparing for ministry, there were, in the library, a few shelves of books, books that were free for students to take. They were second hand books that had, no doubt, once belonged to either retired ministers or had once belonged to ministers that had just passed on.
One book I took from this shelf, and I still have it today, is a book entitled ‘Everyman’s Book of Saints’ by CPS Clarke. His full title was the Venerable Charles Philip Stuart Clarke, and he lived from 1871-1947.
Now, Charles Clarke, was a minister in the Church of England, he was part of what was once known as the Oxford Movement. The Oxford Movement was centred at the University of Oxford and sought a renewal of ‘catholic’ or Roman Catholic, thought and practice within the Church of England in opposition to the protestant tendencies of the Church. So, it’s not surprising then, that Charles Clarke, an Anglican priest, a Roman Catholic sympathiser, should write a book called the Everyman’s Book of Saints.
In the second paragraph of the introduction to his book, Charles Clarke really lays out his theology. He writes of the ‘immense volume of intercession which these long dead saints offer on our behalf before the throne of God.’
The Roman Catholic Church venerates the saints. But it seems to me that they really do pray to the saints, even to individual saints. Thus, prayer for the return of lost or stolen property in the Catholic tradition would be offered to St Anthony. The patron saint of lost causes is St Jude. And as we all know; the patron saint of travel is St Christopher. And then there are the ‘Hail Mary’s Mother of God,’ uttered amidst the liturgy and the incense of the Roman Catholic worship.
It all sounds very rich and complex – but we Protestants simply point to the scriptures of the Old and New Testament and so I offer you these words that encapsulate the First of the Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shalt have no God but me, before no idol bend thy knee. In other words, prayers according to the Bible should only be offered to God
And for guidance on our prayers and in our petitions to God, we have only to turn to the New Testament where we have the words of Jesus (John 14:13-17) who says ‘And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.’
Just as an aside, before we decide to make a prayer in the name of Jesus, we should be sure we are not merely making this prayer on a whim. William Barclay wrote:
Can we honestly make this prayer in the name of Jesus? The prayer which can stand the test of that consideration, and which in the end says ‘Your will be done, is always answered. But the prayer based on self cannot expect to be granted.’
Returning to the Everyman’s Book of the Saints by Charles Clarke, I would hasten to say that I would not dismiss Charles Clarke’s work out of hand. After all these years I still have his well-written, neat, and attractive little book which was originally published in 1914 and I really like it. In the introduction it reads:
What is a saint? May we not say that the saints are the lamps of God lighted with His spirit, and reflecting the light of Christ, who lighteth every man, but is not reflected equally by all? Trials, suffering, and labour are the opportunities given them, but which their light is cleansed and their light enabled to shine more brightly against the surrounding darkness.
Charles Clarke also said that: “to study the lives of the saints is to be reminded of the fact of Christ as a living and working power in the life of man…’
I think that it’s in the spirit of these preceding words that we can go now to consider briefly, on this 23rd day of April, the life of our patron saint, the patron saint of England, St George.
We often hear that criticism, which is what it is, that St George wasn’t even born in England. But then again, the patron Saint of Scotland, Saint Andrew was born in Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee and St Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland, was born in Britain and not on the island of Ireland, so I think we can see that place of birth is nothing to do with the authenticity or the origin of a particular saint.
Our patron saint, George, is included in a list of saints written in AD 495 by Pope Gelasius – Gelasius refers to St George in these terms, George: “whose name is justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God”.
St George is said to have belonged to a noble Cappadocian family. Where is Cappadocia? It’s in central Turkey. Paul travelled through Cappadocia enroute to Galatia and St Peter in AD 63 wrote his first letter, to the Christians there. However, St George was, in fact, born in Lydda in Palestine.
When he was 10 years old his father died, but the young George went on to become an officer in the Roman Army, he became a tribune in the Imperial Guard, which means he was one rank above a centurion. During his military service he visited Urmia in Persia. Charles Clarke writes that: as a consequence, there are still many churches in the area, (of Urmia) and near one of them is a rosebush, or clump of rose bushes, fifty yards square, sacred to him, (St George) which may account for his association with that flower.
We may associate St George with the English rose but it seems that that rose as an emblem only came into prominence, in England, during the Wars of the Roses (1455 -1487).
St George, as an officer in the Roman army, was therefore not as popularly imagined, a medieval knight, but rather a distinguished soldier, known to be good looking, courteous and brave. There is even a tradition that during his service he did actually come to Britain.
During the time of George’s service to the Emperor Diocletian, Christianity was tolerated but this changed in AD 303, when the emperor, who had surrounded himself with anti-Christian supporters, began what became known as the Great Persecution. It was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, this persecution amongst other things involved the burning of Christian books and the demolition of Christian churches. The punishment inflicted for resistance to this persecution was imprisonment and torture and in some cases death.
So, when the emperor Diocletian issued his edict of persecution, St George retired from the army and resolved to plead the cause of his persecuted fellow Christians before the emperor. He returned to his home in Lydda, he freed his slaves, sold his possessions, gave away his money and went to see the emperor. However, his appeal to the emperor proved to be unsuccessful. Instead, he too was charged with being a Christian – he was ordered to sacrifice to, and worship the Roman, pagan gods. Refusing and confirming his faith in Christ, St George was tortured and then beheaded. His body was taken back to Lydda, by three of his servants.
Charles Clarke wrote that the emperor Constantine, who was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity, afterwards built a church near the tomb of St George. The first church of Jerusalem dedicated to St George is said to have been erected by Helena, Constantine’s mother, near to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in AD 326.
Again, I’m reminded of those words of Charles Clarke, who wrote that to study the lives of the saints is to be reminded of the fact of Christ as a living and working power in the life of a man, In the life of St George, as we have it, albeit, from the dim and distant past, I think an image of the character of the man, does shine through. His story is set against irrefutable historical events, his piety, his devotion to Christ and his martyrdom at the hands of the Roman Emperor Diocletian do not seem to be in dispute.
In the stories of great men and women, there are always accretions, embellishments that perhaps whilst not strictly true do point to the attributes and virtues of the person concerned. What about the story of George and the dragon then? Well, if any actual living animal resembles a dragon, it’s of course the crocodile, it’s a fearsome, formidable and terrifying beast. The story goes that St George, on his way home to Lydda, passed through Beirut; near there was a river called ‘the water of the crocodile’ out of that river would come an enormous crocodile, it was notorious for killing and eating and terrorising the local population. It’s suggested that St George heroically killed that crocodile thereby ridding the population of that particular menace. Thus arises, possibly, the legend of George and the Dragon.
Whichever way we consider the life of St George, I’m sure that what does come shining through is the portrayal of a brave man, a hero, a distinguished soldier, but he is remembered really for his faith in Christ and his martyrdom as a Christian. Let’s turn to the words of that children’s hymn by Jan Struther: When a Knight Won his Spurs. The words of this hymn should speak to children and to adults alike reminding us that like the warriors of old that we too should gird ourselves for our own personal battles against the dark forces of this world, dark forces that we are all too familiar with.
No charger have I, and no sword by my side
Yet still into adventure and battle I ride
Though back into story land giants have fled
And the knights are no more and the dragons are dead.
Let faith be my shield and let joy be my steed
Against the dragons of anger the ogres of greed
And let me set free with the sword of my youth
From the castle of darkness the power of the truth
Charles Clarke described the Saints as the ‘heroes of the Church.’ The lives of such great men and women can and do stand out as examples for us to follow, to encourage us and to inspire us. It’s probably not given to us to literally ride on to the battlefield, dressed in a suit of shining armour, and to carry a sword and a shield in our ordinary day to day life, but our life of faith and righteousness still calls us to put on the spiritual armour of God, as St Paul put it:
Prayer of St George
Almighty God, who gave to your servant George boldness to Confess the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
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