The Origins of the Cult of Saint George

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.

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