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November 10, 2010

In Georgia, Everyday Is A Feast of Saint George

St. George Tortured On the Wheel (Feast Day - November 10)

Georgia was enlightened with the Christian faith by the holy Equal of the Apostles Nino (January 14), a kinswoman of the holy Great Martyr George the Victory-Bearer (April 23). Therefore, Georgia has special veneration for St George as its patron saint.

The name Georgia is derived from George (this name is preserved now in many languages of the world). St Nino established a feastday in his honor. It is celebrated in Georgia on November 10, in remembrance of the sufferings of St George. In 1891, near the village of Kakha in the Zakatalsk region of the Caucasus, a new church in place of the old was built in honor of the holy Great Martyr George the Victory-Bearer, and many of the heterodox Bogomils came in droves to it.

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Celebrated by the whole Christian world, Great-martyr George was slain by Emperor Diocletian in the year 303.

The holy martyr is appropriately considered the intercessor for all Christians and the patron saint of many. He is regarded with special reverence among the Georgian people, since he is believed to be the special protector of their nation. Historical accounts often describe how St. George appeared among the Georgian soldiers in the midst of battles.

The majority of Georgian churches (in villages especially) were built in his honor and, as a result, every day there is a feast of the great-martyr George somewhere in Georgia. The various daily commemorations are connected to one of the churches erected in his name or an icon or a particular miracle he performed.

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Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Liberator of captives, defender of the poor, physician of the sick, and champion of kings, O trophy-bearer, Great Martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Cultivated by God, you became manifest as an honorable tiller gathering for yourself the sheaves of virtue. For you sowed with tears but reaped with gladness; in the contest you competed with your blood and came away with Christ. By your intercessions, O Holy One, all are granted forgiveness of sins.