Kult i ikonografia św. Jerzego Zwycięzcy w tradycji bizantyńskiej i staroruskiej (do XV w.)

Abstract

In his struggle against the serpent-like dragon, St George reflects the longstanding idea of conflict between good and evil. He is depicted fighting the dragon on horseback or on foot, but also treading on the monster (Latin calcatio) or tying it up. The struggle is sometimes complemented with a coronation of St George; in other cases he is presented on a throne. Defeated by St George, the enemy is most frequently demonstrated as a hybrid personification of Satan, evil, sin, paganism and dark forces of nature, dwelling in a cave or a lake (or a lake inside a cavern). There are also images where the dragon is replaced with a pagan emperor, persecutor of Christians. Iconography also depicts St George rescuing a young boy from Mytilene, or the youth George of Paphlagonia, from imprisonment. The Byzantine and old Slavonic traditions perceive St George, as well as other soldier saints, as the special patron saint of rulers, statehood and armed forces; his victory over the dragon was regarded in those times as the best warranty of the saint’s effective intercession to God. According to hagiographic sources, St George lived in the 2nd – 3rd centuries and the origins of his cult date back to the late 4th century. Nevertheless, it was St Theodore (another soldier saint often depicted in art side by side with St George) who enjoyed more veneration than St George in the Byzantine Empire. Ancient Russia, however, took a special liking to St George as its patron saint.