“…the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (NRSV, 1 Samuel 16:7)

St George, the Patron Saint of England, was a brilliant young officer in the Roman army whose ability had brought him to the attention of his Emperor and Commander-in-chief, Diocletian.  It was this savage tyrant who launched the most violent and sustained persecution which the Church endured in the first centuries of its existence.

It began in the year 303 AD with the posting of notices on all church doors ordering the destruction of the buildings and the handing over of the Holy Scriptures.  St George, who was a Christian born of Christian parents, tore down the notice on the door of the principal church in the city of Nicomedia in Asia Minor.  As Nicomedia was the headquarters and seat of government of the Emperor, George was sent to Diocletian himself who was in Palestine at the time.

Diocletian was reluctant to lose the services of so promising an officer, and tried to bribe him to give up his religion by offering him honours and promotion.  When George refused, the Emperor resorted to torture but that proved as useless as bribery and finally the saint was beheaded on April 23rd which that year was Good Friday.  As with many other saints, his heroic fight against evil was later symbolically represented as a life and death contest with a dragon.

You and I have also been called to fight against evil, in the world and within ourselves.  At our Baptism we were dedicated to the service of Our Blessed Lord and that demanding sign of the Cross was made on our foreheads in token that we should not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified and should continue Christ’s faithful soldiers and servants unto our life’s end.  And that demands from us two things – a love and loyalty to Our Blessed Lord such as we see in the life of St George.

First of all there is our outward loyalty as shown by our participation in Christian worship Sunday by Sunday.  You will sometimes hear people say that it doesn’t matter if one doesn’t go to church.  Of course, if public worship does not really matter then there is little point in building or maintaining places of worship.  But it goes much deeper than that.  Public worship is part of one’s individual and corporate relationship with God, and if it does not in fact matter then God does not matter either.

But that is not all.  As Christians we have received from Our Lord his unqualified command to take our part in the Eucharist, “Do this in remembrance of me”; and while it is true that one can pray, read the Bible or sing hymns alone, whether at home or out of doors, one can obey his command “Do this” only within the fellowship of the Church, the gathered Family of Christ.

For that reason, as in the Early Church, so today, to take one’s part in the Eucharist is a necessary part of one’s loyalty to Christ.  Those who persecuted the Church in the first centuries recognised that fact, and that is why they destroyed the churches and concentrated against the communicants.

We have the transcript of a trial in North Africa of 49 Christians who were arrested in the house of one Octavius Felix while they were celebrating the Eucharist.  They were sent for trial before the provincial governor on a charge of being “…Christians who, contrary to the decree of the Emperors and Caesars, had frequented the Lord’s assembly…”.

When it was Felix’s turn to be questioned the governor said to him, “I do not need to ask whether you are a Christian…You can hold your tongue about being a Christian: but, tell me, were you one of the congregation?” (our emphasis).  Whereupon Felix replied, “As if a Christian could exist without the Eucharist, or the Eucharist without a Christian…We attended our assembly right gloriously”.  And the account continues, “Seriously perturbed at this confession, Anulinus (the governor) had him beaten to death with clubs...”. (1)  The date was February 12th 304 AD, ten months after the martyrdom of St George many miles away in Palestine.

But besides this outward loyalty of taking part in the Eucharistic worship of the Church, there is also the Church member’s inner loyalty of heart.  And that goes beyond the more obvious loyalty of watching over one’s very thoughts to keep them free from ill-will or hatred or anything else which is contrary to the character of Christ and which can disturb or disrupt our personal relationship with him.

For there is also the not so obvious matter of base motive, of doing the right thing for the wrong reason, that is, to have one eye on serving Christ and the other on serving self, whether by way of seeking a sense of self-satisfaction and self-admiration or a position of status and power in the Church.

For even more important than what we do is the reason why we do it.  Motive is everything.  The heroes and martyrs of the Faith like St George and Octavius Felix were characterised by a humility and self-forgetfulness which ensured that all they did and all they suffered was for Christ and Christ alone.  Whether they were well-known or unknown, remembered or forgotten, acclaimed or despised, that was of no consequence.

All that mattered was that they should so live and die as to honour Christ and set forward his glory.  Theirs was the true inward loyalty of heart, and only if we in our turn possess that can we ourselves be truly loyal to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer for loyalty to Christ

Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for the courage and loyalty of St George and ask that we too may be your brave and faithful soldiers and servants to the end of our lives.  Strengthen us in times of weakness and help us to honour you in everything we think and say and do, and serve you with a selfless love.  And of your great mercy, bring us safely to our home in Heaven, where with St George and all the saints we may see you face to face and adore you for ever.  Amen.

Reference

Acta SS Saturnini etc.  The passion on the 49 martyrs of Abitina, Feb 12th 304 AD, in Kidd, B.J. (1920) Documents illustrative of the history of the Church, Vol 1 to AD 313, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.