Anthony Cooney’s chief purpose in writing this historical novel ‘has been to bring our patron saint out of the shadows into the world of his day, and present him to our day as a real person…’

He takes as his primary source Eusebius’ account of his martyrdom, and as his secondary source that by St Ambrose of Milan. No-one today seriously doubts that Eusebius’ ‘man of no mean origin’ is George, or Giorgios, of Lydda. What Anthony Cooney has done is to take the few known and poignant facts of his death during the persecutions under Diocletian and construct a fascinating and credible story of the life that led to martyrdom.

The ‘dragon’ legend, which has probably played its part in discrediting George’s existence, can be explained allegorically; the Christian knight (and Roman soldier) defied and so defeated the imperial pagan ‘dragon’.

Apart from this portrait of a noble, courteous soldier, at home among books as well as the martial arts, the author vividly describes the experience of serving in the Roman army, with its training, its discipline, its battle strategies, during a troubled period of the empire. We learn how a Christian such as George could be a soldier in good conscience, distinguishing between hostes and inimicus, yet how he would also, in conscience, refuse to decimate innocent civilians after the Roman fashion in revenge.

There are fine characterisations of the Emperor Diocletian and the future Emperor Constantine, who is shown as sharing George’s youthful military training. We know that Constantine erected or enlarged the church over George’s grave at Lydda, built a church on the site of his martyrdom and dedicated a church to him at Constantinople, so it is not unlikely that the two were friends, or that the Christian example of chivalry and forbearance of the one would play its part in the other’s conversion.

The lives of the early saints are often accompanied by prophecies, at birth or during later critical occasions. The author gives George his share of these signs of divine predilection, but they do not detract from his most attractive human personality, nor do they protect him from suffering. His father, Anastasius, is murdered on the orders of the same man, Galerius, who later marks the son for execution; George’s Samaritan tutor is assassinated; his betrothed dies young from fever. Though these tragedies severely test the young man’s faith, they serve to strengthen it.

What is his link with England? The author plausibly argues that he served a period there in the army under Constantius Chlorus, Constantine’s father. Although it is not possible after a long passage of time and with no written records, to explain the origin or significance of a saint’s cultus in a particular place, it does suggest a venerable tradition which should be respected. The sight of white flags with their red crosses fluttering on 23 April in our area suggests our patron saint is not yet quite forgotten.

My single criticism of this most interesting novel is that it lacks a map of the classical world, so that words like 'Lydda', 'Joppa', 'Palmyra’, ‘Antioch’ conjured up a vague and imprecise Middle Eastern landscape - until I managed to locate them at the back of my Jerusalem Bible.

© 2004 Francis Phillips

Theotokos Catholic Books - Book Reviews Section - www.theotokos.org.uk