So the King and the people believed and such a life they endeavoured to live.

Then St. George slew the dragon and cut off his head, and the King gave great treasure to the knight.  But all the rewards George distributed among the sick and necessitous and kept nothing for himself, and then he went further on his way of helpfulness.

About this time the Emperor Diocletian issued an edict which was published the length and breadth of his empire.  This edict was nailed to the doors of temples, upon the walls of public markets, in all places people frequented, and those who read it read it with terror and hid their faces in despair.  For it condemned all Christians.  But St. George when he saw the writing was filled with indignation.  That spirit and courage which comes to all of us from communion with the eternal powers heartened and strengthened him, and he tore down the unhappy utterance and trampled it under foot.

Thus prepared for death George approached the Emperor.  “What wouldst thou?” cried Diocletian angrily, having heard from his proconsul Dacian that this young man deserved torture.  “Liberty, sir, for the innocent Christians,” answered the martyr.  “At the least liberty, since their liberty can hurt no one.”

“Young man,” returned Diocletian with threatening looks, “think of thine own liberty and thy future.”

Before George could make answer the ill-will of the tyrant waxed to ardent hatred and he summoned guards to take the martyr to prison.  Once within the dungeon the keepers threw him to the ground, put his feet in stocks and placed a stone of great weight upon his chest.  But even so, in the midst of torture, the blessed one ceased not to give thanks to God for this opportunity to bear witness to Christ’s teachings.

The next day they stretched the martyr on a wheel full of sharp spokes.  But a voice from heaven came to comfort him and said, “George, fear not; so it is with those who witness to the truth.”  And there appeared to him an angel brighter than the sun, clothed in a white robe, who stretched out a hand to embrace and encourage him in his pain.  Two of the officers of the prison who saw this beautiful vision became Christians and from that day endeavoured to live after the teachings of Christ.

There is still another tale that after George had been comforted by the angel who descended from heaven, his tormentors flung him into a cauldron of boiling lead, and when they believed they had subdued him by the force of his agonies, they brought him to a temple to assist in their worship, and the people ran in crowds to behold his humiliation, and the priests mocked him.

The Emperor, seeing the constancy of George, once more sought to move him by entreaties.  But the great soldier refused to be judged by words, only by deeds.  He even demanded to go to see the gods Diocletian himself worshipped.

The Emperor, believing that at length George was coming to his right mind, and was about to yield, ordered the Roman Senate and people to assemble in order that all might be witnesses of George’s acknowledgement of his own, Diocletian’s, gods.