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Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. George Orthodox Church

Studio Name: Pickel (Conrad) Studio

City: Flint

Date of Window: 1971

Subject/Title of Window: George, the soldier saint

Brief Description of Subject: George was likely a martyr of the 3rd or 4th centuries, probably killed in Palestine. There is some uncertainty as to whether this individual actually was a member of the military and what the details of his death were, but the legend tells that George was a soldier of some high rank who lost his life, following a shift in Roman culture whereby the emperor Diocletian in AD 303 forbade the practice of Christianity. This resulted in the persecution and execution of Christian soldiers and other high ranking public figures who had previously been able to worship openly. There is record of several soldier saints during this period with the name of George whose deaths may have contributed to the larger legend and cult of "George of Cappadocia." Soldier saints like George developed large cult followings during this period, which would explain their continued representation in Eastern Orthodox churches to this day. Soldier saints were often said to be assistants of St. Michael who were persecuted at the hands of pagan emperors, and by the 6th century it was common in legend for George to be paired with St. Michael. George was introduced to the rest of Europe by way of the Crusades and many countries claimed George and his legend as their own, contributing to the proliferation of the saint's cult.

The MSGC is a constantly evolving database. Not all the data that has been collected by volunteers has been sorted and entered. Not every building has been completely documented.

All images in the Index are either born-digital photographs of windows or buildings or are scans of slides, prints, or other published sources. These images have been provided by volunteers and the quality of the material varies widely.

If you have any questions, additions or corrections, or think you can provide better images and are willing to share them, please contact donald20@msu.edu