George and Göran(zon)

Today, the 23 of April, St George’s Day is celebrated worldwide. St George, who in Swedish also has the name Göran. We commemorated him in our Eucharist this morning and before we started I read the few lines about him, that I found in a book in the vestry, which is there to introduce all different saints. I must admit that I never studied the legend about St George very well. I have just learnt about him fighting the dragon, maybe to rescue a young woman.

From what I read – and have read later today – I get an understanding that there was a roman soldier, with the name Georgius. A Greek word, that means farmer. He became a soldier in the Roman army under the emperor Diocletian, who is known as a fierce persecutor of Christians.

In 303 Diocletian issued an edict that all Christian soldiers should be arrested and other soldiers were forced to offer a sacrifice to the Roman gods. George refused and although Diocletian, who liked Georgius tried to persuade him, he stood fast and left the emperor with no other option than to have him executed.

Diocletian is also known for another edict, the same year, where he ordered the burning of Christian books.

The persecution by Diocletian only ended with the Edict of Milan in 313, where another emperor, Constantine, decided to treat Christians benevolently in the empire.

 Later legends have added the image of the fight with the dragon to the story. And indeed, we can say that Georgius bravely fought against a dragon, in the form of a dictator and oppressor: Diocletian.

So, what can we learn from this? That there are still dragons out there. There is still an empire – with many faces. Xenophobia is one. Leviathan – that lives in the Mediterranean Sea, causing migrants to die in their numbers every day. Raw capitalism or militant terrorist groups – it does not matter. This Hydra with nine heads, is not easy defeated.

Coming back to South Africa the issue of xenophobia is the most obvious today but it is under girded by many other issues. Poverty being one but also a serious lack of identity. When people are not sure about their own humanness, the risk if high that they attack others. South Africa speaks about Ubuntu or Botho (which is the seTswana word). It means humanness. It is today being challenged in a new way.

As people from the whole continent are being treated badly in South Africa, other nations are now reacting. South Africa has closed its consulate in Lagos (Nigeria) due to anti-xenophobia unrest according to Mail and Guardian. Lots of reports are coming about South Africans in other countries who need to return to their motherland.

In the middle of all this, still speaking about identity, South Africa is discussing what to do with all the historical statues. The latest suggestion, by a committee led by Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa, wants to create historical theme parks. I read this in IOLNews.

In yesterday’s SABC3 prime time news, a representative for the Afrikaaner movement, Afriforum, said that this was like creating concentration camps for the statues. Sic! But if you know your South African history, you understand why they use the word. Allegeldy it was the English who started with concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer war. I believe that Afriforum wants to allude to this.

Coming back to St George, who is the patron of the international Scout movement, this also traces its origin back to the Anglo-Boer war or the South African war, as it is sometimes named. Robert Baden Powell used young boys as messengers in the war and that later inspired him to found the Scout movement.

Although the Scout movement has a somewhat dubious history I believe it is a good movement that helps many young persons to find identity in their lives. My mother was a very active scout leader and I still admire her for that. Another scout leader that I admire was Sadihela Matsietseng in Bloemfontein. Although she was already old she continued to gather young people every week, for education and training.

Sadi was a dear friend, when we lived in Bloemfontein (Mangaung).

Today I met with George from Uganda, a Master of Theology student that I supervise. I don’t know if he is a scout but I know that he has dedicated his life to helping other humans.

We enjoy the student - supervisor relation.

Diocletian and his likes can keep on burning books. We will continue to write new ones. With the help of computers and digital tools we will fight the dragons.