St George the Bishop of Amastris on the Black Sea

Commemorated on February 21

Saint George, Bishop of Amastris, was from the city of Kromna, near the city of Amastris close to the Black Sea. His pious and illustrious parents Theodore and Migethusa gave him a fine spiritual and secular education. St George withdrew to the mountains of Syriki in Asia Minor, where he embraced monasticism and began to lead a strict ascetic life under the guidance of a hermit.

After the death of his Elder, St George moved to a monastery in Bonissa, and there continued with his efforts. After the death of the bishop of the city of Amastris, St George was chosen bishop by the clergy and the people, and he was consecrated at Constantinople by Patriarch Tarasius (February 25). Arriving in Amastris, St George instructed his flock, he adorned several churches, was a defender of widows and orphans, fed the poor, and in everything he gave example of a God-pleasing life.

By the power of his prayer he repelled the Saracens who were ravaging the countryside from the city of Amastris. He also delivered from death Amastrian merchants wrongfully condemned in the city of Trebizon.

St George died peacefully in the midst of his flock on March 3, 805 during the reign of the emperor Nicephorus I (802-811).


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SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2010(with 2009's link here also and further, 2008's, even 2007!