Saint George of Assiut was an Egyptian bishop of the

Coptic Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...

Early life

Born to a Christian family, at the end of the Fatimid era in

Talkha Talkha ( ar, طلخا ) is a city in Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. The city is located on the west bank of the Damietta, a distributary of the Nile in the Delta region. Is about 120 km northeast of Cairo. Talkha is situated opposite th ...

. His father was working as a trader, and one time when he was returning from a business trip in France his wife gave birth to a child. She named him George after a bishop in France at the time.أسقف-أسيوط-يترأس-قداس-أحد-أبو-جورج
eladelbalad.com/ When George was a young man, he went to "Šihēt" (

Wadi El Natrun Wadi El Natrun (Arabic: "Valley of Natron"; Coptic: , "measure of the hearts") is a depression in northern Egypt that is located below sea level and below the Nile River level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt dep ...

now) to become a monk in Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great. At the time, the Crusades broke out and Egypt was under the rule of the governor

Shirkuh Asad ad-Dīn Shīrkūh bin Shādhī (; ar, أسد الدين شيركوه بن شاذي), also known as Shirkuh, or Şêrko (meaning "lion of the mountains" in Kurdish) (died 22 February 1169) was a Kurdish military commander, and uncle of Sal ...

. Copts in Egypt were subjected to a lot of persecution and taxes were increased. Those who failed to pay were subjected to torture and sometimes murdered or forced to convert to Islam. The situation continued to be what it was under the rule of Governor

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

. St. George and all the Christians in Assiut decided not to pay these high taxes. Saladin was angered and ordered the demolition of all the churches in Assiut and their conversion into mosques, but could not carry this order out. They demolished only one church called Marker, but they could not build a mosque on its ruins. Saladin was very angry and ordered the army to move towards Assiut. St. George ordered the people of Assiut to fast and pray for three days, so the weather was soaked and the winds were so strong that soldiers were prevented from breaking into the city and returned to where they came from, which increased Saladin's anger and made him sent a larger military contingent from his army.

Martyrdom

On Sunday the army stormed the city of Assiut from its north, where the Bishop's residence and monastery are until today (Monastery of St. George, Assiut). He was arrested and tortured and then beheaded, being martyred in the name of Christ with 5000 men, women and children.

References

12th-century Christian martyrs Coptic Orthodox saints Military saints Coptic Orthodox Christians from Egypt Christian saints killed by Muslims 1169 deaths 12th-century Coptic Orthodox bishops {{saint-stub