Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 19, Thursday 23 April 2026, Saint George

Saint George’s flag flying from the church tower in Stony Stratford … how can the Church of England find a healthy way to challenge the misuse and hijacking of this sacred symbol? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost, and this week began with the Third Sunday of Easter (Easter III, 19 April 2026). Today (23 April) is the feast of Saint George (Martyr, Patron of England, ca 304). Saint George’s Day continued is being celebrated in many ways today, including Saint George’s flag flying from the tower of Saint Mary and Saint Giles in Stony Stratford throughout the day, a Saint George’s Day Eucharist in All Saints’ Church, Calverton, this morning, celebrations in Saint George’s Church, Wolverton, at 7 pm, and the traditional Saint George’s Court at Noon in the Guildhall in Lichfield, now held in a light-hearted manner but which still appoints the ancient officers of the Manor.

Meanwhile, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Saint George depicted in an icon by Alexandra Kaouki in Rethymnon (Photograph © Alexandra Kaokui)

John 15: 18-21 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 18 ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.’

An icon of Saint George by Hanna-Leena Ward in her recent exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Reflection:

Saint George may be the patron saint of England, but it seems that every town in Greece has a church dedicated to Saint George, and Rethymnon has at least two.

The Greek name Georgios means ‘farmer’ or ‘worker of the land’. Saint George was the son of a rich and aristocratic family in Cappadocia in Asia Minor. He became an officer in the Roman army at the end of the third century and lived during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in the early fourth century. After his father Gerondios died, his mother Polychronia, who was from Lydda in Syria Palaestina, returned with George to her hometown, present-day Lod between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel.

The story of Saint George rescuing the princess from the dragon is set in the city of Silene in Libya. In later Greek tellings of the story of Saint George, the dragon came to symbolise Turkey and the princess he rescues symbolised a Greece that was struggling for liberation.

Saint George is revered by many Muslims too, especially in the Balkan region, Turkey and parts of Lebanon and Syria. According to some Muslim traditions, Saint George is associated or confused with a Muslim saint who died multiple times. Turks have known him as Hidir Elez, and there are traditions that Hidir or Hizir was a prophet contemporary with Moses.

Over the past four decades, I have visited many churches in Greece dedicated to Saint George, including two contrasting churches in Rethymnon: a tiny, ancient church in a hidden corner off Patriárchou Grigroíou Street, and a large modern church on Egeou Street in the eastern suburbs, close to the landmark tower of the former Bio olive oil factory and facing onto an open, expansive square.

Among the other churches in the Rethymnon area named in honour of Saint George, the one I am most familiar with is the modern church dedicated to the Ascension and Saint George.

Saint George is also the patron saint of Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Ukraine, Malta, Ethiopia, as well as Catalonia, Aragon and Moscow. The Council of Oxford in 1222 declared Saint George’s Day a public holiday in England, but his feast day only became truly popular after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and the Saint George cross was not used to represent England until the reign of Henry VIII.

In recent months, many far-right extremists in England hijacked the flag of Saint George in a particularly nasty expression of nationalism, hatred and racism. In their feigned zeal, they fail to realise how inappropriate is their use of Saint George’s flag.

Saint George was born a Greek-speaker, spent his early childhood in what we now call Turkey and his later childhood in Israel or Palestine, spent much of his military career in Egypt, the story most associated with him is set in Libya, and he was executed and buried in the Middle East.

Should Saint George come to England today, many of those who wave Saint George flags as they play around with dangerous slogans such as ‘Stop the Boats,’ I imagine, would want to send George and the princess back, and probably keep the Dragon in England.

Saint George flags popped up everywhere last summer, on lampposts, street crossings and roundabouts and in windows, and the flag became part of the far-right protests outside asylum hotels. Against this backdrop, many church leaders are wondering whether they should fly the flag for Saint George’s Day.

Saint George’s Day should be used to consider how to foster a healthy kind of patriotism, the Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, wrote in the Church Times last week (17 April 2026). He suggested the day and the flag should be used as an opportunity to reflect on how the Church of England can foster a healthy kind of patriotism. Healthy patriotism, he argues, has three marks: honesty, particularity without exclusion, and an orientation towards the common good.

A patriotism that is healthy, he writes, is willing to look at wrongdoing carried out in the nation’s name as well as its genuine achievements, it refuses to draw hard lines around who truly belongs, and it is oriented towards the common good and the responsibilities the nation has to the wider world, serving the well-being of creation and people around the world who are suffering.

He identifies what he describes as ‘two characteristic pathologies of nationalism’: nostalgia or the mythologising of a golden past that never quite existed, which underwrites a politics of grievance and loss; and a rootless progressivism that severs a people from its history and leaves it without the resources of memory.

He agrees that if a church raises the flag without explanation, some people will read it as a statement that they find troubling. ‘Church leaders, in this political climate, will need to speak about this directly to both their congregation and the wider community, explaining that love of place is a gift to be received with gratitude and held with humility; that it goes alongside, not against, the welcome of the stranger; and that the cross at the centre of the flag speaks not of national superiority, but of sacrifice, suffering, and the redemption of all things.’

‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you … If they persecuted me, they will persecute you’ (see John 15: 18, 20).

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!

Saint George depicted on the sign outside the George and Dragon on Beacon Street in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 23 April 2026, Saint George):

‘Turning Waste into Wonder’ provides the theme this week (19-25 April 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 48-49. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update from Linet Musasa, team member of the Partners in the Gospel Comprehensive Climate Change initiative of the Anglican Council of Zimbabwe.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 23 April 2026, Saint George) invites us to pray:

Lord, we pray for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe in its wider work combatting HIV stigma. Bless the dioceses and programmes that restore dignity, offer support, and educate communities with compassion.

The Collect:

God of hosts,
who so kindled the flame of love
in the heart of your servant George
that he bore witness to the risen Lord
by his life and by his death:
give us the same faith and power of love
that we who rejoice in his triumphs
may come to share with him the fullness of the resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened
by the blood of your martyr George:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint George depicted on the sign outside the George and Dragon in Eaton Socon in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 18, Wednesday 22 April 2026

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6: 35) … bread on the Isla Jane Bakery stall in Buckingham Market (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost, and this week began with the Third Sunday of Easter (Easter III, 19 April 2026).

Later this evening, I hope to be at the choir rehearsals in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6: 35) … bread in the window of Hindley’s Bakery on Tamworth Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 35-40 (NRSVA):

35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6: 35) … bread in a shop window in Hampstead (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

We have read in recent days about Jesus feeding of the 5,000 and walking on the water, and we are now introduced to reading the long Bread of Life discourse (verses 22-59), spoken in the synagogue in Capernaum (John 6: 59).

The day following the feeding of the 5,000, the people go in search of Jesus, but when they go to the site of the feeding, they find he is not there either. Eventually they find Jesus and his disciples near Capernaum, Jesus’ principal base in Galilee. They ask him: ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (verse 25).

When the people push their questions onto Jesus, he insists on speaking of himself in relationship to God the Father, who has sent him.

And then Jesus uses the first of his seven ‘I AM’ sayings in Saint John’s Gospel, ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6: 35).

These seven ‘I AM’ sayings are traditionally listed as:

1, I am the Bread of Life (John 6: 35, 48)
2, I am the Light of the World (John 8: 12)
3, I am the gate (or the door) (John 10: 7)
4, I am the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11 and 14)
5, I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11: 25)
6, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6)
7, I am the true vine (John 15: 1, 5)

These ‘I AM’ sayings echo the divine name revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, ‘I AM’ (Exodus 3: 14). In the Hebrew Bible, the meaning of God’s name is closely related to the emphatic statement ‘I AM’ (see Exodus 3: 14; 6: 2; Deuteronomy 32: 39; Isaiah 43: 25; 48: 12; 51: 12; etc.). In the Greek translation, the Septuagint, most of these passages are translated with as ‘I AM’, ἐγώ εἰμί (ego eimi).

The ‘I AM’ of the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint and the ‘I AM’ of Saint John’s Gospel is the God who creates us, who communicates with us, who gives himself to us.

But what does it mean to acknowledge Christ as ‘the Bread of Life’?

I once spent some time at Easter in Cappadocia, in south-central Turkey, because I was teaching a module on Patristics and I was interested in sites associated with the three Cappadocian Fathers: Saint Basil the Great (329-379), Bishop of Caesarea, his brother Saint Gregory (335-395), Bishop of Nyssa, and Saint Gregory Nazianzus (329-390), who became Patriarch of Constantinople.

They challenged heresies such as Arianism and their thinking was instrumental in formulating the phrases that shaped the Nicene Creed, and we were celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed last year.

Saint Basil is also remembered for his challenging social values. He wrote: ‘The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.’

So faith and belief must be related to how we live our lives as Christians.

Bishop Frank Weston, who was the Bishop of Zanzibar from 1908, held together in a creative combination his incarnational and sacramental theology with his radical social concerns formed the keynote of his address to the Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923. He believed that a true sacramental focus gave a reality to Christ’s presence and power that nothing else could.

However, he concluded: ‘But I say to you, and I say it with all the earnestness that I have, if you are prepared to fight for the right of adoring Jesus in His Blessed Sacrament, then … you must walk with Christ, mystically present in you through the streets of this country, and find the same Christ in the peoples of your cities and villages. You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the tabernacle, if you do not pity Jesus in the slums … It is folly – it is madness – to suppose that you can worship Jesus in the Sacraments and Jesus on the throne of glory, when you are sweating him in the souls and bodies of his children.’

So, from Basil the Great in the fourth century to great mission pioneers in the Anglican Communion in recent generations, sacramental life is meaningless unless it is lived out in our care for those who are hungry, who are suffering and who are marginalised.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry’ (Saint Basil) … the rock-hewn Chapel of Saint Basil at Göreme in Cappadocia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 22 April 2026):

‘Turning Waste into Wonder’ provides the theme this week (19-25 April 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 48-49. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update from Linet Musasa, team member of the Partners in the Gospel Comprehensive Climate Change initiative of the Anglican Council of Zimbabwe.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 22April 2026) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, guide the Provincial Climate Change Campaign across 47 dioceses. May it change hearts, encourage action, and strengthen the Church’s witness for creation care.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Living God,
your Son made himself known to his disciples
in the breaking of bread:
open the eyes of our faith,
that we may see him in all his redeeming work;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Collect on the Eve of Saint George:

God of hosts,
who so kindled the flame of love
in the heart of your servant George
that he bore witness to the risen Lord
by his life and by his death:
give us the same faith and power of love
that we who rejoice in his triumphs
may come to share with him the fullness of the resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Aghios Vassilios (Saint Basil) in traditional icon-style on a door in Koutouloufári in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Liberty’s 100-year-old Tudor-revival store has outlived the critics and continues to inspire

Liberty’s department store on Great Marlborough Street, off Regent Street, was built with the timber from two old wooden sailing ships (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Book shops, yes. Coffee shops, yes. Greek or Italian food shops, most times. Wine shops and bread shops, generally. Antique or curio shops, sometimes. But that’s too long a list. Most of the time, I have a strong aversion to shopping. Even when I need to go shopping. Shopping for food, clothes or furniture is a necessity and functional, but seldom if ever a pleasure.

Perhaps I may soon have to admit to exceptions. On the other hand, I admit to particular aversions to big department stores and brand names. So, for example, I have never in my life been inside the doors of Harrods or of Fortnum and Mason, and I don’t think I’m missing out on anything.

I appreciate 19th century arcades, from Paris, Milan and Brussels to London, Birmingham and Norwich. But, while I have visited them to appreciate their architectural beauty, that does not mean I have gone shopping in any one of them.

Liberty’s was started on Regent Street by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Some days ago, when we were visiting west London, Charlotte suggested I would enjoy Liberty’s, a well-known luxury department store on Great Marlborough Street, off Regent Street and close to Oxford Street, not to go shopping, but to see its architecture and its interior. And she was right – the experience became an interesting afternoon.

The vast mock-Tudor building spans from Carnaby Street in the east to Kingly Street in the west, where it forms a three-storey archway over the northern entrance to the Kingly Street mall. At the centre of the archway is the Liberty Clock.

Liberty’s is a vast shop known for its close connections to art and culture, artists and designers, and it is celebrated for its print fabrics. The shop sells men’s, women’s and children’s fashion, beauty and homewares from a mix of high-end and emerging brands and labels, and is known for promoting the work young, emerging designers.

Liberty’s has a history of collaborative projects – from William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the 19th century to Yves Saint Laurent and Dame Vivienne Westwood in the 20th century.

Liberty’s has a history of collaborative projects – from William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The business was started 150 years ago in 1875 in by Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917). He was born in Chesham, Buckinghamshire and began working with Farmer & Rogers in Regent Street in 1862, the year of the International Exhibition. He decided to start his own business in 1874, and with a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law in 1875, he took a lease of half a shop at 218a Regent Street with three staff members. The shop sold ornaments, fabric and objets d’art, especially from Japan and the Far East. Within 18 months, he had repaid the loan and acquired the second half of 218 Regent Street.

As his business grew, Liberty bought and added neighbouring properties. In 1884, he introduced the costume department, directed by Edward William Godwin (1833-1886), an architect and a founding member of the Costume Society. Together, Godwin and Liberty created in-house apparel to challenge the fashions of Paris.

Liberty acquired 142-144 Regent Street as the Eastern Bazaar in 1885 to sell carpets and furniture, and he named the property Chesham House after his home town. Later that year, Liberty brought 42 villagers from India to stage a living village of Indian artisans.

He encouraged many English designers in the 1890s, including Archibald Knox. Many of these designers worked in the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles and Liberty’s became associated with the Art Nouveau style, to the extent that in Italy Art Nouveau became known as the Stile Liberty.

Liberty’s was designed at the height of the fashion for Tudor revival architecture in the 1920s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Liberty’s Tudor revival building on Great Marlborough Street was first built so that Liberty could continue trading continue while his other premises were being renovations.

The shop was designed in 1922 by Edwin Thomas Hall (1851-1923) and his son Edwin Stanley Hall (1881-1940). The father ET Hall is known primarily for his design of Liberty’s, but he also designed the Old Library at Dulwich College (1902-1903) and several hospitals, and the flats designed by his large practice included Sloane Mansions in Sloane Square and Saint Ermin’s Mansions, later Saint Ermin’s Hotel in Westminster.

Hall was a vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects and was an active participant in drawing up the institute’s charter in 1887. He was known as ‘Bye law Hall’ because of his incisive legal mind and for the major part he played in drafting and updating the London Building Acts in the 1890s. He also provided the initial concept for the Sunray Gardens Estate. This advanced concept advocated a garden city layout with innovative integral community facilities.

Three light wells form the main internal focus of the building (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Halls designed Liberty’s at the height of the 1920s fashion for Tudor revival architecture. Although the landowner, the Crown Estate, required all buildings on Regent Street to be in a classical style, Hall built the black and white timber Elizabethan-style frontage of Liberty’s so that it was facing onto Great Marlborough Street instead.

The mock Tudor style was designed by the Hall around Arthur Liberty’s ideas. Both Liberty and Hall died before the shops were completed: Arthur Liberty died in 1917, Hall died aged 72 on 15 April 1923; and the shops were completed in 1924.

The timber for the outside façade came from two old wooden sailing ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan. The frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the Hindustan.

The longest chandelier in Europe is best appreciated fully on the back stairs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Three light wells form the main internal focus of the building. Each of these wells was surrounded by smaller rooms to create a homely atmosphere. Many of the rooms had fireplaces and some of these are still in place.

A series of miniature glass paintings in the windows in among the wood-panelling was taken straight from the captain’s quarters. Carved wooden animals are hidden around the store, especially on the third floor central atrium.

The longest chandelier in Europe is best appreciated fully on the back stairs from the fourth floor down or the lower ground floor up.

The gilded copper weathervane represents The Mayflower taking migrants to the New World in 1620 – it is more than 4 ft high and weighs over 112 lb.

The Liberty Clock, completed 100 years ago in 1925, is almost as well-known as the shop building (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Halls also designed the Liberty Clock, which was completed 100 years ago in 1925 and is almost as well-known as the shop building. It protrudes from the three-storey archway that spans the north end of the Kingly Street mall and is part of the west end of the Liberty department store.

The clock face is round and slightly recessed into the stonework. It is a deep blue in colour and is decorated by concentric gold bands on either side of the numbering that runs around the perimeter of the face. A ion of the radiant sun in gold fills the bulk of the centre of the face. The clock is numbered with golden, radially oriented Roman numerals in an otherwise plain serif typeface. The hands are ornate, coloured gold and feature deep blue insets.

Set into the relief panels on either side of the clock are stone sculptures of birds. The bird on the left panel, representing dawn and daylight, is a cockerel with the sunrise behind it. The right panel represents night and includes the nocturnal owl and the moon. Around the clock face, in each of the four corners, winged heads represent each of the four winds.

Above the clock, in an opening in the stone, is a mechanical depiction of Saint George in combat with the dragon. It is activated every 15 minutes and on the hour the dragon is ‘slain’. Under the clock face in golden upper case lettering are wise words: ‘No minute gone comes ever back again, take heed and see ye nothing do in vain’.

Beneath the inscription, Father Time is carved in relief, holding an hour glass in his hands.

Sir Nikolaus Pevsner was critical of the building's architecture ‘and the goings-on of a store behind such a façade and below those twisted Tudor chimneys’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner was very critical of the building's architecture, saying: ‘The scale is wrong, the symmetry is wrong. The proximity to a classical façade put up by the same firm at the same time is wrong, and the goings-on of a store behind such a façade (and below those twisted Tudor chimneys) are wrongest of all.’

Despite its critics, the design was a success with the public, and the shop became a Grade II* listed building in 1972.

Meanwhile, Liberty’s continued its tradition for fashionable and eclectic design during the 1950s, promoting and encouraging new designers, and several shops were opened in other cities.

Liberty’s has a tradition for fashionable and eclectic design and of promoting and encouraging new designers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Later, the influential designer Bernard Nevill became the design director. He reinvigorated Liberty’s textile collections and attracted clients including Yves Saint Laurent, who bought 13 different designs from the winter 1970 collection.

Liberty’s closed the 20 shops outside London in 1996, and in 2006 closed the Regent Street outlet, moving all operations into Hall’s Tudor revival building on Great Marlborough Street.

As for the Liberty clock, the clock and its mechanical display were fully restored in 2010 by Gillett & Johnston. The track unit has been fitted with new electronics and a radio signal monitoring system to ensure the accuracy of time keeping.

Liberty’s moved all its operations into Hall’s Tudor revival building on Great Marlborough Street in 2006 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Easter 2025: 9, Monday 28 April 2025, Saint George (transferred)

Saint George depicted in an icon by Alexandra Kaouki in Rethymnon (Photograph © Alexandra Kaokui)

Patrick Comerford

Our Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and yesterday was the Second Sunday of Easter (Easter II). Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost.

Because last week was Easter Week, the celebration on 23 April of Saint George (Martyr, Patron of England, ca 304) has been transferred in the Calendar of the Church of England to today (28 April). In practice, though, Saint George’s Day continued to be celebrated in many places last Wednesday, including Saint George’s Church in Wolverton, with Saint George’s flag flying from the tower of Saint Mary and Saint Giles in Stony Stratford, and the traditional Saint George’s Court in the Guildhall in Lichfield.

Meanwhile, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Saint George depicted in an icon in the Church of Ascension and Saint George in Panormos, outside Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

John 15: 18-21 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 18 ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.’

Saint George depicted in an icon in the Church of Ascension and Saint George in Panormos, outside Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflection:

Saint George may be the Patron Saint of England, but it seems that every town in Greece has a church dedicated to Saint George, and Rethymnon has at least two.

The Greek name Georgios means ‘farmer’ or ‘worker of the land’ and traditionally his feast day on 23 April marks the beginning of a season for different kinds of agricultural works. In many parts of Greece, the month of April is also called Aiyorgis or Aiyorgitis.

Saint George was the son of a rich and aristocratic family in Cappadocia in Asia Minor. He became an officer in the Roman army at the end of the third century and lived during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in the early fourth century. After his father Gerondios died, his mother Polychronia, who was originally from Lydda in Syria Palaestina, returned with George to her hometown, present-day Lod between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel. The story of Saint George rescuing the princess from the dragon is set in the city of Silene in Libya.

Over the past four decades, I have visited many churches in Greece dedicated to Saint George, including two contrasting churches in Rethymnon: a tiny, ancient church in a hidden corner, off Patriárchou Grigroíou Street, and a large modern church in the eastern suburbs.

The modern church on Egeou Street in the eastern suburbs is behind the long sandy beach, and is close to the landmark tower of the former Bio olive oil factory. The factory closed in the 1940s, and the Bio tower stood forlorn and isolated for many decades. The area was redeveloped in the 1980s, with a mixture of hotels, apartments and small commercial units.

Saint George’s Church, facing onto an open, expansive square, serves this late 20th century mixed suburban and tourist area as the local parish church. It has a typical, towering dome and inside it is richly decorated with frescoes in the traditional Greek Orthodox style. The fresco above the west door inside the church is a dramatic telling of the story of Saint George slaying the Dragon and rescuing the princess. In the narthex, there are no less than three icons of Saint George side-by-side to the left as you enter the church.

The Venetian records show there were three churches dedicated to Saint George in Rethymnon until the 17th century, so it is not certain which one of these churches has survived to this day as the Church of Agios Georgios of Grotta (Ιερός Ναός Αγίου Γεωργίου της Γρότα). It is said that during much of the Turkish rule in Crete, Agios Georgios was the only surviving Orthodox Church in the city. There is no cave in this area, so the name Grotta probably refers to the way this is truly a secret corner of the city.

Aghios Gheorghíou Street is an almost-hidden cul-de-sac in the narrow streets and alleyways of the old town. The casual visitor or tourist would never realise that there is such an interesting church at the end of the street. Only a discreet sign, partly hidden and shaded by potted trees on the corner, indicates that at the end of the street, tucked into a corner behind taller houses, the tiny church is squeezed in against the back of the houses on neighbouring Pateálrou Street.

The title Ιερός Ναός in the name of the church indicates that this church was probably attached to a monastic foundation. It is a single-aisle chapel with a wooden iconostasis or icon screen. The house next door on Aghios Gheorghíou Street recently assumed the name of ‘Bishop’s House.’ However, it is unlikely that the Bishops of Rethymnon ever lived there and the name has been lost again during recent renovations.

Of course, other churches in the Rethymnon area that are named in honour of Saint George. The one I am most familiar with is in Panormos to the east of Rethymnon. The modern church dedicated to the Ascension and Saint George in Panormos stands above the harbour and the small, secluded sandy beach in Panormos. I visited that church again on Easter Day eight days ago, and included it in my posting yesterday describing the churches in Rethymnon I visited during Holy Week and Easter.

In later Greek tellings of the story of Saint George, the dragon came to symbolise Turkey and the princess he rescues symbolised a Greece that was struggling for liberation.

The Council of Oxford in 1222 declared Saint George’s Day a public holiday in England, but his feast day only became truly popular after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and the Saint George cross was not used to represent England until the reign of Henry VIII.

Saint George is revered by many Muslims too, especially in the Balkan region, Turkey and parts of Lebanon and Syria. According to some Muslim traditions, Saint George is associated or confused with a Muslim saint who died multiple times. Turks have known him as Hidir Elez, and there are traditions that Hidir or Hizir was a prophet contemporary with Moses and he sometimes appears alone and sometimes with Elias-Elias or Elez.

Saint George is also the patron saint of Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Ukraine, Malta, Ethiopia, as well as Catalonia, Aragon and Moscow.

In the run-up to this week’s local elections, many right-wing politicians in England are furtively waving the flag of Saint George in a particularly nasty expression of English nationalism. In their feigned zeal, they fail to realise how inappropriate is their use of Saint George’s flag.

Saint George was born a Greek-speaker, spent his early childhood in what we now call Turkey and his later childhood in Israel or Palestine, spent much of his military career in Egypt, the story most associated with him is set in Libya, and he was executed and buried in the Middle East.

Should Saint George come to England today, many of the politicians who play around with dangerous slogans such as ‘Stop the Boats,’ I imagine, would want to send George and the princess back, and probably keep the Dragon in England.

‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you … If they persecuted me, they will persecute you’ (see John 15: 18, 20).

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!

An icon of Saint George in the Church of Saint George on Aghios Gheorghíou Street, Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 28 April 2025, Saint George, transferred):

‘Become Like Children’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 28 April 2025, Saint George, transferred) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, help us to recognise that every child is created in your image and deserves dignity and respect. Teach us to honour their presence and contributions in our churches.

The Collect:

God of hosts,
who so kindled the flame of love
in the heart of your servant George
that he bore witness to the risen Lord
by his life and by his death:
give us the same faith and power of love
that we who rejoice in his triumphs
may come to share with him the fullness of the resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened
by the blood of your martyr George:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Saint Mark the Evangelist:

Almighty God,
who enlightened your holy Church
through the inspired witness of your evangelist Saint Mark:
grant that we, being firmly grounded
in the truth of the gospel,
may be faithful to its teaching both in word and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint George depicted in a fresco in the Church of Saint Constantine and Helen in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Easter 2025: 4, Wednesday 23 April 2025, Wednesday in Easter week (Saint George’s Day)

The Supper at Emmaus … a window by Daniel Bell of Bell and Almond in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and this is still Easter week. The Church Calendar usually celebrates Saint George on this day. But because this is Easter week, the calendar of the Church of England has transferred these celebrations to next Monday (28 April).

However, the Orthodox Church continues to celebrate Saint George today, and it is also being marked today in the Prayer Diary of USPG.

Regardless of what the calendar of the Church of England may say, Saint George’s flag is flying from the tower of Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford and the Saint George’s Day celebrations are going ahead in many parts of England today. At Saint George’s Court, in the Guildhall, Lichfield, at 12 noon, the Mayor and councillors instal two High Constables, seven Dozeners (or petty constables), two Pinners and two Ale Tasters, continuing a traditional custom in a light-hearted way in an event filled with good humour and fun each year.

Meanwhile, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘The Road to Emmaus’, an icon by Sister Marie Paul Farran OSB (1930-2019) of the Mount of Olives Monastery, Jerusalem (1990)

Luke 24: 13-35 (NRSVA):

13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ 19 He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ 25 Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Supper at Emmaus … a mosaic in the Church of the Holy Name, Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Luke 24: 13-35) is the much-loved Easter story of the Risen Christ travelling on the road to Emmaus with two disciples, who return to Jerusalem and proclaim ‘how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread’ (verse 35). This is a story that is a rich one and one that offers a model for Christian life and mission.

After seeing all their hopes shattered on Good Friday, two disciples – Cleopas and another unnamed disciple – head out of Jerusalem, and are walking and talking on the road as their make their way together.

Emmaus was about 11 km (seven miles) from Jerusalem, so it would have taken them two hours, perhaps, to get there, maybe more if they were my age.

Somewhere along the way, they are joined by a third person, ‘but their eyes were kept from recognising him’ (verse 16, NRSV), or to be more precise, as the Greek text says, ‘but their eyes were being held so that they did not recognise him.’

They cannot make sense of what has happened over the last few days, and they cannot make sense of the questions their new companion puts to them. When Jesus asks them a straight question, they look sad and downcast.

I get the feeling that Cleopas is a bit cynical, treating Jesus as one of the visitors to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, and asking him if he really does not know what has happened in the city. In his cynicism, Cleopas almost sounds like Simon the Pharisee asking his visitor Jesus whether he really knows who the woman with the alabaster jar is.

Like Simon, Cleopas and his friend – perhaps one of the many unnamed women in the Gospels – thought that Jesus was a Prophet. But now they doubt it. And the sort of Messiah they hoped for was not the sort of Messiah Jesus had been preparing them for, was he?

And they have heard the report of the women visiting the tomb, and finding it empty. Hearing is not believing. Seeing is not believing. And believing is not the same as faith.

When I find myself disagreeing fundamentally with people, I wonder do I listen to them even half as patiently as Jesus did with these two.

There are no interruptions, no corrections, no upbraiding. Jesus listens passively and patiently, like all good counsellors should, and only speaks when they have finished speaking.

And then, despite their cynicism, despite their failure to understand, despite their lack of faith, these two disciples do something extraordinary. They press the stranger in their company not to continue on his journey. It is late in the evening, and they invite him to join them.

On re-reading this story I found myself comparing their action and their hospitality with the Good Samaritan who comes across the bruised and battered stranger on the side of the road, and offers him healing hospitality, offering to pay for his meals and his accommodation in the inn.

These two have also come across a bruised and battered stranger on the road, and seeing the marks and wounds inflicted on his body they offer him healing hospitality, offering him a meal and accommodation in the inn.

Jesus had once imposed himself on Zacchaeus and presumes on his hospitality. Now Cleopas and his friend insist on imposing their hospitality on Jesus. The guest becomes the host and the host becomes the guest, once again.

He goes in to stay with them. And it is not just a matter of finding him a room for the night. They dine together. And so, in a manner that is typical of the way Saint Luke tells his stories, the story of the road to Emmaus ends with a meal with Jesus.

And at the meal – as he did with the multitude on the hillside, and with the disciples in the Upper Room – Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to those at the table with him (verse 30).

Their time in the wilderness is over, the Lenten preparation has been completed, the one who has received their hospitality now invites them to receive the hospitality of God, and to join him at the Heavenly Banquet.

Their journey continues. Our journey continues. Christ is not physically present with us on the road. But we recognise him in the breaking of the bread. And we, being many, become one body, for we all share in the one bread.

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!

He was made ‘known to them in the breaking of the bread’ (Luke 24: 35) … bread baked for the Easter Eucharist at Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 23 April 2025, Wednesday in Easter Week):

‘Cross-Cultural Mission at Manchester Airport’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by the Revd Debbie Sawyer, Pastoral Chaplain in the Church in Wales and Airport Chaplain, Manchester.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 23 April 2025, Wednesday in Easter Week, Saint George’s Day) invites us to pray:

On this saint’s day let us pray for the Church of England and churches in Ethiopia and Georgia.

The Collect:

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of Life,
who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son
to the death of the cross,
and by his glorious resurrection
have delivered us from the power of our enemy:
grant us so to die daily to sin,
that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his risen life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of glory,
by the raising of your Son
you have broken the chains of death and hell:
fill your Church with faith and hope;
for a new day has dawned
and the way to life stands open
in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint George’s Manorial Court is being held today in the Guildhall in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Saint George’s Church, with its unique liturgical tradition, is the oldest church in Belfast

Saint George’s Church on High Street, Belfast, was rebuilt in 1816 and claims the be be the oldest church in Belfast (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

During our short weekend visit to Belfast, I visited or revisited a number of places of interest in the city, including Saint George’s Church. Although circumstances changed my plans to be in Saint George’s on Sunday morning, I managed to spend some time in the church on Saturday.

Saint George’s on High Street claims to be the oldest Church of Ireland church in Belfast. It was designed by Irish architect, John Bowden, and opened in 1816. It is the third church on the site, which dates back to 1306, if not earlier.

The church stands on what had been a fording place where the River Lagan and the River Farset met. The name Beál Féirsde means the ‘mouth of the River Farset’ or the ‘ford at the sandbank.’

The men of Ulster and the Picts fought a battle at the ford in the year 667. A small chapel belonging to the Church of Sancles (Shankill) stood there and was used by people waiting to cross the mud flats that were dangerous at high tides.

Inside Saint George’s Church, Belfast, looking east towards the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The earliest mention of ‘the Chapel of the Ford’ on the site is in the papal taxation rolls in 1306. Belfast was still a hamlet, with a chapel and castle, at Castle Junction near the top of High Street, in 1333, when William de Burgo was assassinated at ‘the ford near the castle.’

The River Farset was navigable as far as the church and further. When the church at Shankill, near the later Saint Matthew’s, fell into ruin, the Chapel at the Ford became the parish church of Belfast. James I granted a charter to Belfast in 1613 as a key town in the Plantation of Ulster, and the second church built on the site become known as the ‘Corporation Church’. The clergy were the Vicars of Belfast and he newly-founded Corporation of Belfast, with the Sovereign or Mayor and the burgesses or town councillors, attended the church as the civic church.

During the Civil Wars in the 1640s, Belfast was loyal to King Charles. Cromwell sent Colonel Robert Venables to Belfast, where he met little opposition, and he converted the ‘Chapel of the Ford’ into a military citadel. Cromwell’s troops were stationed in the building lead from the roof used to make musket balls.

William of Orange passed through Belfast on his way from Carrickfergus to the Battle of the Boyne and heard a sermon titled ‘Arise, Great King …!’ in the church on 15 June 1690.

Inside Saint George’s Church, Belfast, looking west from the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

By the late 18th century, however, the church had fallen into disrepair and was demolished in 1774. The patron of the parish, Arthur Chichester (1739-1799), 5th Earl of Donegall and later Marquess of Donegall, was the dominant local landowner in Belfast. But, instead of rebuilding the church, he gave an expansive site for a new church on Donegall Street, a few hundred metres from Saint George’s.

The new church was named Saint Anne’s, after Lord Donegall’s first wife, Lady Anne Hamilton (1738-1780), daughter of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton. Much of the ancient records, silver and other treasures of Saint George’s were moved to Saint Anne’s, while the bell and charity boards went to Clifton House, which opened in 1774. Saint Anne’s Church would later become Saint Anne’s Cathedral.

Meanwhile, the older church site late empty except for burials. Henry Joy McCracken, a leading member of the United Irishmen during the 1798 rebellion, was buried in Saint George’s churchyard after being hanged on 17 July 1798, but what was believed to be his body was later reburied to Clifton Street Cemetery in 1809.

King David in a stained glass window in the south aisle by Sillery of Dublin, ca 1870 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The churchyard was bounded by the present-day Church Lane, Ann Street, Forest Lane (now Victoria Street) and High Street. It was the principal burying place for the oldest families in Belfast, with many monuments inside the boundary walls. In one of the last acts of the Irish Parliament before the Act of Union, Sir Edward May, father-in-law of George Chichester, 2nd Marquess of Donegall, introduced legislation prohibiting any further burials in the churchyard.

The Revd Edward Sylvester May became Vicar of Belfast in 1809 only a few weeks after his ordination. He was an illegitimate son of Sir Edward May and a full brother of Anna May, the underage wife of George Chichester, 2nd Marquess of Donegall. On Sir Edward May’s orders, almost all the gravestones and memorials in the churchyard were destroyed or removed in 1806 and large parts of the graveyard were sold off in 1811 for the development of Church Lane and Ann Street.

Meanwhile, the population of Belfast was growing rapidly due to the industrial revolution. By the early 1800s it was becoming the principle industrial city of Ireland. The new Saint Anne’s Church was full to overflowing within a few decades, and Saint George’s Church was rebuilt as a chapel of ease to house the overflow.

A group of parishioners formed a building committee, and with minimal support from the state or the diocese, erected a chapel of ease on the site of the old Corporation Church. While the church was being built, the old cemetery nearby was removed.

The new church was designed by the Dublin architect John Bowden in 1811. The foundation stone was laid on 4 June 1813 by Chichester Clotworthy Skeffington (1746-1816), 4th Earl of Massereene, whose maternal grandfather was Arthur Chichester (1666-1706), 3rd Earl of Donegall. The new Saint George’s Church opened for worship on 16 June 1816.

The chancel and east end in Saint George’s Church, designed by Edward Braddell and added in 1882 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The church is built from hard-wearing, honey-coloured Scrabo sandstone, seen on many of the city’s best buildings, including the Albert Memorial Clock and the Custom House. At the west end, facing High Street, the large porch and portico with four Corinthian columns gives the impression that the church is a two-storey building.

The portico was originally made to order in Egypt for Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, to adorn the main entrance of Ballyscullion House, near Castledawson, Co Derry, built in 1788.

After the earl-bishop died in 1803, Ballyscullion House was gradually dismantled and the portico was bought and transported to Belfast. Initially, it was hauled by horse and cart to Lough Neagh. From there it went by barge, reputedly the first barge cargo brought to Belfast from Lough Neagh by the Lagan Canal. The coats of arms on the pediment are of the Diocese of Down and the city of Belfast.

The coats of arms of the Diocese of Down and the City of Belfast on the pediment (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint George’s was given its own parochial territory, known as the perpetual curacy of the Upper Falls. It extended from the Falls Road to the Lagan, and from Waring Street to Dumurry. In time, no less than 10 parishes have been formed out of its territory, leaving Saint George’s with only a small area in the city centre.

The church originally had a plain ceiling, but in 1865 this was removed and the trusses exposed and decorated in bright colours under the direction of the Newry architect William Joseph Barre (1830-1867), who also designed the Albert Memorial Clock.

Barre also designed a new pulpit in 1867. The pulpit is designed in the shape of a goblet and is ornamented with fine latticework painted in rich blue and gold in 1962 and repainted in deep red and gold in 2016.

The pulpit in Saint George’s Church was designed by WJ Barre in 1867 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The chancel, designed by the Belfast architect Edward Braddell, was added in 1882 in memory of the Revd Dr William McIlwaine, Rector of Saint George’s in 1836-1880. Its high Victorian style and rich, colourful decoration offer a distinct contrast to the plain classical lines of the nave.

The oak altar is by Knox & Co of Belfast. The reredos has five mosaic panels depicting the Lamb of God and the four evangelists. The early 20th century panels on the east wall depict the Annunciation and the Baptism of Christ, and the dour archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel.

The chancel paintings were completed on canvas in 1883 by Alexander Gibbs, who is best known for his work with William Butterfield in All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, London. The paintings on the north wall depict five healing miracles and Christ’s entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday; the painting on the south wall depicts Christ carrying the cross to Calvary.

The choir stalls were added when the chancel was completed. The chancel ceiling has 16 panels.

The chancel paintings in Saint George’s were completed by Alexander Gibbs in 1883 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The carved oak choir screen was planned as part of the chancel in 1882, but it was not added until 1926, when it was erected in memory of the Revd Dr Hugh Davis Murphy (1849-1927), rector in 1880-1927.

There is a gallery on three sides of the nave, and with the Victorian nave pews the church has seating for over 500 people.

Saint George’s first organist was Edward Bunting, between 1817 and 1821, best known for collecting Irish music at the Belfast Harp Festival. The present organ was built by JW Walker of London in 1863 and was moved from the west gallery to the south side of the chancel in 1883. It was rebuilt in 1896, and restored and refurbished in 1978.

The white marble octagonal font at the west end was donated in 1868. It is supported by a cluster of red Purbeck marble pillars and has a carved dome-shaped wooden lid.

The white marble octagonal font at the west end was donated in 1868 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint George’s distinctive High Church ethos first began to emerge in the 1860s, the church had a series of rectors known for their flamboyant style, and Saint George’s attracted parishioners from across the Greater Belfast area and beyond.

The city centre population dwindled in the 20th century as people moved to the suburbs. Saint George’s found itself with declining congregations, and several attempts were made to close the church. In the Belfast Blitz in 1941, the parish school, which stood on the site of the current parish hall, was destroyed along with many other buildings around High Street.

During the ‘Troubles’, Saint George’s found itself in the middle of the IRA’s bombing campaign in the city centre. The church was damaged on 17 occasions, most notably when a 150 lb bomb hidden in a coffin in Church Lane exploded on Easter Saturday 1972, causing serious structural damage to the church.

Many parishioners became too afraid to travel into the city centre, and the future looked bleak for Saint George’s. But through those difficult years a faithful few, including the rector, Canon Edgar Turner (rector 1958-1990), the organist and a small but devoted congregation kept the parish and its unique traditions alive.

As the level of violence slowly declined through the 1980s, renewal came to Saint George’s with a revived men and boys’ choir. A steady growth in lead to the vibrant, thriving parish that exists today.

The piscina and sedilia in the chancel … Saint George’s is known for its liturgical and musical tradition (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint George’s continues to be known for its liturgical and musical tradition. Its ministry to the business community and to Belfast’s homeless population are an important part of parish life.

Saint George’s was the first Anglican church in Ireland to introduce Harvest Thanksgiving, musical recitals in church, early morning celebrations of the Holy Communion, a robed choir, drama in church, the Christmas Midnight Eucharist, the Three Hours Devotions on Good Friday, and to adopt the 1984 Alternative Prayer Book of the Church of Ireland.

Saint George’s celebrated its bicentenary in 2016, and major refurbishment work was completed in June 2000.

The Good Samritan window (1935) is in memory of Sir Robert Baird of the Belfast Telegraph and is by Clokey & Co, Belfast (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The previous rectors of Saint George’s include two former bishops: St John Surridge Pike (1909-1992), who was rector in 1952-1958, was later Bishop of Gambia and the Rio Pongas (1958-1963); Peter Barrett (1956-2015), who was rector, in1990-1994, was my contemporary as a student at the Irish School of Ecumenics, was later Dean of Waterford (1998-2002) and Bishop of Cashel, Ossory and Ferns (2002-2006).

The Revd Brian Stewart has been the rector of Saint George’s since 1994, the Revd William Odling-Smee is the curate, and the honorary assistant clergy include Archdeacon Scott Harte, the Revd Colin Young, the Revd Dr Keith Suckling, the Revd Ray Rennix and the Revd Ian Frazer. David Falconer is the Director of Music.

• The Eucharist is celebrated on Sundays at 9:30, 11 am and 5:30 pm.

Further Reading:

Brian M Walker, A History of St. George's Church Belfast: Two Centuries of Faith, Worship and Music (Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2016)

Tony Merrick, Parish Church of Saint George, High Street, Belfast, a brief guide to the church, historical and architectural points of interest

The previous rectors of Saint George’s include two former bishops (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)