Saint George Was Turkish Ackshewally

Yes, it's that special day when condescending clowns line up to lecture the English about how their patron saint was a non-binary muslim Turkish Palestinian refugee.

Today, the 23rd of April, is Saint George’s Day. As he’s the patron saint of England it’s a fairly low-key celebration, of course, because the English don’t like to make a fuss. Some people put flags up. It’s a festival in the Church of England. The mayor of London puts on a half-hearted celebration in Trafalgar Square, which this year was two days early and featured fast food vans selling kebabs and halal fish and chips. And, of course, there’s the traditional parade of smug lefties reminding us that St George was actually Turkish.

Every year, 23 April is marked by a flood of social media posts from the likes of Gary Lineker, Otto English and James O’Brien telling us that St George was born in Turkey. Some of them will add that he had a Palestinian mother. Many point out that he never visited England but would have been an immigrant if he had. The occasional overachiever will try to claim St George for Islam:

Particularly smug specimens have even been known to respond to St George’s Day messages in Turkish:

This isn’t just confined to sneering idiots on social media, either. Nailsea Town Council in Somerset say “he’s actually Turkish” on their website. The Mayor of London’s website says “St George was actually born in Cappadocia, Turkey.” The Independent, the favourite newspaper of smug lefties who can’t understand the big words in the Guardian, claims “Saint George was born in Turkey to a Turkish father and Palestinian mother.” The “St George was Turkish, you stupid gammons” message is everywhere.

But how true is it?

The Truth About Saint George

We don’t actually know that much about St George, which is hardly a surprise because he lived in the 3rd century, but we do know that he was born in the Roman province of Cappadocia to christian parents. Most historical sources say he became an officer in the Praetorian Guard under the emperor Diocletian. According to legend he killed a dragon that was terrorising the city of Silene in Libya. However, in 303 AD Diocletian launched a purge of christians in the Roman military. Christian accounts of St George’s life say he was condemned, possibly after calling on the emperor to spare his christian colleagues, then executed by decapitation on 23 April 303. By the 9th century he was a widely revered figure in the English church; in the 14th century, during the reign of King Edward III, he replaced St Edmund as the patron saint of England. The red-on-white Cross of St George had already been adopted as an emblem by English soldiers around 1270, and likely became the county’s official flag around the time George himself became its official saint.

Was He Turkish?

Cappadocia, where George was born, is now part of the Anatolia region of Turkey - but it wasn’t in the 3rd century. It was a Greek-speaking province of the Roman Empire, and its inhabitants were Greek. The Turks were a tribe of nomadic herdsmen in central and eastern Asia, and wouldn’t conquer Cappadocia until 800 years after George died. St George’s birthplace is in Turkey now, but it wasn’t in Turkey then - and neither were the Turks. Claiming that St George was Turkish is quite simply wrong, and the idea that he spoke Turkish is even more ludicrous. Seventeen centuries ago nobody spoke Turkish. No, not even the Turks.

Was He Half Palestinian?

There’s no real reason to believe St George’s mother came from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, but even if she did she wouldn’t have been one of the people we now call Palestinians. The Palestinians are Arabs. In the third century the population of Syria Palaestina were mostly a mix of Jews, Samaritans, Phoenicians and of course Romans. So no, he wasn’t half Palestinian. He was a Hellenic Roman.

Did He Ever Visit England?

No. So what? St Andrew never visited Scotland. Saint Patrick only visited Ireland because he was abducted from his British home by Irish slavers. And St George didn’t visit most of the dozens of places he’s patron saint of. These include Georgia, Ethiopia, Portugal, Brazil, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro. He’s also the patron saint of the Scout Movement although he was never a Scout, peacekeeping missions although he never wore a blue beret, and the United States Armor Association although he never drove a tank. Yes, we know he never visited England, you tedious metropolitan dullards, but nobody cares.

Was He A Muslim?

As Islam wasn’t even founded until about 610 AD, no. Of course he bloody wasn’t.

Enough Of This Rubbish

There’s a strand of the British left who are, quite frankly, disgusting. They seem to loathe this country and seize every opportunity to sneer at Britain, its people and its history. They reserve the worst of their loathing for England - apparently they’re fine with nationalism as long as it comes with a generous serving of celtic grievance, but any expression of pride in England must be mercilessly ridiculed. The condescending “Well actually he was Turkish” nonsense is only one small part of this despicable tendency, but it’s a particularly annoying one and it shouldn’t be tolerated anymore. So don’t. The next time some smarmy elitist smugly parrots the “Turkish immigrant” nonsense, put them firmly in their place.

And from this Scottish atheist to all my English friends and followers, Happy Saint George’s Day.