The logo of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bloomfield Hills was designed in 2019, by Amalia Liakonis. At the time, Amalia was one of our GOYAns; currently, she is attending the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. The logo features the Cross and Dragon of St. George.
How is it that the Dragon could be associated with the precious image of the life saving Cross? The theological significance of these images is illustrated in Amalia’s design. Her artwork recalls the story of Moses and the Israelites in the desert from the Book of Numbers (21:4-9). Christ also recalls this story to Nicodemus, as a prophesy of His own crucifixion on the Cross (John 3:14-15).
While wandering in the desert, the Israelites became impatient with God and complained to Moses. To remind them of His sovereign power, the Lord sent poisonous snakes into the camp. They bit the people and many died. The people came to Moses and asked forgiveness from God. Moses prayed, and God instructed him to put a bronze serpent on a pole and raise it high. Anyone who looked upon that image would be healed and saved from the venomous illness. The image of the snake, the cause of death, was transformed by God into a symbol of healing. Likewise, the cross of crucifixion was a symbol of death until Christ was crucified on it. Christ transformed the cross into a symbol of life. All those who believe in Him are saved from death and have eternal life.
This brings us to the Dragon. The story of St. George and the dragon is well known. According to legend and iconography, St. George happened upon a village that was terrorized by a dragon (perhaps an uncommonly large reptile). This town would sacrifice young women to it in hopes of appeasing it. St. George made the sign of the Cross and charged at the dragon on horseback, seriously wounding it with his lance. Finally, seeing Saint George kill the dragon and giving glory to God, fifteen thousand people, including the king, converted to Christianity that day. St. George killed the dragon, saving the village from destruction and the people from eternal death. Just as the Cross is nothing without Christ, St. George could not have slayed the dragon without the power of our Lord. All these things are accomplished with Christ at the center. We all have daily dragons in our lives — things that may seem insurmountable to overcome. But with Christ, all these things that weigh heavy on our hearts can be defeated. And when we finally defeat these things, we are reminded of the life that is found in Christ.
Lastly, it was ancient practice that, when an enemy was conquered, the winner of the battle would raise up the armor of those defeated. The victors would claim the enemy's weapons as their own. In like manner, we at St. George hold up our logo. We hold up the dragon, the armor of death, who was defeated by St. George, the dragon slayer. And we hold up the Cross, once the means of death, now transformed by Christ into the symbol of life. That’s our logo: the Cross and the Dragon.
How is it that the Dragon could be associated with the precious image of the life saving Cross? The theological significance of these images is illustrated in Amalia’s design. Her artwork recalls the story of Moses and the Israelites in the desert from the Book of Numbers (21:4-9). Christ also recalls this story to Nicodemus, as a prophesy of His own crucifixion on the Cross (John 3:14-15).
While wandering in the desert, the Israelites became impatient with God and complained to Moses. To remind them of His sovereign power, the Lord sent poisonous snakes into the camp. They bit the people and many died. The people came to Moses and asked forgiveness from God. Moses prayed, and God instructed him to put a bronze serpent on a pole and raise it high. Anyone who looked upon that image would be healed and saved from the venomous illness. The image of the snake, the cause of death, was transformed by God into a symbol of healing. Likewise, the cross of crucifixion was a symbol of death until Christ was crucified on it. Christ transformed the cross into a symbol of life. All those who believe in Him are saved from death and have eternal life.
This brings us to the Dragon. The story of St. George and the dragon is well known. According to legend and iconography, St. George happened upon a village that was terrorized by a dragon (perhaps an uncommonly large reptile). This town would sacrifice young women to it in hopes of appeasing it. St. George made the sign of the Cross and charged at the dragon on horseback, seriously wounding it with his lance. Finally, seeing Saint George kill the dragon and giving glory to God, fifteen thousand people, including the king, converted to Christianity that day. St. George killed the dragon, saving the village from destruction and the people from eternal death. Just as the Cross is nothing without Christ, St. George could not have slayed the dragon without the power of our Lord. All these things are accomplished with Christ at the center. We all have daily dragons in our lives — things that may seem insurmountable to overcome. But with Christ, all these things that weigh heavy on our hearts can be defeated. And when we finally defeat these things, we are reminded of the life that is found in Christ.
Lastly, it was ancient practice that, when an enemy was conquered, the winner of the battle would raise up the armor of those defeated. The victors would claim the enemy's weapons as their own. In like manner, we at St. George hold up our logo. We hold up the dragon, the armor of death, who was defeated by St. George, the dragon slayer. And we hold up the Cross, once the means of death, now transformed by Christ into the symbol of life. That’s our logo: the Cross and the Dragon.
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St. George Greek Orthodox Church 43816 Woodward Avenue Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 Phone: (248) 335-8869 Church email: [email protected] Bulletin Email: [email protected] |
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