Ls Land Issue 23 Old Story Lod 8 ^HOT^
In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalized in the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. His memorial, Saint George's Day, is traditionally celebrated on 23 April. Historically, the countries of England, Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Georgia, as well as Catalonia and Aragon in Spain, and Moscow in Russia, have claimed George as their patron saint, as have several other regions, cities, universities, professions, and organizations. The Church-Mosque of Saint George in Lod (Lydda), Israel, contains a sarcophagus believed by many Christians to contain St. George's remains.[6]
Ls Land Issue 23 Old Story Lod 8
The earliest text which preserves fragments of George's narrative is in a Greek hagiography which is identified by Hippolyte Delehaye of the scholarly Bollandists to be a palimpsest of the 5th century.[8] An earlier work by Eusebius, Church history, written in the 4th century, contributed to the legend but did not name George or provide significant detail.[9] The work of the Bollandists Daniel Papebroch, Jean Bolland, and Godfrey Henschen in the 17th century was one of the first pieces of scholarly research to establish the saint's historicity, via their publications in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca.[10] Pope Gelasius I stated in 494 that George was among those saints "whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God."[11]
There is little information on the early life of George. Herbert Thurston in The Catholic Encyclopedia states that based upon an ancient cultus, narratives of the early pilgrims, and the early dedications of churches to George, going back to the fourth century, "there seems, therefore, no ground for doubting the historical existence of St. George", although no faith can be placed in either the details of his history or his alleged exploits.[21]
Edward Gibbon[23][24] argued that George, or at least the legend from which the above is distilled, is based on George of Cappadocia,[25][17] a notorious 4th-century Arian bishop who was Athanasius of Alexandria's most bitter rival, and that it was he who in time became George of England. This identification is seen as highly improbable. Bishop George was slain by Gentile Greeks for exacting onerous taxes, especially inheritance taxes. J. B. Bury, who edited the 1906 edition of Gibbon's The Decline and Fall, wrote "this theory of Gibbon's has nothing to be said for it". He adds that: "the connection of St. George with a dragon-slaying legend does not relegate him to the region of the myth".[21] Saint George in all likelihood was martyred before the year 290.[26]
By the time of the early Muslim conquests of the mostly Christian and Zoroastrian Middle East, a basilica in Lydda dedicated to George existed.[36] A new church was erected in 1872 and is still standing, where the feast of the translation of the relics of Saint George to that location is celebrated on 3 November each year.[37] In England, he was mentioned among the martyrs by the 8th-century monk Bede. The Georgslied is an adaptation of his legend in Old High German, composed in the late 9th century. The earliest dedication to the saint in England is a church at Fordington, Dorset, that is mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great.[38] George did not rise to the position of "patron saint" of England, however, until the 14th century, and he was still obscured by Edward the Confessor, the traditional patron saint of England, until in 1552 during the reign of Edward VI all saints' banners other than George's were abolished in the English Reformation.[39][40]
Belief in an apparition of George heartened the Franks at the Battle of Antioch in 1098,[41] and a similar appearance occurred the following year at Jerusalem. The chivalric military Order of Sant Jordi d'Alfama was established by king Peter the Catholic from the Crown of Aragon in 1201, Republic of Genoa, Kingdom of Hungary (1326), and by Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.[42] Edward III of England put his Order of the Garter under the banner of George, probably in 1348. The chronicler Jean Froissart observed the English invoking George as a battle cry on several occasions during the Hundred Years' War. In his rise as a national saint, George was aided by the very fact that the saint had no legendary connection with England, and no specifically localized shrine, as that of Thomas Becket at Canterbury: "Consequently, numerous shrines were established during the late fifteenth century," Muriel C. McClendon has written,[43] "and his did not become closely identified with a particular occupation or with the cure of a specific malady."
In the wake of the Crusades, George became a model of chivalry in works of literature, including medieval romances. In the 13th century, Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, compiled the Legenda Sanctorum, (Readings of the Saints) also known as Legenda Aurea (the Golden Legend). Its 177 chapters (182 in some editions) include the story of George, among many others. After the invention of the printing press, the book became a bestseller.
The establishment of George as a popular saint and protective giant[44] in the West, that had captured the medieval imagination, was codified by the official elevation of his feast to a festum duplex[45] at a church council in 1415, on the date that had become associated with his martyrdom, 23 April. There was wide latitude from community to community in celebration of the day across late medieval and early modern England,[46] and no uniform "national" celebration elsewhere, a token of the popular and vernacular nature of George's cultus and its local horizons, supported by a local guild or confraternity under George's protection, or the dedication of a local church. When the English Reformation severely curtailed the saints' days in the calendar, Saint George's Day was among the holidays that continued to be observed.
In April 2019, the parish church of São Jorge, in São Jorge, Madeira Island, Portugal, solemnly received the relics of George, patron saint of the parish. During the celebrations the 504th anniversary of its foundation. the relics were brought by the new Bishop of Funchal, D. Nuno Brás.[47]
George is the patron saint of England. His cross forms the national flag of England, which also (through the structure of England and Wales) represents Wales within the Union Flag of the United Kingdom and other national flags containing the Union Flag, such as those of Australia and New Zealand. By the 14th century, the saint had been declared both the patron saint and the protector of the royal family.[80]
George is also one of the patron saints of the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo.[88] In a battle between the Maltese and the Moors, George was alleged to have been seen with Saint Paul and Saint Agata, protecting the Maltese. George is the protector of the island of Gozo and the patron of Gozo's largest city, Victoria. The St. George's Basilica in Victoria is dedicated to him.[89]
In Valencia, Catalonia, the Balearics, Malta, Sicily and Sardinia, the origins of the veneration of St. George go back to their shared history as territories under the Crown of Aragon, thereby sharing the same legend.
Saint George (Sant Jordi in Catalan) is also the patron saint of Catalonia. His cross appears in many buildings and local flags, including the flag of Barcelona, the Catalan capital. A Catalan variation to the traditional legend places George's life story as having occurred in the town of Montblanc, near Tarragona.
In 1469, the Order of St. George (Habsburg-Lorraine) was founded in Rome by Emperor Friedrich III of Habsburg in the presence of Pope Paul II in honor of Saint George. The order was continued and promoted by his son, Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg. The later history of the order was eventful, in particular the order was dissolved by Nazi Germany. Only after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe was the order reactivated as a European association in association with Saint George by the Habsburg family.[93][94][95]
George is most commonly depicted in early icons, mosaics, and frescos wearing armour contemporary with the depiction, executed in gilding and silver colour, intended to identify him as a Roman soldier. Particularly after the Fall of Constantinople and George's association with the crusades, he is often portrayed mounted upon a white horse. Thus, a 2003 Vatican stamp (issued on the anniversary of the Saint's death) depicts an armoured George atop a white horse, killing the dragon.[99]
Many studies reported possible solutions for improving the SWM in developing countries, such as organic waste buyback programs, with compost or biogas production [14], implementation of waste-to-energy plans and technologies [15], waste-to-energy in parallel with recycling of glass, metals, and other inert [16], production of energy from biomass waste by making briquettes [17], involvement of the integration of waste pickers with legal incentives [18], among others. However, many barriers still remain for improving formal collection, treatment and final disposal [19]. Therefore, environmental contamination remains a big issue worldwide, while common solutions should be identified and implemented considering SWM patterns appropriate for each context.
Many reviews were published about SWM in developed and developing countries and about environmental contamination from waste. In particular, about char fuel production [20], management of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) [21], food waste management [22] and treatment [23], recycling of used batteries [24], inclusion of the informal sector [25] and the risks that such activity pose for vulnerable informal workers [26], atmospheric pollution due to SWM [27], household hazardous waste management [28] and healthcare waste (HW) management [29], among others. The novelty of the narrative review presented in this article is its focus on the integrated assessment of these waste streams, analyzing the global issues affecting the environment and the public health, giving attention to the operational risk of the informal recycling sector. Concentration of contamination in water, air and soil are provided, as well as waste quantities and amounts dumped in developing cities or recycled by the informal sector. Results allow suggesting directions for future SWM improvements, considering its planning as an integrated system and providing examples of the consequences of its inadequate implementation.