St. George's Anglican Church is the fruit of a spiritual and theological re-alignment with the worldwide Anglican Communion. Amid this re-alignment St. George's stands in the mainstream of classic Anglicanism that affirms the primary authority of Holy Scripture as interpreted by the church through the ages and the work of the Holy Spirit to open our hearts to it’s truth as systematically expressed in the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion. Anglicanism is the oldest expression of English-speaking Christianity in North America. Its origin dates to the founding of the Church of England and the extension of its missionary outreach to the Virginia Colony of the British Empire in 1607.
Anglican influence on American ideals and institutions include: the biblical spirituality and literary artistry of its Prayer Book, its theological conception of Natural Law and civil government, and the moral formation of early America's great leaders. Nearly two-thirds of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and over one-half of the signers of the Constitution were Anglicans.
Organized in March of 2009, St. George's Anglican Church emerged when 93% of the Grace Church & St. Stephen's sensed a calling and recommitment to the Gospel from which the Episcopal Church was drifting. Their desire was to establish a parish that is evangelical in faith, catholic in order, and spiritually vibrant in gifts for service. As a member parish of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America and the Anglican Church in North America, St. George's is one of nearly 700 congregations re-committed to Gospel proclamation and re-aligned for Christian mission in the Americas and around the world.
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The Parish is named for St. George of Cappadocia (ca A.D. 275/281 to April 23, A.D. 303), a Roman soldier and guard of Emperor Diocletian who was martyred for his faith. As one of Christianity's most venerated saints, he is forever immortalized in the mythic legend of St. George and the Dragon. In the year A.D. 302, Diocletian issued an edict that every Christian soldier in the army should be arrested and every other soldier should offer a sacrifice to the pagan gods. But George objected and with the courage of his faith approached the Emperor. George loudly renounced the Emperor's edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and Tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian and declared his worship of Jesus Christ. On April 23, A.D. 303 Diocletian had George executed by decapitation for his refusal to sacrifice to pagan gods. Christians soon came to honor him as a martyr and he is regarded as among the most prominent of military saints.
The legend of St. George the dragon-slayer is metaphorical of the nature and meaning of the Christian life as one of combat against evil for the love of our Savior who willingly sacrificed his life that all might live. In this manner St. George is an icon of faith for any person desiring to live for Christ in a post-Christian and ever increasingly antichristian age that is full of "dragons" that need to be slain.
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