Shortly about British symbolics

This story tells in an interesting way about where the British symbols come from, which are used on English flags and coats of arms. Author does not aim to conduct a scientific analysis of various historical theories and find the most reliable version. The task of the article is, in general, to highlight, popularize the history of the appearance of the signs and their symbolism.

St. Andrew

Please meet.

Andrew the First-Called. Apostle. The first of the called disciples of Jesus Christ (hence the nickname). Andrew was born at the beginning of the first century in Galilee, which was in the territory of modern Israel.

One day Andrew met John the Baptist, who preached on the banks of the Jordan, and followed the prophet, being sure that he was the Messiah. In fact, of course, the Messiah was Jesus Christ, who led John, Andrew, and also his brother Simon (the Apostle Peter).

After the Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the apostles cast lots and identified the countries in which each of them was to preach. Andrew received a lot of land, among which was Scythia, which captured the southern part of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

In the course of his preaching work, Andrew performed miracles: he resurrected dead people, at a distance he killed the soldiers sent against him, whom he then used to resurrect again. He used wild beasts against the pro-consul Virin who had sent them, whom he later used to resurrect too. In general, he was engaged in ordinary apostolic work.

Of course, such liberties did not cause any enthusiasm from the ancient rulers, and one of them, Egeat, ultimately ordered to crucify the apostle, so that he suffered longer. Andrew was tied to the cross, not driving in nails. The brutal verdict aroused great indignation of the people and people even wanted to kill the proconsul of Egeat, but St. Andrew restrained them from this action, in order to „not to turn the world of the Lord into a diabolical revolt“.

Thus the first apostle was crucified, tied to the cross in the form of the letter X.

St. George

He was born around 256-285 AD in the Palestinian city of Liddes, then owned by the Roman Empire. At an early age, having lost both parents, George went to Nycomed, where he was gladly received by the Emperor Diocletian, who knew his father well. At the age of 20, George became an imperial warrior.

For a while George serviced for the Emperor, but in 302 Diocletian decided to revive the dying pagan religion, and to exterminate the Christians, if possible. Here George showed that he did not bast himself: he publicly refused to recognize the Emperor’s decree and in general declared that he himself was a Christian. Diocletian, of course, tried in every possible way to persuade George to renounce the faith, offered money, land and slaves, but all was in vain.

The Emperor did not like this state of affairs, and he decided to torture Georgii. At first he was imprisoned, tied to posts and put a heavy stone on his chest. With God's help, George suffered the first torture. Then the Emperor decided to wheel with the help of a wheel, knifed with knives and swords, and George was even already deemed dead, but suddenly an angel appeared, a thunder sounded, and he unscathed from the wheel, glorifying God.

Then the guys started all the bad: they threw it into a pit with cement, broke his bones, forced to run in red-hot iron boots, beaten with whips for slipping the skin, poisoned with poisons. George, however, went out from everywhere unscathed, and resurrected a few more deads on the go.

In the end, George asked to take him to the temple of Apollo, supposedly to renounce Christianity. In the same temple, having overshadowed himself and the statue of Apollo with the cross sign, St. George crushed all idols and turned the Emperor's wife into Christian faith.

The fury of Diocletian had no limit, and he cried: „Cut off the heads of both!“. Then George with a sense of accomplishment laid his head on the block and with a smile on his lips lost it.

St. Patrick

The exact date of birth of St. Patrick is unknown, most often called year of 387. The place of birth is called Britain. According to some sources, Patrick's name at birth was Celtic Sukkat, and at baptism he was given the Latin name Magon.

Around 405, Patrick is kidnapped by Irish robbers who attacked his family's estate and taken to Ireland, where he is made a slave and given the nickname Cothraige, which means „nobleman“ and in Latin is recorded as Patricius.

In captivity, his love of God grew with every passing day, and hope grew stronger. And then once a mysterious voice leads Patrick to the sea for hundreds of miles, where he is met by a ship ready for sailing, in which he leaves Ireland and ends up in a war-ravaged Gaul, where he wanders for many more years until he finally returns home.

However, in 432, St. Patrick, already in the office of a bishop, again returns to the pagan, Ireland-engulfed with internecine wars, where he begins to convert the Christian faith first tribal leaders, and later gets to the very center of Celtic religion and power — the druids, who ultimately with all their magic are powerless against the true miracles, accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. The result of the mission is the baptism of the main Irish king Loeigair.

According to the latest research, St. Patrick died on St. Patrick's Day — March 17, 460. Among all three characters of the story, Patrick is the only one who was not a martyr and died his death.

The crosses

Cross of St. Andrew, or a saltir. It is executed in the form of the letter X, symbolizing the crucifixion of Andrew the First-Called. It is the main ship's flag of the Russian Navy. There is an inverted version:

This is also the Andrew’s Cross, the official Scottish flag. According to legend, in 832 the King of Scots Angus II, before the battle with the Angles, prayed to God and promised, in case of victory, to declare Andrew the First-Called the patron of Scotland. In the morning clouds over the battlefield formed the letter X from the clouds in the form of a famous cross. Angus's army defeated the Angles, strongly yielding to numbers. The promise had to be kept.

The cross of St. George was the main symbol of the Crusades. There is a version that originally the cross was used as the flag of Genoa and was the personal flag of St. Ambrosius.

The flag in the form of a cross of St. George of different colors was used by the crusaders of many countries. To distinguish between French soldiers and English, England and France agreed to use a different coloring. French crusaders received a red cross on a white background, and English — a white cross on a red background.

However, at some point the British began to use French symbols and eventually begged the French to use the red cross on a white background, and in January 1188 the French King Philip II and the English King Henry II agreed to officially exchange flags.

Subsequently, the flag became widely used in England and in 1277 became the official national flag.

About the cross of St. Patrick is known as little, how little is known about Patrick himself. Apparently, the original form of the patrician cross is the so-called Celtic cross, which according to legend symbolizes the union of the Druid symbol of the sun and the Christian cross.

In fact, the cross of St. Patrick is a cross, similar in shape to St. Andrew's, but painted in red.

The origin of this symbol is not completely clear, most historians tend to believe that it is the cross of the Fitzgerald, which in 1169 the English King Henry II sent to conquer the Irish lands.

The Order of St. Patrick was established by William Fitzgerald in 1783, then the red Andrew’s Cross and became the official flag of Ireland. In fact, this symbol is not only not used by the Irish, but the right of St. Patrick to his own cross is quite controversial: as already noted, he was not a martyr.

British symbolics

When one speaks of England, Great Britain or the United Kingdom, they usually have in mind some abstract country located on the British Isles. Meanwhile, there is a handful of different countries on the islands.

There are three kingdoms: Scotland, England and Ireland, and if you go into details, also the Principality of Wales, as well as parts of the Kingdom of Ireland: Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In 1603, the king of Scotland, Jacob Six, inherited the English and Scottish thrones as James the First, combining the crowns of England and Scotland into a single union, which was named the Kingdom of Great Britain and acquired the uniform flag Union Jack 1606, which was the union of the crosses of St. Andrew and Saint George.

In 1801, the second union took place: the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain formed an alliance called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or simply the United Kingdom. The Union received its flag Union Jack 1801, made up of all three crosses.

And in the future, the flag of the United Kingdom began to spread around the world, along with numerous British colonies.

The same components continue to be used as flags of friendly British states. The most common is the cross of St. George. It can be found on anything: from the coat of arms of the City of London to the flag of Georgia.

And in completely different forms.

It is wrong, however, to consider the St. George flag as the flag of Switzerland and the symbol of the international movement of the Red Cross — this is a completely different story.