ChristStory Bestiary

DRAGON

Evil Which Must Be Conquered

In Christian symbolism, the dragon has long been associated with the "serpent of old," the devil, also known as Satan. He is the deceiver who "deceives the whole world" and the "accuser of the brethren" (Rev 12:9-10). Cast out of heaven by St. Michael and his angels, the enraged dragon attempts to devour the church and the children of God by defiling the innocent (Rev 12:13-17).

To Westerners, the dragon is the image of one, like Satan, who, consumed with some rage or desire, blindly strikes out, destroying himself in an effort to satisfy it. Unfortunately, the dragon's efforts tend to feed its hunger rather than allay it. Its association with the Devil makes the dragon the symbol of hate and wicked inclinations.

Tales of battles between heroes and dragons personify the triumph of good over evil and sometimes dramatize the victory of a community over the plague or a natural disaster. They can also betoken a personal struggle against sin or illness. The emperor Constantine ordered a representation of himself killing a dragon with his lance made to memorialize his conversion to Christianity.

Dragons are popular attributes of many saints including: St. George of the Cappadocia, St. Philip the Apostle, St. Martha of Tarascon, St. Radegund of Poitiers, St. Victor of Marseille, St. Andrew of Aix-en-Provence, St. Armentaire of Draguignan, and St. Michael the Archangel. These saints and Christ are often shown crushing a dragon under foot and thus representing the triumph of Christianity over the forces of evil, and the banishment of paganism from a land.

Medieval artists occasionally replaced the familiar serpent under the Virgin Mary's foot with a defeated dragon to pictorialize the Genesis prophecy: "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Gen 3:15). The gaping "jaws of hell" belong to the anatomy of a fire-breathing dragon.

After Daniel exposed the idol Bel as a fraud, the king led Daniel to a dragon which the Babylonians worshiped, saying, "Behold thou canst not say now, that this is not a living god: adore him therefore." To which Daniel replied, "Give me leave, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword or club. And the king said: I give thee leave. Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and made lumps, and put them into the dragon's mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worshiped" (Dan 14:23-26 Douay-Rheims). After killing the dragon, Daniel was thrown into the lion's den for six days and survived.

Although heroes and saints vanquished dragons with swords, lances and pitch, Matthew Henry suggests Christians overcome these beasts with their weapons of "courage and patience in suffering." In his vision of the end times, St. John heard a voice declare that the saints overcame the power of the dragon "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony," and by putting their love of God above that of their own lives (Rev 12:7-11). Other Christian weapons include: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and prayer (Eph 6:10-20).

In St. John's Revelation, the dragon stands for the devil, the Antichrist and the one who gives power to the beast. Here the dragon "who is the Devil and Satan" is bound and cast into a bottomless pit for one thousand years (Rev 12:3-13:11; 16:13; 20:2-3).

In both Eastern and Western cultures, the dragon is the symbol of things, attitudes, or habits which although difficult to resist must be overthrown. The Japanese Buddhist, Fudo-Myoo, overthrew blindness and ignorance symbolized by the dragon.

The name "dragon" comes to us from the Greek word for seeing "derkein." The dragon is supposed to have unusually sharp vision in the physical, intellectual and psychic realms. In legends it is known as a prophet; a riddler; and a guardian of temples, paradises, magic, and hidden treasures. Siegfried battled a dragon for immortality, and Hercules confronted one for the golden apples of great happiness. Sometimes the key to the entrance of these hidden places is the hero's own sword, dripping with the dragon's blood. From these legends, the dragon gains a reputation for strength, vigilance, wisdom, jealousy, and miserliness.

There are many different kinds of dragons. Some live in the air, some live in the sea, and some live underground. The legends of China include a white lunar (moon) dragon. The more heads a dragon has, the worse he is. In China, the dragon is a symbol of imperial power. The emperor alone may wear a five-clawed dragon. Members of His court wear a four-clawed one. In India and Tibet, the dragon carries the spirits of the holy ones to the Compassionate One after their deaths.

There are good or divine dragons which are frequently attacked by the evil ones. Sometimes they are killed in battle by their adversaries and their blood splashes to the earth. Fortunately, for humans, this blood makes a good medicine known as "dragon's blood." Since this medicine effects miraculous cures on the wounds it is applied to, a correlation was made between "dragon's blood" and Christ's healing blood. It is now known that the alleged "dragon's blood" was actually a compound made from the dried fruits of palm trees.

The dragon was associated with clouds and believed to be a rainmaker. Its fire-spitting was reminiscent of lightning. Some people thought good dragons protected humans from evil spirits. It was associated with fertility, strength and speed in battle, joy, and robust good health.

Surprisingly, perhaps because of its breath of fire, the dragon also represents the Word which was in the beginning and which created and now sustains all things (John 1:1-4).

All scripture quotes unless otherwise indicated are from the NKJV Bible.