My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 30th of November, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the Holy,
Glorious, and All-famed Apostle ANDREW, the First-called of Twelve.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Fourth Tone
As the First-called of the Apostles, and brother of their leader, O
Andrew, entreat the Master of all that peace be granted unto the
world and great mercy to our souls.
Kontakion Hymn. Second Tone
Let us acclaim the namesake of courage, that herald of things divine,
the First-called of the Savior’s disciples, and the kinsman of Peter;
for as he formerly cried out to him, so doth he now to us: Come, we
have found the Desired One.
Saint Andrew, the First-called Apostle of Christ, was the son of a Jew named Jonah and the brother of the holy preeminent Apostle Peter. He was a native of the Galilean town in Bethsaida. Disdaining the vanity of this world and preferring virginity to matrimony, he declined to enter into wedlock; and hearing that the holy Forerunner John was preaching repentance by the Jordan, he left everything, went to him, and became his disciple. Andrew beheld the holy Forerunner while he was pointing to Jesus as He passed by and saying, "BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD" [John 1;36]. Saint Andrew, together with another disciple of the Forerunner (whom many consider to have been the Evangelist John),, left the Forerunner and followed after Christ. He sought out his brother Simon Peter and said to him, "WE HAVE FOUND THE MESSIAH" (which is being, interpreted, the Christ) John 1:41), and brought him to Jesus. Afterward, when he was fishing with Peter off the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus called to them, saying, "COME AFTER ME, AND I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN" (Matthew 4:19), Saint Andrew, immediately leaving his nets when he heard the Lord’s summons, followed after Christ with his brother Peter [Matthew 4:20]. Andrew is known as the First-called, because he became a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ before any of the other Apostles.
After the Lord’s VOLUNTARY Passion and His Resurrection, the holy Andrew, with the rest of the Apostles, received the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, there appeared to the disciples tongues, as if of fire, being distributed upon each one of them (Acts 2:3). When the countries were divided among them, it fell to him by lot to spread the Gospel in Bithynia, the Propontos, Chalcedon, Byzantium, Thrace, and Macedonia, all the way to the Amisos, Trebizond, Herakleia, and Amastris. Saint Andrew passed through these lands and cities, preaching the Christian Faith. In each city, he had to endure much affliction and pain, but, fortified by the Omnipotent help of God, he joyfully bore all such tribulations for Christ’s sake.
One of the centers of activity was the city of Byzantium, where he performed miracles in abundance and instructed many in the knowledge of God. Indeed, the people of Byzantium not only embraced the light of the truth, but even erected a magnificent church in honor of the All-Holy Theotokos. As bishop for them, Saint Andrew consecrated Stachys, one of the Seventy Apostles [Luke 10:1], of whom Saint Paul made mention in his Epistle to the Romans [Romans 16:9]. He traveled near to Herakleia of Thrace, which is situated to the West of Byzantium, and there he converted many of the Orthodox Faith, and ordained Apelles bishop [Romans 16:10].
The holy Andrew undertook Apostolic labors and endured pangs in the spreading of the Gospel of Christ. He passed on through Pontos, the seaboard of the Black Sea, Scythia, and the Chersonese. By God’s Providence, he reached the River Dnieper in the land of Russia, and halting upon the shore beneath the hills of Kiev, he lay down to rest. When he arose from sleep in the morning, he said to his disciples who had accompanied him. "BELIEVE ME: ON THESE HILLS THE GRACE OF GOD WILL SHINE FORTH. THERE WILL BE A GREAT CITY HERE, AND THE LORD WILL RAISE MANY CHURCHES IN THIS PLACE AND ENLIGHTEN ALL OF THE RUSSIAN LAND WITH HOLY BAPTISM." And ascending the hills, the Saint blessed them and set up a cross, PROPHESYING THAT THE PEOPLE WHO DWELT THERE WOULD RECEIVE THE FAITH FROM THE APOSTOLIC SEE HE HAD ESTABLISHED IN BYZANTIUM.
Passing through the Russian cities which lay to the North, where Novgorod the Great now stands, he went on to visit Rome. Then he made his way in the Greek land of Epirus and eventually arrived in Thrace, firmly establishing the Christians in the Faith and ordaining bishops and leaders for them. After passing through many lands, he reached the Peloponnesos, and, entering the Achaian city of Petras, he lodged with a certain respected man by the name of Sosios. He raised him up from his bed of sickness, and afterward he converted the whole city of Patras to Christ. It was here, however, that Saint Andrew was martyred. The order was given by the Proconsul Aegeates who was enraged. He commanded that the holy Andrew be crucified on a cross, his hands and feet bound. He at first, did not wish him affixed by nails, lest he should die in but a short time; for he thought that by hanging his bound, he might subject him to greater tortures.
When the servants of the tyrant brought him to the place of crucifixion, the people assembled, crying out, ‘Wherein has this righteous man and friend of God sinned? Why are they leading him to crucifixion?’ But Saint Andrew besought the people not to hinder his suffering, as the walked to his torment with gladness, never pausing in his teaching. When he reached the place where he was to be crucified, espying at some distance the cross being prepared for him, he cried with a loud voice, "HAILL, O CROSS SANCTIFIED BY THE FLESH OF CHRIST AND ADORNED BY HIS MEMBERS AS WITH PEARLS! …With boldness and Teacher, that, through thee, He Who Redeemed me through thee may receive me."
Thus saying, he removed his clothing and gave it to the torturers. They lifted him up on the cross, nailing and binding his hands and feet with cords; and thus they crucified him HEAD DOWNWARD and suspended him . Around him stood a multitude of the people, about twenty-thousand of them. Many of the people went to the home of Aegeates, crying out and saying, "This honorable and holy man Andrew is kind, and good-natured, meek, and an all-wise teacher. He should not suffer. Nay he ought to be taken down from the cross; for, though this is already the second day on which he is on the cross, he still teaches the truth."
Then Aegeates, fearing the people, went straightway with them to take Saint Andrew down from the cross. When the servants went to unfasten hm from the cross, they were unable to touch him. Indeed, a great many other people, one after another, tried to untie him, but were unable, because their hands became numb. Thereafter, the holy Apostle cried out with a loud voice, "O LORD JESUS CHRIST, DO NOT ALLOW ME TO BE TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS ON WHICH I HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED FOR THY NAME; BUT RECEIVE ME, O MY TEACHER, WHOM I HAVE LOVED, WHOM I HAVE KNOWN, WHOM I CONFESS, WHOM I DESIRE TO SEE, THROUGH WHOM I HAVE BECOME WHAT I AM! O LORD JESUS CHRIST, RECEIVE MY SPIRIT IN PEACE, FOR THE TIME HAS COME FOR ME TO GO TO THEE AND LOOK UPON THEE WHOM I HAVE SO ARDENTLY DESIRED! RECEIVE ME, O GOOD TEACHER, AND DO NOT PERMIT ME TO BE TAKEN DOWN OVER-SOON FROM THE CROSS, BEFORE THOU RECEIVEST MY SPIRIT!"
When he said this,, a light like lightening from heaven illumined him in the sight of all, and shined round about him, so that the eye of corrupt man was unable to look upon him. This heavenly light shined round him for the space of half an hour, and when the light departed, the holy Apostle surrendered his spirit and departed, amid brilliant Light, to stand before the Lord.
Maximilla, a woman of noble lineage, who lived a virtuous and holy life, when Saint Andrew had departed to the Lord, took down his holy body with great honor. She embalmed it with costly ointments and laid it in the tomb in which she herself had intended to be interred. This took place on the last day of November, in the city of Patras, in Achaia, Greece, where ever since, through the prayers of the holy Apostle many benefactions are bestowed upon the people.
When many years had passed, the holy relics of Saint Andrew were translated by the holy Martyr Artemios to Constantinople, commemorate by the Holy Church on the 20th of October, at the command of the holy Emperor Constantine the Great, and enshrined with those of the holy Evangelist Luke and Saint Timothy, the disciple of Saint Paul, in the most splendid Church of the Apostles, within the sacred table of Oblation.
Through the prayers of Thine Apostle, O Christ God, do Thou establish
Thy faithful servants in Orthodoxy, and save us all. Amen.
[Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 