Troparion in Tone 4
Andrew, first-called of the Apostles
and brother of the foremost disciple,
entreat the Master of all
to grant peace to the world
and to our souls great mercy.
Kontakion in Tone 2
Let us praise Andrew, the herald of God,
the namesake of courage,
the first-called of the Savior's disciples
and the brother of Peter.
As he once called to his brother, he now cries out to us:
"Come, for we have found the One whom the world desires!"
The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called was the first of the Apostles to
follow Christ, and he later brought his own brother, the Holy Apostle Peter,
to Christ (John 01:35-42). The future apostle was from Bethsaida, and from
the time of his youth he turned with all his soul to God. He did not enter
into marriage, and together with his brother he worked as a fisherman. When
the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John began to preach, St. Andrew
became his closest disciple. St. John the Baptist himself sent to Christ his
own two disciples, the future Apostles Andrew and John the Theologian,
declaring Christ to be the Lamb of God.
After the Descent of the Holy Spirit
upon the Apostles, St. Andrew went to the Eastern lands preaching the Word
of God. He went through Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, he reached the River
Danube, went along the coast of the Black Sea, through Crimea, the Black Sea
region and along the River Dnieper he climbed to the place where the city of
Kiev now stands.
He stopped overnight on the hills of
Kiev. Rising in the morning, he said to those disciples that were with him:
"See these hills? Upon these hills shall shine forth the beneficence of God,
and there will be a great city here, and God shall raise up many churches."
The apostle went up around the hills, blessed them and set up a cross.
Having prayed, he went up even further along the Dnieper and reached a
settlement of the Slavs, where Novgorod was built. From here the apostle
went through the land of the Varangians towards Rome for preaching, and
again he returned to Thrace, where in the small village of Byzantium, the
future Constantinople, he founded the Church of Christ. The name of the holy
Apostle Andrew links the mother, the Church of Constantinople, with her
daughter, the Russian Church.
On his journeys the First-Called
Apostle endured many sufferings and torments from pagans: they cast him out
of their cities and they beat him. In Sinope they pelted him with stones,
but remaining unharmed, the persistent disciple of Christ continued to
preach to people about the Savior. Through the prayers of the Apostle, the
Lord worked miracles. By the labors of the holy Apostle Andrew, Christian
Churches were established, for which he provided bishops and clergy. The
final city to which the Apostle came was the city of Patra, where he was
destined to suffer martyrdom.
The Lord worked many miracles through
His disciple in Patra. The infirm were made whole, and the blind received
their sight. Through the prayers of the Apostle, the illustrious citizen
Sosios recovered from serious illness; he healed Maximilla, wife of the
governor of Patra, and his brother Stratokles. The miracles accomplished by
the Apostle and his fiery speech enlightened almost all the citizens of the
city of Patra with the true Faith.
Few pagans remained at Patra, but
among them was the governor of the city, Aegeatos. The Apostle Andrew
repeatedly turned to him with the words of the Gospel. But even the miracles
of the Apostle did not convince Aegeatos. The holy Apostle with love and
humility appealed to his soul, striving to reveal to him the Christian
mystery of life eternal, through the wonderworking power of the Holy Cross
of the Lord. The angry Aegeatos gave orders to crucify the apostle. The
pagan thought he might undo St. Andrew's preaching if he were to put him to
death on the cross.
St. Andrew the First-Called accepted
the decision of the governor with joy and with prayer to the Lord, and went
willingly to the place of execution. In order to prolong the suffering of
the saint, Aegeatos gave orders not to nail the saint's hands and feet, but
to tie them to the cross. For two days the apostle taught the citizens who
gathered about. The people, in listening to him, with all their souls pitied
him and tried to take St. Andrew down from the cross. Fearing a riot of the
people, Aegeatos gave orders to stop the execution. But the holy apostle
began to pray that the Lord would grant him death on the cross. Just as the
soldiers tried to take hold of the Apostle Andrew, they lost control of
their hands. The crucified apostle, having given glory to God, said: "Lord
Jesus Christ, receive my spirit." Then a blazing ray of divine light
illumined the cross and the martyr crucified upon it. When the light faded,
the holy Apostle Andrew had already given up his holy soul to the Lord.
Maximilla, the wife of the governor, had the body of the saint taken down
from the cross, and buried him with honor.
A few centuries later, under the
emperor Constantine the Great, the relics of the holy Apostle Andrew were
solemnly transferred to Constantinople and placed in the church of the Holy
Apostles beside the relics of the holy Evangelist Luke and St. Paul's
disciple St. Timothy.
