30 November. St. Andrew—Greeks Claim Him as 1st Patriarch of Contantinople (Everyone Wants Him, Including the Scots with their National Flag, Their Patron Saint and St. Andrews, Scotland)
Some wiki-offerings.
Andrew the Apostle (Greek: Ἀνδρέας, Andreas;
from the early 1st century – mid to late 1st century AD; known by some as Saint Andrew), called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos (Πρωτόκλητος), or the First-called, was a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter.[2]
The name
"Andrew" (Greek: manly, brave, from ἀνδρεία, Andreia,
"manhood, valour"), like other Greek names, appears to have been
common among the Jews, Christians, and other Hellenized people of the region. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for
him. By Catholic
doctrine, the apostolic successor to Saint Andrew is Patriarch Bartholomew I.
Contents
Life
The New
Testament states that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter,[3] by which it is
inferred that he was likewise a son of John, or Jonah. He was born in the
village of Bethsaida on the Sea
of Galilee. Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by
saying that he will make them "fishers of men" (Greek: ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων,halieĩs anthrōpōn).[4] At the beginning of
Jesus' public life, they were said to have occupied the same house at Capernaum.
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The Gospel
of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John
the Baptist, whose testimony first led him, and another
unnamed disciple of John the Baptist, to follow Jesus. Andrew at once
recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and hastened to
introduce him to his brother.[5]Thenceforth, the two brothers were disciples of Christ. On a subsequent
occasion, prior to the final call to the Apostolate, they were called to a
closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus.
In the gospels,
Andrew is referred to as being present on some important occasions as one of
the disciples more closely attached to Jesus.[6] Andrew told Jesus
about the boy with the loaves and fishes (John 6:8), with Philip told Jesus
about the Greeks seeking Him, and was present at the Last
Supper.[7]
Eusebius in his church
history 3,1 quotes Origen as saying Andrew
preached in Scythia. The Chronicle
of Nestor adds that he preached along the Black
Sea and the Dnieper river as far as Kiev, and from there he traveled to Novgorod. Hence, he became a patron
saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of Byzantium(Constantinople) in AD 38, installing Stachys as bishop. According
to Hippolytus of Rome, he preached in Thrace, and his presence in Byzantium is also mentioned
in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew, written in
the 2nd century; Basil
of Seleucia also knew of Apostle Andrew's mission in Thrace, as
well as Scythia and Achaia.[8] This diocese would
later develop into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Andrew is recognized as its patron saint.
Andrew is said to
have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patræ) in Achaea, on the northern coast of the Peloponnese. Early
texts, such as the Acts of
Andrew known to Gregory
of Tours,[9] describe Andrew as
bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have
been crucified; yet a tradition developed that Andrew had been crucified on a
cross of the form called Crux decussata (X-shaped cross, or
"saltire"), now commonly known as a "Saint Andrew's Cross" — supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to
be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.[10] "The familiar iconography of his martyrdom,
showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, does not seem to have been
standardized before the later Middle Ages,"
Judith Calvert concluded after re-examining the materials studied by Louis
Réau.[11]
The Acts of Andrew
The apocryphal Acts
of Andrew, mentioned by Eusebius, Epiphanius and others, is among
a disparate group of Acts of the Apostles that were
traditionally attributed to Leucius Charinus. "These Acts (...) belong to the third century: ca. A.D. 260," was the opinion of M.
R. James, who edited them in 1924. The Acts, as well as a Gospel of St Andrew, appear
among rejected books in the Decretum Gelasianum connected with the
name of Pope Gelasius I. The Acts of Andrew was edited and published by Constantin von Tischendorf in the Acta Apostolorum apocrypha (Leipzig, 1821), putting it for the first time into the hands of a critical
professional readership. Another version of the Andrew legend is found in the Passio Andreae, published by
Max Bonnet (Supplementum II Codicis apocryphi, Paris, 1895).
Relics
Saint Andrew of Patras basilica, where St. Andrew's relics are kept
Relics of the Apostle
Andrew are kept at the Basilica of St Andrew in Patras, Greece; the Duomo di Sant'Andrea, Amalfi, Italy; St
Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland;[5] and the Church of St
Andrew and St Albert, Warsaw, Poland. There are also numerous smaller reliquaries throughout the
world.
Andrew's remains
were preserved at Patras. According to one legend, St. Regulus (Rule) was a
monk at Patras, who was advised in a dream to hide some of the bones. Shortly
thereafter, most of the relics were translated from Patras to Constantinople by order of theRoman emperor Constantius
II around 357 and deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles.[7]
Regulus was said to
have had a second dream in which an angel advised him to take the hidden relics
‘to the ends of the earth’ for protection. Wherever he was shipwrecked, he was
to build a shrine for them. St Rule set sail, taking with him a kneecap, an
upper arm bone, three fingers and a tooth. He sailed west, towards the edge of
the known world, and was shipwrecked on the coast of Fife, Scotland. However,
the relics were probably brought to Britain in 597 as part of the Augustine
Mission, and then in 732 to Fife, by Bishop Acca of Hexham, a well known
collector of religious relics.[5]
The skull of St.
Andrew, which had been taken to Constantinople was returned to Patras by
Emperor Basil I, who ruled from 867
to 886.[12]
In 1208, following
the sack of Constantinople, those relics of St. Andrew and St. Peter which remained in the
imperial city were taken toAmalfi, Italy,[13] by Cardinal Peter
of Capua, a native of Amalfi. A cathedral (Duomo), was built,
dedicated to St. Andrew (as is the town itself), to house a tomb in its crypt
where it is maintained that most of the relics of the apostle, including an
occipital bone, remain.
Thomas Palaeologus was the youngest
surviving son of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. Thomas ruled the
province of Morea, the medieval name
for the Peloponnese. In 1461, when the Ottomans crossed the Strait of Corinth,
Palaeologus fled Patras for exile in Italy, bringing with him what was
purported to be the skull of St. Andrew. He gave the head to Pope
Pius II, who had it enshrined in one of the four central
piers of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
In September 1964, Pope
Paul VI, as a gesture of goodwill toward the Greek
Orthodox Church, ordered that all of the relics of St. Andrew that were in Vatican
City be sent back to Patras. Cardinal Augustin Bea along with many
other cardinals presented the skull to Bishop Constantine of Patras on 24
September 1964.[14][15][16] The cross of St.
Andrew was taken from Greece during the Crusades by the Duke of Burgundy.[17][18] It was kept in the church of St. Victor in Marseilles[19][20] until it returned to
Patras on 19 January 1980. The cross of the apostle was presented to the Bishop
of Patras Nicodemus by a Catholic delegation led by Cardinal Roger
Etchegaray. All the relics, which consist of the small
finger, the skull (part of the top of the cranium of Saint Andrew), and the
cross on which he was martyred, have been kept in
the Church of St. Andrew at Patras in a
special shrine and are revered in a special ceremony every November 30, his feast
day.
In 2006, the
Catholic Church, again through Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, gave the Greek
Orthodox Church another relic of St. Andrew.[21]
Traditions and legends
Georgia
The church tradition of Georgia regards St. Andrew
as the first preacher of Christianity in the territory of Georgia and as the
founder of the Georgian church. This tradition was apparently derived from the
Byzantine sources, particularly Nicetas of
Paphlagonia (died c. 890) who asserts that "Andrew
preached to the Iberians, Sauromatians, Taurians, and Scythians and to every region
and city, on the Black Sea, both north and
south."[22] The version was
adopted by the 10th-11th-century Georgian ecclesiastics and, refurbished with
more details, was inserted in the Georgian Chronicles. The story of St. Andrew’s mission in the Georgian lands endowed the
Georgian church with apostolic origin and served as a defense argument to George the Hagiorite against the
encroachments from the Antiochian
church authorities on autocephaly of the Georgian
church. Another Georgian monk, Ephraim the Minor, produced a thesis, reconciling St. Andrew’s story with an earlier
evidence of the 4th-century conversion of Georgians by St.
Nino and explaining the necessity of the "second Christening" by
Nino. The thesis was made canonical by the Georgian church council in 1103.[23][24]
Cyprus
Cypriot tradition
holds that a ship which was transporting Saint Andrew went off course and ran
aground. Upon coming ashore, Andrew struck the rocks with his staff at which
point a spring of healing waters gushed forth. Using it, the sight of the
ship's captain, who had been blind in one eye, was restored. Thereafter, the
site became a place of pilgrimage and a fortified monastery stood there in the
12th century, from which Isaac Comnenus negotiated his
surrender to Richard the Lionheart. In the 15th century, a small chapel was built close to the shore. The
main monastery of the current church dates to the 18th century.
Other pilgrimages
are more recent. The story is told that in 1895, the son of a Maria Georgiou
was kidnapped. Seventeen years later, Saint Andrew appeared to her in a dream,
telling her to pray for her son's return at the monastery. Living in Anatolia,
she embarked on the crossing to Cyprus on a very crowded boat. As she was
telling her story during the journey, one of the passengers, a young Dervish
priest, became more and more interested. Asking if her son had any
distinguishing marks, he stripped off his clothes to reveal the same marks and
mother and son were thus reunited.[25]
Apostolos Andreas Monastery (Greek: Απόστολος Ανδρέας) is a monastery dedicated to Saint
Andrew situated just south of Cape Apostolos Andreas, which is the north-easternmost point of the island of Cyprus, in Rizokarpason in the Karpass
Peninsula. The monastery is an important site to the Cypriot Orthodox Church. It was once known as 'the Lourdes of Cyprus', served not by an
organized community of monks but by a changing group of volunteer priests and
laymen. Both Greek Cypriot and Turkish
Cypriot communities consider the monastery a holy place.
As such, it is visited by many people for votive prayers.
Malta
Fifth-century mosaic of St. Andrew at St. Paul Outside the Walls, Rome
The first reference
regarding the first small chapel at Luqa dedicated to Andrew
dates to 1497. This chapel contained three altars, one of them dedicated to
Andrew. The painting showing "Mary with Saints Andrew and Paul" was
painted by the Maltese artist Filippo Dingli. At one time, many fishermen lived
in the village of Luqa, and this may be the main reason behind choosing Andrew
as patron saint. The statue of Andrew was sculpted in wood by Giuseppe Scolaro
in 1779. This statue underwent several restoration works including that of 1913
performed by the Maltese artist Abraham Gatt. The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew on the main altar of the church was
painted by Mattia Preti in 1687.
Romania
Main article: Saint Andrew in Romania
The official stance
of the Romanian Orthodox Church is that Andrew
preached the Gospel in the province of Dobruja (Scythia Minor) to the
Daco-Romans, whom he is said to have converted to Christianity. This theory is
based in part on some ancient Christian symbols found carved in a cavenear Murfatlar and in historical
springs. According to New World Encyclopedia[26] which quotes
Hippolyte of Antioch, (died c. 250 C.E.) in his On Apostles, Origen in the
third book of his Commentaries on the Genesis (254 C.E.), Eusebius of Caesarea
in his Church History (340 C.E.), and other different sources, like the
Usaard's Martyrdom written between 845-865, Jacobus de Voragine in Golden
Legend (c. 1260), Saint Andrew preached in Scythia Minor. There are toponyms
and numerous very old traditions (like carols) related to Saint Andrew, many of
them having probably a pre-Christian substratum. There exists a cave where he
supposedly preached, supposedly identified and called "Saint Andrew's
Cave".[27][28]
According to some
modern Romanian scholars, the idea of early Christianisation is unsustainable,
being used for propaganda purposes in the communist era as part of the ideology
of protochronism, which
purports that the Orthodox Church has been a companion and defender of the
Romanian people for its entire history.[29] This claim of the
authors may be disputed by several works which show that communists were
strongly against religion, persecuting Christians and promoting atheism as the
belief system.[30][31][32]
Another Romanian
researcher, George Alexandrou,[20] although he denies
this theory, maintains that St. Andrew spent 20 years in the territories of the
Daco-Romans, preaching and teaching. Alexandrou also supposes that St. Andrews
felt very close to the Dacians because they were monotheists. During that
period St. Andrew traveled around the Lower Danube territories and along the
coast of the Black Sea, but mostly he stayed in and around his cave in Dobruja
(located in the vicinity of the Ion Corvin village). St.
Andrew’s cave is still kept as a holy place. Later, John
Cassian (360-435), Dionysius
Exiguus (470-574) and Joannes
Maxentius (leader of the so-called Scythian
Monks) lived in the same area, known as Scythia Minor or
Dobruja, in South East Romania.[33]
There are a few
pre-Christian traditions connected to St.
Andrew's Day, some of them having their origin in the Roman
celebrations of Saturn.[34][35][36] The Dacian New Year
took place from 14 November until 7 December; this was considered the interval
when time began its course.[37] One of the elements
that came from the Roman and Thracian celebrations concerned wolves. During
this night, wolves are allowed to eat all the animals they want. It is said
that they can speak, too, but anyone that hears them will soon die. Early on
St. Andrew’s day, the mothers go into the garden and gather tree branches,
especially from apple, pear and cherry trees, and also rosebush branches. They
make a bunch of branches for each family member. The one whose bunch blooms by
New Year's Day will be lucky and healthy the next year.
The best known
tradition connected to this night concerns matrimony and premonitory dreams.
Single girls must put under their pillow a branch of sweet basil. If someone
takes the plants in their dreams, that means the girl will marry soon. They can
also plant wheat in a dish and water it until New Year’s Day. The nicer the
wheat looks that day, the better the year to come. Saint Andrew's name is known
in Romania under diverse forms: Sfântul Andrei, Sânt Andrei, Sânedru [34]
Ukraine
Early Christian History in Ukraine holds that the
apostle Andrew preached on the southern borders of modern-day Ukraine, along the Black Sea. Legend has it that
he travelled up the Dnieper River and reached the
future location of Kiev, where he erected a
cross on the site where the St. Andrew's Church of Kiev currently stands,
and prophesied the foundation of a great Christian city that would serve as the
Jerusalem of Russian/Ukrainian lands.[citation needed]
It was in the
obvious interest of Kievan Rus' and its later
Russian and Ukraninian successors, striving in numerous ways to link themselves
with the political and religious heritage of Byzantium, to claim such a
direct visit from the famous. Claiming direct lineage from St. Andrew also had
the effect of disregarding any theological leanings of Greek Orthodoxy over which
disagreement arose, since the actual "indirect" proselytising via
Byzantium was bypassed altogether. Still, as the same source quotes, Andrew
only preached to the southern shore of theBlack
Sea (current Turkey).[citation needed]
Scotland
About the middle of
the 10th century,[citation needed] Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought by divine
guidance from Constantinople to the place where
the modern town of St Andrews stands today (Gaelic, Cill Rìmhinn).
The oldest surviving
manuscripts are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to Louis XIV of France, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, the other is the Harleian
Mss in the British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by one Regulus to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only
historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) whose name
is preserved in the tower of St Rule was an Irish monk
expelled from Ireland with Saint Columba; his dates, however, are c 573 – 600. There are good reasons for
supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of Acca,
bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish
country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not,
according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of
St Andrews.
St. Andrew, carving c.1500 in the National Museum of Scotland
According to legend,
in 832 AD, Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against
the Angles, led by Æthelstan,
near modern-dayAthelstaneford, East Lothian. The legend
states that he was heavily outnumbered and hence whilst engaged in prayer on
the eve of battle, Óengus vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Saint
Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. On the morning of battle white clouds
forming an X shape in the sky were said to have appeared. Óengus and his combined
force, emboldened by this apparent divine intervention, took to the field and
despite being inferior in numbers were victorious. Having interpreted the cloud
phenomenon as representing the crux
decussata upon which Saint
Andrew was crucified, Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed
Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a
celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag
of Scotland on the basis of this legend.[38] However, there is
evidence that Andrew was venerated in Scotland before this.
Traditional stone fireplace in northern England. The carved St. Andrew's
cross in the left hand wooden post was to prevent witches from flying down the
chimney, Ryedale Folk
Museum, Hutton-le-Hole.
Andrew's connection
with Scotland may have been reinforced following the Synod
of Whitby, when theCeltic Church felt that Columba
had been "outranked" by Peter and that Peter's brother would make a
higher ranking patron. The 1320 Declaration of Arbroath cites Scotland's
conversion to Christianity by Andrew, "the first to be an Apostle".
Numerous parish churches in the Church of Scotland and congregations of
other Christian churches in Scotland are named after Andrew. The national
church of the Scottish people in Rome, Sant'Andrea degli Scozzesi is dedicated to St
Andrew.
A local superstition uses the cross of
Saint Andrew as a hex sign on the fireplaces in
northern England andScotland to prevent witches from flying down the chimney and entering the
house to do mischief. By placing the St Andrew's cross on one of the fireplace posts or lintels, witches are prevented from entering through this opening. In this
case, it is similar to the use of a witch ball, although
the cross will actively prevent witches from entering, and the witch ball will
passively delay or entice the witch, and perhaps entrap it.
Legacy
Andrew is the patron
saint of several cities and countries including: Barbados, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Ukraine, Amalfi in Italy, Esgueira in Portugal, Luqa in Malta,Parañaquein Philippines and Patras in Greece. He was also the patron saint of Prussia and of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is considered the founder and the first bishop of the Church of Byzantium and is consequently
the patron saint of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople. The flag
of Scotland (and consequently the Union
Flag and that of its commonwealth countries) feature St Andrew's saltire cross. The saltire
is also the flag of Tenerife, the former flag of Galicia and the naval
jack of Russia. The Confederate flagalso features a saltire commonly referred to as a St Andrew's cross,
although its designer, William Porcher Miles, said he changed it from an upright cross to a saltire so that it would
not be a religious symbol but merely a heraldic device. The Florida and Alabama flags also show that
device.
The feast
of Andrew is observed on November 30 in both the Eastern and
Western churches, and is the national day of Scotland. In the
traditional liturgical books of the Catholic Church, the feast of St. Andrew is
the first feast day in the Proper of Saints.
See also
New Saint Andrews College
- St. Andrew's College (Ontario), an all-boys independent school in Ontario, Canada named after St. Andrew. On the driveway to the main building, there is the St. Andrew statue
- University of St Andrews — named after the Royal Burgh of St Andrews, which was named after the saint
Notes
1.
Jump up^ Etravel Pilipinas. "Philippine
Heroes: Gat Andres Bonifacio y de Castro".
Etravel Pilipinas.
Retrieved 2012-08-13.
5.
^ Jump up to:a b c "National Shrine to
St Andrew in Edinburgh Scotland".
Stmaryscathedral.co.uk.
Retrieved 2013-09-06.
7.
^ Jump up to:a b "MacRory, Joseph.
"St. Andrew." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1907. 29 Oct. 2012".
Newadvent.org. 1907-03-01.
Retrieved 2013-09-06.
9.
Jump up^ In Monumenta
Germaniae Historica II, cols. 821-847, translated in M.R. James, The
Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford) reprinted 1963:369.
10.
Jump up^ The
legends surrounding Andrew are discussed in F.
Dvornik, "The Idea of
Apostolicity in Byzantium and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew", Dumbarton
Oaks Studies, IV
(Cambridge) 1958.
11.
Jump up^ Judith
Calvert, "The Iconography of the St. Andrew Auckland Cross", The Art
Bulletin66.4 (December 1984:543-555) p. 545, note 12; according to Louis
Réau, Iconographie de l'art chrétien III.1
(Paris) 1958:79, St. Andrew's Cross appeared for the first time in the tenth
century, but did not become an iconographic standard before the seventeenth.
Calvert was unable to find a sculptural representation of Andrew on the saltire cross
earlier than an architectural capital from Quercy, of the early twelfth century.
13.
Jump up^ National Archives of
Scotland (2011-11-23). "St. Andrew in the
National Archives of Scotland".
Nas.gov.uk.
Retrieved 2013-09-06.
16.
Jump up^ Video
of the reception ceremony from the Hellenic National AudioVisual Archive site[dead link]
18.
Jump up^ Charlotte
Denoël. Saint André: culte et iconographie en France (Ve -XVe siècles).
Paris : École nationale des chartes, 2004
19.
Jump up^ "Abbaye
Saint-Victor de Marseille, monuments historiques en France (in French)". Monumentshistoriques.free.fr. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
20.
^ Jump up to:a b George
Alexandrou, THE ASTONISHING MISSIONARY JOURNEYS OF THE APOSTLE ANDREW, Road to
Emmaus,Vol. V, No. 4, pp.43-45
21.
Jump up^ Relic
of St. Andrew Given to Greek Orthodox Church. Zenit News Agency (via Zenit.org). Published: 27 February
2006.
22.
Jump up^ Peterson,
Peter Megill (1958), Andrew, Brother of Simon Peter: His History and Legends, p. 20. E. J. Brill
23.
Jump up^ Rapp,
Stephen H. (2003), Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And
Eurasian Contexts, p.
433. Peeters Publishers, ISBN
90-429-1318-5
24.
Jump up^ Djobadze,
Wachtang Z., "Materials for the Study
of Georgian Monasteries in the Western Environs of Antioch on the
Orontes", pp. 82-83. Corpus Scriptorum
Christianorum Orientalium, vol.
372, subsidia 48. Louvain, 1976.
25.
Jump up^ "Apostolos
Andreas Monastery, Karpaz, North Cyprus".
Whatson-northcyprus.com.
Retrieved 2012-08-13.
28.
Jump up^ Andreea
Dogar, "Apostolul Andrei: Ne-a creștinat sau nu Cel Dintâi Chemat?",
in National Geographic România, nr. 116, December 2012, p. 54-71
29.
Jump up^ Lavinia
Stan, Lucian Turcescu, Religion and Politics in Post-Communist Romania,Oxford University Press, 2007,
p.48
33.
Jump up^ Mircea
Păcurariu- Sfinţi daco-români şi români, EDITURA MITROPOLIEI MOLDOVEI ŞI
BUCOVINEI, IAŞI – 1994
36.
Jump up^ "St.
Andrew's Day in Romania".
Traditionsacrosseurope.wordpress.com. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
References
- Metzger, Bruce M. (ed); , Michael D. Coogan (ed) (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504645-5.
- Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.
External links
 |
|
Preceded by
New creation |
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Before 38 |
Succeeded by
Stachys the Apostle |
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