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Holy Apostle Andrew, the First-called 13/12/2010
The son of Jonah and the brother of Peter, Saint Andrew was from Bethsaida and worked as a fisherman. At first he was the disciple of Saint John the Baptist, but when John pointed his finger at Christ saying: "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1, 36), Saint Andrew left his first master and followed Jesus. Then he brought to God his own brother Peter. After the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, to the first Apostle of Christ it fell to spread the Gospel in Byzantium and Trace, then along the River Danube, Russia and along the coast of the Black Sea and finally in Epir, Greece and the Peloponnese where he suffered martyr’s death. In Byzantium he appointed Saint Stachys as the first Bishop; in Kiev he set up a cross on the hills and foretold a bright Christian future for the Russian people; in Thrace, Epirus, Greece and the Peloponnese he brought to the faith multitudes of people and appointed bishops and priests. At the city of Patra he worked many miracles in the Name of Jesus Christ and converted many to God, among them the wife and the brother of the Governor Aegeatos. Infuriated because of this, Aegeatos put Saint Andrew to cruel tortures and then crucified him. While he was still alive, from up on the cross the Apostle taught the citizens who had gathered around him. The people tried to take the Apostle down from the cross, but he objected to this. At last the Apostle began praying to God and a blazing ray of divine light illumined him. This divine light shone for half an hour and when the shining ceased, the holy Apostle had already given up his soul to God. Thus the first-called Apostle, who first of the twelve great Apostles came to know God and followed Him, ended his life on earth. He suffered for his Lord in the year 62. His holy relics were translated to Constantinople. Later his head was translated to Rome, and one of his arms to Moscow.
