Festival of St. Andrew,
Apostle
Friday, November 30, 2012
The Lord be with you
Vocation, acceptance, God’s
call, our response, and ministry to our own family are themes of this feast
day. Andrew, whose name means “manly,” was the brother of Peter, and was born
in Bethsaida, a village in Galilee. Originally a disciple of John the Baptist, he was the first apostle
to follow Christ. His title in the Eastern Church is “the First-Called,” and
his name regularly appears near the head of the lists of the apostles. Perhaps
his greatest work was to bring his brother Simon Peter to Jesus. Andrew was,
therefore, in a real way the first “home missionary” as well as the first
foreign missionary (John 12:20-22).
After Pentecost, Andrew is said
by Eusebius to have preached in Scythia, by Jerome
and Theodoret in Greece; by Nicephorus in Asia
Minor and Thrace. A late and rather unreliable tradition says that
he was martyred on November 30 around 70 AD, at Patras in Achaia, Greece. The tradition he was crucified on an X-shaped
cross first appeared in the tenth century. He was martyred, legend has it, for
defying the proconsul Aegeas, who ordered Andrew to stop preaching and to
sacrifice to the gods.
St. Andrew’s body is said
to have been taken, along with St. Luke’s, to the Church of the Holy Apostles
in Constantinople in 357 and later removed to the cathedral in Amalfi, Italy. The church at Constantinople claimed St. Andrew as its first bishop. The
churches in Greece and Russia in particular hold Andrew in high honor. Also, quite early, certain of
his relics were taken to St. Andrew’s Church in Fife, Scotland, and he became a patron saint of Scotland; the X-shaped cross of St. Andrew in the Union Jack
represents Scotland.
The feast of St. Andrew was
observed as early as the fourth century by the Eastern Church and by the sixth
century in Rome and elsewhere. It is a national holiday in Scotland.
St. Andrew’s Day determines
the beginning of the church year, since the First Sunday in Advent is the
Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day whether before or after. Because of this,
the Feast of St. Andrew is the first day on our liturgical calendar, and many
others.
St. Andrew’s eve, as the
beginning of the church’s year, was long a traditional time for young girls to
expect to see in dreams their future husbands.
Collect for the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle: Almighty God, by Your grace the apostle Andrew
obeyed the call of Your Son to be a disciple. Grant us also to follow the same
Lord Jesus Christ in heart and life, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Other appropriate
prayers on this feast day
include prayer
- For obedience to God’s command
- For a sense of mission
- For those on spiritual pilgrimage
- For the church in Scotland
- For the church in Greece
- For those who minister to their own families.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert
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