November 30th is the Feast of Day of St. Andrew the Holy Apostle, the celebration of his martyrdom on his famous X-shaped cross. This is a major festival in Patras, Greece, the city in which he was martyred:
Patras, Greece, home to the cross upon which the First-Called Apostle St. Andrew was crucified, festively celebrated its patron saint yesterday and today.
The feast began last night with Great Vespers at the Church of St. Andrew. The service was presided over by Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalkida, with the concelebration of another eight hierarchs of the Greek Church, including the local hierarch Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
The church was filled with Orthodox faithful from Patras and throughout Greece who came to venerate St. Andrew’s Cross and the portion of his relics housed at the cathedral.
The All-Night Vigil was celebrated later that evening.
This morning, a number of hierarchs again gathered for the celebration of Orthros and the Divine Liturgy in honor of St. Andrew. Orthros was presided over by Metropolitan Theoklitos of Ierissos, Mt. Athos, and Ardameri. The Liturgy was then led by Metroplitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios.
Hundreds of Orthodox faithful again filled the church. Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messinia delivered homily sermon, in which, among other things, he referred to the personality and contribution of the Apostle Andrew, who resisted the idols promoted by his era, to spread the Gospel of Christ. In particular, His Eminence spoke about the present times and the trap of false idols that are presented, and about the dangers arising from the false family models that are advanced today. “We haven’t realized the negative consequences. When we do, it may be too late to reverse any possibility of change,” he said. . . .
With this in mind, the South needs to ask herself why she does not also celebrate this day with fervor? After all, St. Andrew’s Cross adorns the Southern flag, and under that banner, during the War, Dixie experienced some of the greatest moments of her history.
If we want Dixie to be a Christian land in the widest, broadest, deepest sense possible, we have to give attention to the calendar, sanctifying time once again, and to public celebrations of holy days – the 12 Great Feasts, saints’ days, etc. Christianity was never meant to be a religion for isolated individuals, and Southerners should do everything we can to avoid that trap which is even now sapping strength from the Church. We will either live the Christian Faith together or watch it fall apart before our eyes.
There are also important familial aspects to celebrating saints’ days like St. Andrew’s. First, the saints are our spiritual fathers and mothers. A prayer used in the Orthodox Church on various occasions goes something like this: ‘O God of our Fathers, always act with kindness towards us; take not Your mercy from us, but guide our lives in peace through their prayers.’ Honoring our spiritual mothers and fathers imparts blessings to the Church family, just as honoring our physical mothers and fathers blesses the earthly family.
Speaking of which, honoring the saints also honors our earthly forebears, for these were the very men and women they honored highly on their various feast days – Michaelmas for St. Michael the Archangel (Sept. 29; also Nov. 8), Martinmas for St. Martin of Tours (Nov. 11), etc. – and also by naming churches, cities, roads, children, and so on after them. It should be our great pleasure to reinstitute the good traditions of our forefathers, and this is certainly one of them.
One way for us to keep these days sacred is to read the hymns and services dedicated to these saints. Fr. Andrew Phillips of England has compiled a whole slew of them for those interested. And we reckon that would be a good way to end this particular essay, with some of the lines from the Akathist Hymn to St. Andrew. May he ever intercede for us sinners here in Dixie!
An angelic herald of Christ, the Lamb Who takes away the sins of the world, were you, O apostle Andrew, and you abide with Him forever in Heaven. Wherefore, look upon the hymns offered to you here, and in that you are rich in the grace of God, grant us goodly discourse, that we may cry out to You:
Rejoice, morning star which has shone forth upon us from the city of Bethsaida;
Rejoice, brother of the preeminent Peter and equal to him in honor!
Rejoice, disciple of the great Forerunner of Christ;
Rejoice, you who, first among the apostles, were called to the apostolic ministry by the Lord Himself;
Rejoice, for you cried out to the others with joy: Come, we have found the longed-for Messiah;
Rejoice, for you lead us also to Him!
Rejoice, you who zealously spread the glad tidings of Christ among the nations;
Rejoice, you who willingly gave yourself over to torments and crucifixion for His sake!
Rejoice, O Andrew, first-called apostle of Christ!
-By Walt Garlington
O I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am. For this “fair land of freedom” I do not care at all. I’m glad I fit against it, I only wish we’d won, And I don’t want no pardon for anything I done.
Amen. The South needs to go back to it’s roots and Christian traditions. We will find heavenly strength in them.
Amen.Thank you for this great knowledge.Now I’m finding out so much I should have known but was never taught.I’m reading about Andrew and his love of the Lord and His Son Jesus.Really an inspiring story and man.He was something.
Just as a non Orthodox, let me say I appreciate the heritage, and I am especially find of the idea of honoring historic martyrs. You are right that we need more of this in our Southern churches. However, I will not be addressing my prayers to any ‘saints’. I think we have enormous common ground otherwise. Thanks!