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During our
talks from November last year to February, we had a series of talks on the
history of the Church. Some of the talks were interesting, but others
which dealt with the various heresies were very heavy and tiring on the
mind. I have been asked to do another series of talks but thankfully this
time the talks will be of lighter nature and should be easier to digest. I
have been asked to talk on the lives of the saints and especially the
Apostles and what happened to them after the resurrection of Christ and
the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Where did they go, who did
they preach to, how were they received, and where were they martyred. For
some of the Apostles like Peter and Paul, most of our information is drawn
from the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, but for others our
information has to rely on tradition which was passed down and recorded by
the early Christian writers. The information we have for most of the
Apostles is not enough to cover the time we allocate for the talks so we
will probably look at at least 2, 3, or even 4 saints at a time.
Today I
thought it would be appropriate to begin with St. Andrew for two reasons:
1) our Church and parish is dedicated to St. Andrew, 2) because he is
called St. Andrew the First-called, a title attributed to him for being
the first of the Apostles to follow Christ. From the Gospel we are told
that Andrew was the brother of Peter and came from the village Bethsaida
on the western shore of Lake Gennesaret. Andrew, unlike his brother Simon
Peter, chose not to marry and remained in his virginity until his death.
By trade, both brothers were fishermen and were devout Jews waiting for
the Coming of the Messiah. When the holy Prophet and Forerunner John the
Baptist began his ministry, proclaiming his message of repentance in the
Jordan valley, Andrew heard of him and left everything to follow him and
became his disciple.
One day Jesus
came to be baptized by John. When John saw the Holy Spirit descend in the
form of a dove and heard the voice of the father testify to who Jesus was,
he said: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before
me: for he was before me.” His disciples probably didn’t hear him or were
not near enough to see who it was, but the next day John was standing with
Andrew and John the Theologian and saw Jesus passing by and pointed him
out to them telling them that Jesus was the Lamb of God. At this testimony
of their master, Andrew and John left the Baptist and followed Jesus. They
didn’t as yet realize that Jesus was the Saviour and Son of God, and
probably had no intention in their minds of become his disciples, but they
felt drawn to him in a way they couldn’t explain. After conversing with
him, Andrew was convinced that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Saviour
of the world, whom he himself and all of Israel had waited for so many
centuries. Unable to contain his joy, he hurried home and told Peter: “We
have found the Messiah” and then brought Peter to Jesus. Andrew then was
the first to follow and recognize Jesus as the Messiah and is rightly
called Andrew the First-called.
The Gospels
mention Andrew on other occasions, but our main interest is to see what
happened to him after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. After
receiving with the other Apostles, the fulness of the Grace of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost, he was allotted to preach the Gospel around the
coasts of Euxinus Pontus known today as the Black Sea. From the account of
his life we are told that he first went to Amisus in Pontus (now Northern
Turkey) on the southern shore of the Black Sea, where he converted a large
number of Jews, and healed all kinds of disease by the power of God.
Proceeding along the coast to Trebizond, he preached the word as far as
the region of Lazica in the Caucasus before returning to Jerusalem for
Easter. This we can say was his first Journey.
Many places
have local traditions that Andrew passed through their lands and we have
no reason to suggest that he didn’t. We have one such tradition in Cyprus.
Travelling from Jerusalem to Northern Turkey via Cyprus would in fact be a
shorter route than going through Syria and Cappadocia to reach Pontus.
Cypriot tradition says that Andrew reached Cyprus near Karpasia and then
travelled towards the most extreme point of the North-East Peninsula in
the hope of finding a boat that would take him across to Cilicia (Southern
Turkey). As he waited, he saw a ship coming from Salamis which came very
close to the pointed cape. The Captain saw Andrew making signals and
realized that he wanted to board. He let down a small rowing boat with two
sailors and soon Andrew was on board the main ship. The captain raised the
sails and the ship was on its way. In a short time they reached the small
islands called Kleides which look more like big rocks in the sea and on
which today can be found a lighthouse to guide the ships away from the
rocks. At this very point, there was a sudden calmness and the wind
stopped blowing. The Ship was stranded there for three days and they run
out of water. The captain asked Andrew if he knew where they could find
water on the mainland and Andrew told him that there was a spring nearby.
Two sailors set off to find the spring where Andrew had told them. They
searched all day but couldn’t find it and returned without water. The
captain was angry with Andrew because he thought he had been lying about
the spring and threatened to cast him overboard into the sea unless he
went with them to show them the exact spot. When the Saint reached land,
he knelt and prayed for God’s help and in a short time they found the
spring. They filled their vessels and returned to the ship. On the Ship
was also the captain’s young son who was blind after losing his sight four
years ago. On returning to the ship, Andrew gave the boy some fresh water
to drink and also told him to wash his face with the same water. The boy
did as Andrew bid him and immediately started to shout for his father. The
captain run to see what was wrong only to discover that his son was
shouting for joy because he could now see. The boy explained how Andrew
gave him the water and told him to wash his face and that as soon as he
did his sight was restored to him. Everyone on the ship held Andrew as a
saint and after hearing him preach about Jesus they all believed and were
baptized.
In the
meantime the wind grew stronger and the ship sailed to its destination.
Later, on hearing of Andrew’s death on the Cross, the Captain prayed and
vowed that he would return to the place where Andrew found the water and
build a small chapel dedicated to the saint. After many years the captain
built the Church as promised and also placed there an Icon of the Saint.
When other captains who heard the story passed by the cape, known today as
“Apostolos Andreas Cape” they would stop and venerate the icon and offer
their gifts to the saint. After many years a new Church was built in place
of the first and was surrounded with monastic cells for monks. Over the
years, the Church and buildings underwent many repairs and rebuilding.
According to the inscription above the North door, the present Church and
buildings were consecrated in 1867 by Archbishop Sophronius. Three metres
below the present Church is an older Church built in the 15th century and
accessible by stone steps. Although a monastery, St. Andrew’s never had a
large community of monks, but it was well known not only in Cyprus but
also abroad and received thousands of pilgrims every year. Until the
Turkish invasion of 1974, it was one of the most revered places in Cyprus.
But returning
to Andrew’s second journey, we are told that he set out for Ephesus with
Saint John the Theologian and spent some time evangelizing the western
parts of Asia Minor. Making his way up the coast to the Propontis, and
Bithynia, he spread the word in the cities of Nicaea, Nicomedia, Chalcedon,
Heraclea Pontica and Amastris. He was constantly attacked by fanatical
supporters of pagan cults and by sophists (philosophical thinkers) who
challenged him with their arguments. Saint Andrew managed to confuse both
parties by his wisdom and miracles.
On reaching
Sinope, he taught the word of the gospel to the people, but was also
tested by many afflications. Whilst in Sinope, he heard that the Apostle
Matthias had also passed through that way and had been imprisoned. Andrew
found Matthias and after praying for his release, the chains fell from him
and the cell door opened. This infuriated the pagans and they set out to
deal with Andrew for interfering in their affairs. They threw him on the
ground and pelted him with stones, beat him, stretched his hands and legs,
pierced and cut him, hit him with sticks and even cut of one of his
fingers. He was then taken a great distant outside of the city and left
for dead. But the Lord appeared to him and healed him of his wounds and
encouraged him to continue with his preaching. Like his Master, the Lamb
of God, who came on earth to suffer and to take away the sins of the
world, Andrew sought neither to flee nor to defend himself, but bore
everything with patience. He returned to the city and showed himself
before them, whole without any wound or signs of beatings. Seeing his
steadfastness and forbearance, and the many miracles that he did, the
people of Sinope repented, asked his forgiveness and received holy
Baptism. After he had established a bishop and priests at Sinope, Andrew
returned again to Amisus and Trebizond, which he had already evangelized,
in order to confirm them in the faith. From there he went back to the
Propontis to the cities of Neocaesaria and Samosata where he refuted the
pagan sophists and then made his way once more to Jerusalem for the
Apostolic council, at which the Apostles decided how the Gentiles were to
be received into the Church (Acts 15).
After the
feast of Easter, Andrew went with Matthias and Thaddeus and other
disciples as far as the borders of Mesopotamia, where he left them in
order to preach the Good News in the barbarous lands to the north of the
Black Sea (now the Crimea and Southern Ukraine).
According to
Russian tradition Andrew must have travelled through the lands of Bithynia
and Thrace which he had already Evangelized, went north until he reached
the River Danube and then went along the coast of the Black Sea, through
Crimea, and along the River Dniepr and reached the place where the city of
Kiev now stands. Andrew 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 Dniepr and reached a
settlement of the Slavs, where Novgorod was built. From here the apostle
went through the land of the Varangians and again returned to Thrace,
where in the small village of Byzantium, the future Constantinople, he
founded the first Church of Christ. The name of the holy Apostle Andrew
links the mother Church of Constantinople, with her daughter, the Russian
Church.
At Byzantium
he founded a Church dedicated to the Mother of God, and ordained the
Apostle Stachys, one of the Seventy Apostles, as the first Bishop of
Byzantium. Andrew then journeyed on through Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly
and as far as the city of Patras in the Peloponnese. There he stayed in
the house of a certain Sosias, who was very ill. On entering the house,
Andrew healed him from his disease. The people of Patra heard of the
miracle and came to hear him preach the word of God. Hearing him preach
and being witnesses to other miracles, in a very short time a great many
in Patras believed in Christ and there was soon a large community of
Christians in the city.
At Patras
Andrew also healed Maximilla, the Proconsul’s wife, of an incurable
illness, and so brought her to the faith. Aegeates the Proconsul wanted to
show his gratitude to Andrew and offered him gold for his services. Andrew
refused the gold and told Aegeates that he didn’t heal Maximilla for a
reward, but for sake of Jesus Christ. At some time, the Proconsul had to
leave for Rome and in his place as deputy was his brother Stratocles. One
of his servant was very ill and Andrew healed him. Seeing this Stratocles
was converted and together with Maximilla was baptized and became a
Christian.
On his return,
Aegeates was enraged at the conversions to the Christian Faith by members
of his own family and ordered his wife to return to her old faith of
worshipping the idol gods. She refused and so Aegeates had the Apostle
arrested and cast into prison. Maximilla and Stratocles visited him in the
prison and after giving them his blessing, he ordained Stratocles as
Bishop of Patras. Some days later the Apostle was condemned to be
crucified. The crucifixion was carried out on an X-shaped cross with the
body of the Apostle upside down so that he saw neither the earth nor his
executioners, but only the sky which he glorified as the heaven in which
he would meet his Lord. Instead of nailing him to the cross, which was the
normal procedure in crucifixions, Aegeates had him tied to the cross so
that he would live longer and suffer more. Twenty thousand of the faithful
stood by and mourned. Even then, Andrew taught them and exhorted them to
endure temporary sufferings for the kingdom of heaven. Many of the
faithful demonstrated against Aegeates and fearing the mob would attack
him, he run to have Andrew taken down from the Cross. Andrew though was
joyful that he was to imitate Christ even in the way in which he was to
die for Him. He told Aegeates that it would be better to try and save
himself from his disbelief than save him from the cross, but it was not
too late, he too could still become a Christian. As for himself he said
that he had already seen Jesus and he would not allow himself to be
removed from the cross. Many tried to undo the knots, but their hands all
became numb. Andrew blessed his faithful for the last time and suddenly, a
heavenly light illumined Andrew and the cross for about half an hour. When
it left, Andrew had given up his spirit.
His body was
tenderly removed from the cross by Bishop Stratocles and Maximilla, and
buried with all of the honour befitting the Apostle. With his own money,
Bishop Stratocles built the cathedral church over the place of the
Apostle’s martyrdom. Soon countless numbers of Christians made their way
to Patras to pay reverence to the grave of St. Andrew. Aegeates realized
that the man he had put to death was truly a holy man of God and repented
for his unjust decision and killed himself by jumping off a cliff.
Many years
later, on 3 March 357, the precious relics of the Apostle were brought
from Patras to Constantinople by Saint Artemius at the command of the
Emperor Constantius, the son of Saint Constantine. They were placed with
those of Saint Luke and Saint Timothy in the new Church of the Holy
Apostles. Saint Andrew was returned to the City that had first heard the
message of Jesus Christ from his lips. Thus he became in death, as well as
in life, the founder of the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople. To
calm the fury of the people of Patras, who were against the removal of the
relics from their city, Constantius promised them an irrigation system by
channeling water from Mount Voida into the city. Thus St. Andrew was also
responsible for Patras’ drinking water.
Five hundred
years later, St. Andrew’s relics came back to Patras, sent by the Emperor
Basil I the Macedonian (867-86). In 1460, on the eve of the Turkish
invasion of the Peloponnese, Thomas Palaeologus, the Despot of Morea,
presented them to Pius II, Pope of Rome. The skull of the Apostle was
formally returned to Patras on 26 September 1964, to the great joy of the
faithful. Today, in the Church of St. Andrew in Patras, one can see and
venerate the X shaped cross where the Apostle gave up his last breath.
In the Western
tradition, Saint Andrew is especially venerated as the patron of Scotland.
Saint Rule, a native of Patras, is said to have brought a part of the
precious relics of the Apostle to Scotland in obedience to a vision. He
founded a church in Fife at the place now called St Andrews, which became
a centre of evangelization and pilgrimage. In the Middle Ages, there were
more than eight hundred churches in Scotland dedicated to the First-called
of the Apostles. The Cross of Saint Andrew also adorns the British flag
where it was placed after the union of Scotland and England.
We still have
some time and so I thought I could say something about our other Saint
here in Mesa Geitonia. I mean of course St. John the Baptist whose chapel
we use for our English services. In fact what we now call the chapel was
until the 1950s the main Church of Mesa Geitonia which then was only a
small village. As the village began to grow and become part of Limassol
the locals needed a bigger Church and so work began on St. Andrew’s Church
in 1953.
We know about
John’s conception and birth from the Gospel according to St. Luke and all
the Gospels mention his activities in the wilderness where he preached
repentance and baptized the people that came to him. I’m sure you have all
read how he baptized Christ, was arrested by Herod and then as a gift to
Herodias daughter Salome after she danced for him, had John beheaded in
prison. If you don’t, then you desperately need to read up on the Gospels.
The Gospels tell us that when John was beheaded, his disciples came and
took his body and buried it in a tomb. What the Gospels don’t tell us is
what happened to his head?
According to
Tradition, when John’s head was taken before Herod to give to Salome, his
mouth opened once more and proclaimed: “Herod, you should not have the
wife of your brother Philip.” Salome took the platter with the head of St
John and gave it to her mother. The frenzied Herodias repeatedly stabbed
the tongue of the prophet with a needle and buried his holy head in a
unclean place where she would from time to time go to tread on the earth
to satisfy her hatred for him. But John’s head did not stay there for
long; Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, saw where Herodias buried
it. This good and God-fearing Joanna could not bear that the head of the
godly man should remain in an unworthy place, so she secretly dug it up,
put it in an earthen vessel, took it to Jerusalem and buried it on the
Mount of Olives, where Herod had a parcel of land.
After many
years, this property passed into the possession of a government official
who became a monk with the name of Innocent. He built a church and a cell
there. When he started to dig the foundation, he found an earthen pot
containing a head which, it was revealed to him secretly, was that of the
Baptist. Innocent recognized its great holiness from the signs of grace
emanating from it. This event is known as the First Finding of the Head.
Innocent preserved it with great piety, but fearful that the holy relic
might be abused by unbelievers, before his own death he again hid it in
that same place, where it was found. Upon his death the church fell into
ruin and was destroyed.
The head was
found again in the fourth century after John the Baptist appeared twice to
two monks travelling on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and revealing to them
the location of his venerable head. The monks uncovered the holy relic
and, placing it into a sack of camel-hair, they proceeded homewards. Along
the way they encountered an unnamed potter and gave him the precious
burden to carry. Not knowing what he was carrying, the potter continued on
his way. But the holy Forerunner appeared to him and ordered him to flee
from the careless and lazy monks, with what he held in his hands. The
potter concealed himself from the monks and at home he preserved the
venerable head with reverence. Before his death he placed it in a water
jug and gave it to his sister.
By God’s
providence, the wonder-working head went from hand to hand, disappearing
into the darkness of forgetfulness. There are varied accounts as to what
happened to the head, but all from unreliable sources. During the Saracen
raids we are told that it was transferred to Komana and during the
iconoclastic persecution it was hidden in the ground for safekeeping. In
about 850 after the veneration of icons was restored, Patriarch Ignatius
(847-857) saw in a vision the place where the head of St John the
Forerunner was hidden. The patriarch communicated this to the emperor, who
sent a delegation to Komana. There indeed they found the head of the
Baptist, not as the first time, in an earthen vessel, but in one made of
silver. The holy relic was taken to Constantinople where it was received
with great joy by the Emperor, the Patriarch and all the Orthodox people.
The First and Second Findings are commemorated on 24th February and the
Third Finding on 25th May.
Many miracles
were performed by the head of the Forerunner. It is interesting to note
that, while he was alive, John didn’t perform even a single miracle, but
to his relics was given the blessed power of working many miracles.
There is also
a story of what happened to Salome. While crossing the River Sikoris in
winter, she fell through the ice. The ice gave way in such a way that her
body was in the water, but her head was trapped above the ice. One can say
that it was similar to how she once had danced with her feet upon the
ground, but now she was helplessly dancing in the icy water. Eventually
the sharp ice cut through her neck. Her corpse was not found, but they
brought the head to Herod and Herodias, as they had once brought them the
head of St John the Baptist.
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