Biography of Andrei the First -Called

This northern part of the Holy Land was distinguished by fertility and picturesqueness, and its inhabitants - good -natured and hospitality. The Galileans easily got along with the Greeks, who inhabited their country in many, many spoke Greek and even wore Greek names. The name Andrei is Greek and translated means "courageous." When John the Baptist began to preach on the shores of Jordan, Andrei, along with John Zhevedeeev, was coming to him from the same city - the Bethsaids followed the prophet, hoping in his teaching to find an answer to his spiritual issues.

Many began to think that maybe John the Baptist is the expected Messiah, but he explained to people that he was not the Messiah, but was sent only to prepare his path. Hearing this, Andrei and John followed Jesus. The Lord, seeing them, asked: “What do you need? So Peter joined the disciples of Christ. However, the apostles did not immediately completely devote themselves to the Apostolic rank.

From the Gospel we know that the brothers Andrei and Simon Peter and the brothers John and Jacob had to return to their families for some time and do their usual work-fishing. A few months later, the Lord, passing by the Galilean Lake and seeing them fishing fish, said: "Follow me, and I will make you fishing people." Then they left their boats and nets and from that day became the indefinite disciples of Christ.

Here he stayed at the Kyiv mountains for the night. Getting up in the morning, he said to the former students with him: “Do you see these mountains? The grace of God shines on these mountains, there will be a great city, and God will erect many churches. ” The apostle rose to the mountains, blessed them and hoisted the cross. Having prayed, he climbed even higher along the Dnieper and reached the settlements of the Slavs, where Novgorod was founded.

From here the apostle went through the lands of the Varangians to Rome for a sermon and returned to Thrace, where in a small village of Byzantium, the future powerful Constantinople, founded the Christian church. The name of the Holy Apostle Andrei connects the mother - the Church of Constantinople with her daughter - the Russian Church. On his way, the First -Called Apostle underwent a lot of sorrows and torment from the Gentiles: he was expelled from cities, beaten.

In Sinop, he was beaten with stones, but, remaining unharmed, the faithful disciple of Christ tirelessly carried a preaching about the Savior. According to the prayers of the apostle, the Lord performed miracles. By the works of the Holy Apostle Andrei, Christian churches arose, with which he put bishops and priesthood. The last city, where the First -Called Apostle came and where he was destined to accept the martyrdom, was the city of Patra, located near the Corinthian Gulf.

The Lord showed many miracles through his disciple in the city of Patra. The illustious was healed, the blind were seeing. According to the prayer of the Apostle, he recovered a seriously ill saosi, a noble citizen; The application of the apostolic hands was healed by Maximille, the wife of the ruler of Patra, and his brother Stratoklia. The miracles committed by the Apostle and his fiery word enlightened the true faith of almost all citizens of the city of Patra.

There were a little pagans in the patra, among them was the ruler of the city of Egeat. The Apostle Andrei has repeatedly addressed him with the words of the gospel.

But even the miracles of the Apostle did not admonish Egeat. The Holy Apostle with love and humility appealed to his soul, trying to reveal to him the Christian secret of eternal life, the miraculous power of the Holy Cross of the Lord. The angry Eegeat ordered the crucifixion of the apostle. The pagan thought to discredit the sermon of St. Andrew if he betrayed him to death on the cross, which was glorified by the Apostle.

With joy, St. Andrew adopted the primary decision of the ruler and with a prayer to the Lord himself ascended the place of execution. To extend the torment of the Apostle, Egeat ordered not to beat the hands and feet of the saint, but to tie them to the cross. For two days the apostle from the cross taught the gathered around the townspeople. The people who listened to him were compassionate with all their hearts and demanded that the Holy Apostle be removed from the cross.

Frightened by popular indignation, Egeat ordered to stop execution. But the Holy Apostle began to pray that the Lord would honest him with the cross of death. No matter how the warriors tried to remove the Apostle Andrei, their hands did not obey them. The crucified apostle, having given to God praise, said: "Lord, Jesus Christ, come my spirit." Then the bright radiance of the divine light illuminated the cross and the martyr crucified on it.

Maximilla, the wife of the ruler, removed the body of the apostle from the cross and buried him with honor. Several centuries later, under the emperor Konstantin the Great, the relics of the Holy Apostle Andrei were solemnly transferred to Constantinople and laid in the Church of the Holy Apostles next to the relics of the Holy Evangelist Luke and the disciple of the apostle Paul - the apostle Timofei.

The Russian Church, having accepted faith from Byzantium, whose bishops lead from the Apostle Andrei, also considers himself his successor. That is why the memory of St. Andrew the First -Called was so solemnly revered in pre -revolutionary Russia. Emperor Peter I established in honor of the Apostle Andrew the first and highest Order, which was given as a reward to the dignitaries of the state.Since Peter's times, the Russian fleet made the Andreevsky flag with his extinct, against the white background of the blue cross of form X, under whose canopy the Russians won many victories.

He, like his brother Peter, was engaged in fishing. Perhaps he was even present at the baptism of the Lord. At the call of the forerunner, he went for Jesus: the next day, John and two of his disciples stood again. And, seeing the walking Jesus, he said: here is the Lamb of God. Hearing these words from him, both students followed Jesus. Jesus, turning and seeing them walking, says to them: what do you need?

They told him: Rabbi, - what does it mean: teacher, - where do you live? Says them: go and see. They went and saw where he lives; And he stayed with him the day. It was about the tenth hour. He first finds his brother Simon and says to him: we found the Messiah, which means: Christ; And he led him to Jesus in. Based on the information contained in this passage, the Apostle Andrei is called the First -Called.

Passing near the Sea of ​​Galilee, he saw two brothers: Simon, called Peter, and Andrei, his brother, throwing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen, and tells them: go after me, and I will make you fish catchers. And they immediately, leaving the boat and their father, followed him MF. In the Gospel of John, the name of the Apostle Andrei is once again mentioned in the story of the miraculous saturation with five bread and two fish of five thousand people who came to listen to the sermon of Christ.

Andrei told the Lord about the boy who had these bread and fish. In the Gospel, Peter often with his spontaneity and straightforwardness shades the presence of Andrei, but the thoughtful reader sees that Andrei was one of the closest disciples of the Lord; Until the last day of his life, he suffered people with the bore of Christ and accepted the martyrdom for evidence of faith.

After the descent of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost, the apostles, remembering the words of Christ, who commanded them to bear the testimony of him "to the edge of the earth", threw a lot, who showed where to go. Andrei fell out to preach the Gospel in the city of Byzantium and in Thrace, the territory now occupying the northeastern part of Greece, the south of Bulgaria and the northwestern part of Turkey.

Apostle Andrei turned many people to Christ in different countries. In Byzantium, he set by the bishop of St. Stachius. Subsequently, the Apostle Andrei preached in the Danube lands, in the countries of the Black Sea region present-day Ukraine and the south-west of Russia. There is a legend according to which he went far to the north, to the lands of ancient Novgorod. On the banks of the Dnieper, he stopped relaxing at the foot of the green hills of present -day Kyiv and told the disciples: "The grace of God shines on these hills; there will be a great city; the Lord will erect many churches here, and all Rus' will be enlightened by the Holy Baptism." It is also known that the apostle Andrei brought good news to Epirus, in the West of Greece, and to the Peloponnes, where he preached, committed many miracles and healings and took death for Christ in the city of Patra.

The Apostle came to patra, and soon the sermon performed by the Blessed Power gave a plentiful fruit: most of the townspeople turned to Christ. According to his prayers, the illuminated and obsessed were healed by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his presence, people, who had sorrow and misfortunes, calmed down and comforted, and Christians were strengthened in faith.

On the shore of the sea near Patr there was a colony of patients with leprosy, and when the lepers heard the sermon of the Apostle Andrey, they believed and received healing. One of them, a man named Job, followed the saint and everywhere loudly announced how great the god of Christians was. In the patra, there lived a Roman proxul named Egeat, whose wife, Maximilla, suffered from a serious illness of her eyes and was already at death.

Prokonsul did not hope that she might get better. Someone from the home Proconssul, who knew the Apostle Andrei, begged him to come and put his hands on her. The Holy Apostle Andrei came, prayed for her, and she immediately healed. Egeat, seeing this, brought and laid a huge amount of money to the apostle's feet, but the apostle Andrei replied: “Our Lord and the teacher said“ we received it for nothing, let's say, ”MF.

Former idolaters - residents of Patr - defeated the statues of the gods who worshiped in the temples of the city, and raised funds for the Apostle and its followers. Andrei still refused all the gifts, asking them to give them to the poor. Rich residents of Patr donated a lot of money for the church. Soon after the healing of Maximilla, Pronsul went to Rome to meet with Emperor Nero and decided to leave his brother Stratokl, the famous Athenian mathematician in the patra, for this.

Stratokol went from Athens to Patra, but on the way one of his servants, whom Stratokol loved like a brother, was attacked by demons - he had no elegance and bouts of trembling for no natural reason. The servant was shown to the doctors, but they could not help, and Stratokol was very grief. When they arrived in patra, Maximille told him about her healing. She advised to turn to the apostle and ask for his prayers.Stratokol called the Apostle Andrei, and the Apostle healed the servant, after which both Maximille and Straticol, renouncing paganism, took baptism.

Pronsul returned from Rome, but the miracles of healing in his own family did not move him to reject the pagan gods, since his position did not allow him to abandon idolatry. After long attempts to turn it, Maximil said that if he prefers to remain a pagan, she could no longer live with him like a wife. Egeat, angry, ordered the Apostle Andrei to abandon the palace prison.

That same night, Stratokl and Maximille came to him, and he spoke with them for a long time, and then laid his hands on stoncol and put it with a bishop of Patr. Meanwhile, many people gathered at the walls with the intention of taking a dungeon storm, kill the Pronsul and free the apostle. When the Apostle Andrei was told about this plan, he forbade the use of power, reminding the converted townspeople that the Christian should not be afraid of earthly suffering and death, but imitate the meekness of the Lord Himself.