Who is St Andrew?
This story of St Andrew starts with the fact that St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and his banquet/feast day is venerated on November 30 every 12 months. Andrew became considered one among Christ’s authentic twelve apostles and the brother of one of the other apostles, Simon Peter. In Galilee, each lived and worked as a fisherman. There may be very not anything else regarded approximately Andrew’s lifestyle.
He has travelled to Greece to evangelize Christianity, in which he changed into crucified at Patras on an X-fashioned go. This is represented through the diagonal go, or ‘saltire,’ on Scotland’s flag. Andrew’s reference to Scotland pertains to the legend that a number of his stays have been saved on the web page. This is now the city of St Andrews. A chapel changed into constructed to residence the stays and have become an area of pilgrimage. St Andrew is likewise the purchaser saint of Greece and Russia.
The story of St Andrew’s life
Andrew manner is manly in Greek. St. Andrew’s biographical facts are straightforward: he changed into born among AD five and AD 10 in Bethsaida, Palestine’s predominant fishing port. His parents’ names have been Jona and Joanna, and he had a brother named Simon. Jona changed into a fisherman, his commercial enterprise accomplice and buddy Zebedee, and his sons James and John.
Andrew changed into obviously curious. He commenced attending synagogue faculty at the age of 5, analyzing Torah, astronomy, and arithmetic. Later, at the banks of the Jordan, Andrew encountered John the Baptist. Before feeding the 5 thousand, he introduced the child with the loaves and fishes to Jesus.
According to the apocryphal ‘ Acts of Andrew, he has journeyed to Asia Minor and the Black Sea. He is thought to have endured severe hardships in Syncope, and the house he lived in was nearly burnt down. He returned twice more to Asia Minor and Greece, travelling as far as Hungary, Russia, and the Oder banks in Poland.
In Greece, Andrew compelled his manner via a wooded area inhabited by wolves, bears, and tigers. Finally, he was offered to be brought as a sacrifice to the gods or to be scourged and crucified in Patras. The direction of travel was modified to diagonal at his request. He, like his brother Peter, felt unfit to be crucified at Christ’s right hand.
He hung for three days at the go, constant now no longer through nails however through a rope round his palms and feet. Even in his remaining agony, he persisted in evangelizing. So, ended the life of Saint Andrew.
Andrew’s bones come to Scotland.
This story of St Andrew is not complete if there is noting about the bones of Andrew coming to Scotland. So, how did Saint Andrew’s relics end up in Scotland? There are several variants, the most common of which is a religious daydream. A vision told Saint Regulus (later known as Rule), a Greek monk and keeper of St Andrew’s relics at Patras, to hide a number of the relics awaiting further instruction. Emperor Constantine brought the remaining sections of Andrew’s frame to Constantinople a few days later.
The rule was told to gather the bones he had hidden and sail west by delivery by an angel. He shifted to establishing the ideals of a church wherever they were stranded. The angel predicted that travellers from all over the West would flock to this shrine in search of physical and spiritual well-being.
Athelstaneford’s Scottish Flag Heritage Centre has a doocot (dovecote). George Hepburn constructed it in 1583, and it changed into refurbished in 1996. A typhoon drove Saint Rule’s delivery ashore at the promontory of Muckross in Fife into the small city of Kilrymont (later St Andrews). Saint Rule’s molecular is said to be approximately midway between the Castle and the harbour.
When Saint Rule arrived, the Apostle appeared to the Pictish King, promising his adversaries victory. In appreciation, the King demonstrated St. Regulus Church’s tenacity to God and Saint Andrew.
This is one suspect, an arresting fantasy that telescopes extra mundane and complex historical facts. A second (and arguably more plausible) explanation is that the bones were brought to St Andrew’s in 732 AD by Acca, Bishop of Hexham (near Newcastle), a well-known venerator of Saint Andrew.
The Northumbrian King Athelstan is said to have camped at Athelstaneford in East Lothian within the 12 months of 832AD (even though others declare 735 AD) earlier than his conflict with the Picts led through King Angus mac Fergus.
In a dream, Saint Andrew seemed to be Angus and prophesied victory. During the battle, a saltire goes changed into seen withinside the sky, giving the Scots hope (observe that this changed into now no longer jumbo-jet vapour trails or maybe a cloud formation!).
Athelstane changed into killed on the Cogtail hearthplace ford. Angus expressed his gratitude by donating to the church of Saint Regulus in St Andrews. He then made the Cross of Saint Andrew the Picts’ emblem.
However, this basic tale of an extra solid country in what might emerge as Scotland is sort of honestly primarily based totally at the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great’s victory on the Milvian Bridge in Rome in 312 AD at the banks of the River Tiber. At the same time, he changed into the satisfaction of the energy of Christianity through seeing the image of Christ (the Chi Rho – the Greek letters P, the primary letters of ‘Christ’) withinside the rays of the placing sun.
Whatever course Saint Andrew’s relics took, we understand that during AD 908, the most effective diocese in Scotland changed into moved from Abernethy (the royal home) to St Andrew’s. As a result, the city quick has become famous as a pilgrimage destination.
Increase in popularity
During the reigns of Malcolm Canmore and Queen Margaret, Saint Andrew’s devotion grew to a national level, and Andrews became a national feast. Saint Andrew was the Patron Saint of Christian Knighthood for Scottish warriors fighting in the Crusades.
St. Andrew’s Cathedral, regarded as the Canterbury of the North, was dedicated in 1318. Before the Reformation, it was Scotland’s largest church. Saint Andrew’s University was founded in 1411, and the See of St. Andrews was elevated to Metropolitan status sixty-one years later.
The enormous Morbrac (reliquary) that carried the saint’s bones and weighed one-third of a ton was destroyed during the Reformation. The street games, festivities, fireworks, and evergreen processions that used to take place on November 30 were all banned for good.
Stained glass window with Saint Andrew depicted barefoot in the water, holding a fishing line, with a tiny fishing boat visible behind him.
Andrew’s importance to the Scots
What, in practice, did Saint Andrew suggest to the Scots? When the new King James I and VI sought to create a single united flag in 1603, the Scots objected because the saltire was given a lesser role within the design. The Saint Andrew’s Cross was flown by Scottish ships at sea.
In 1707, the Union Jack became the reliable flag of the Union of the Parliaments. However, at the same time as the pink Lion Rampant is the rightful Royal banner for Scotland and the Thistle is the countrywide symbol, reliable heraldic legal guidelines claim that the Saint Andrew’s Cross is Scotland’s countrywide flag and arms.
Saint Andrew is the customer saint of Russia and Greece. However, he holds unique means for the Scots. The Declaration of Arbroath (1320), written through Scottish clerics to Pope John XXII, appealed to the Pope towards the English announcement that Scotland becomes a challenge to the Archbishop of York.
According to the Declaration, the Scots have been an awesome country that had long loved the safety of Saint Andrew, the brother of Saint Peter. Saint Andrew is identified as “our customer or defender” withinside the Declaration of Arbroath.
The Scottish squaddies wore the white go of St Andrew on their tunics on the Conflict of Bannockburn, close to Stirling, in 1314, and earlier than the struggle began, they knelt in prayer, asking for his safety.
Four years later, on July 5, 1318, at some point of the consecration of St Andrews Cathedral, Robert the Bruce positioned a parchment on the High Altar expressing the country’s gratitude to the saint.
William Wallace’s struggle cry becomes “St. Andrew mot us speed” (May Saint Andrew help us). Before the tragic Scottish defeat at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, many Saint Andrew’s crosses had been long-established at Edinburgh’s Boroughmuir.
The Saint Andrew’s Cross became additionally protected at the Blue Blanket flag, which became given to the Trade Guilds of Edinburgh, and Scotland’s biggest ship, the Great Michael, in addition to the Honours of Scotland.
The saltire becomes carried through Mary, Queen of Scots’ military on the Battle of Carberry, and plenty of Jacobite banners withinside the ‘forty-five Uprising did as well. It fast has become part of the reliable badges of Scottish regiments. Robert II even struck a Saint Andrew coin and a bawbee Scots halfpenny with the equal crook.
Movement of relics
In 1879 the Archbishop of Amalfi in Italy (the bones were added in 1453 after the autumn of Constantinople) dispatched to Edinburgh what became believed to be St Andrew’s shoulder-blade.
In April 1969, Pope Paul VI bestowed any other relic – a part of the saint’s skull – on Cardinal Gordon Gray, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. “Peter greets his brother Andrew,” the Pope stated to the Archbishop. The Apostle’s relics are exhibited at St Andrew’s altar in Edinburgh’s Metropolitan Cathedral of St Mary. Saint Andrew’s cranium quantities are preserved in honour at St. Andrew’s Cathedral close to the ocean in Patras, Greece.
While skepticism concerning the legitimacy of relics is understandable, there may be no dispute approximately the significance of an annual commemoration of St. Andrew as reflecting power and inquiry, attributes that have long been related to the Scottish mindset.
Saint Andrew was a ‘networker,’ a fisherman who also recruited Gentiles (non-Jews) to Jesus and preached about Him to the Black Sea. The saltire goes a multiplication sign, reminding us that Saint Andrew was the sole one who brought Jesus the tiny kid and his loaves and fishes. Perhaps Saint Andrew became an expert at exposing those who had concealed their meals to share them with the 5,000 others.
Andrew the Protocletus
Being first is a primary deal. We can best believe how Neil Armstrong felt just like the first character to set foot on the moon or how George Washington felt like America’s first president become sworn in. Imagine turning into the primary adherent of what went directly to become the world’s most famous religion.
Jesus Christ had 12 disciples, in line with the Christian Bible. In ecclesiastical traditions, that man or woman become Andrew, also called the Protocletus, or the primary called. Andrew has an outstanding location in Christian cultures as a disciple, Apostle, and saint. After all, being first is a primary deal.
Introducing Saint Andrew in stone!
He is a magnificent work of art, measuring 72 cm tall.
His robes are exquisitely detailed, and his face captures the serenity of this holy saint.
This statue would be a beautiful addition to any home or garden and makes a perfect gift for any religious occasion.
Weighing 12 kg measures 72 cm / 28.35 inches in height, this statue makes a striking addition to any home or religious space.
Saint Andrew remains in Scotland, Russia, Romania, Amalfi, and Luqa (Malta). Many countrywide flags depict the go on which he becomes crucified and, as a result, undergo a testimony to him. For example, the flag of Scotland (and in the end, the Union Jack and the flag of Nova Scotia) characteristic a saltire in commemoration of the form of Saint Andrew’s go. The saltire is likewise the flag of Tenerife and the naval jack of Russia.
The feast day of Andrew is on the 30th of November for both eastern and western Christianity.
Saint Andrew is respected within the Greek Orthodox subculture because of the founding father of the See of Constantinople and the supply of apostolic succession within the church. Likewise, he is a well-known icon portrayal and a famous call for boys in diverse nations with a commonly Christian population.
Conclusion of the Story of St Andrew
Saint Andrew is the customer saint of Scotland, Greece, and Russia and became Christ’s first disciple. There are around six hundred pre-Reformation church buildings in England named after Saint Andrew, according to Scotland’s handful of church buildings of all denominations named after the saint. Nevertheless, Scotland followed Andrew as its customer – likely because Saint Andrew, being the brother of Saint Peter, gave the Scots big political leverage with the Pope in pleading for assist towards the belligerent English!