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Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called Andrew was a Jew, from Bethsaida of Galilee, a fisherman and brother of the Ap. Peter and originally a disciple of John the Baptist. As soon as the Forerunner pointed to the coming Christ: behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Andrew was the first to become a disciple of Jesus Christ (John 1:35–42), the first to confess Him as the Messiah before his elder brother Simon Peter: we have found the Messiah, the spoken Christ, and is called the First Called. From catching fish on the Sea of ​​Galilee, Andrei was called by the Lord Himself to the title of Apostle and, according to the calculation of the Evangelist Matthew, takes second place among the Apostles (Matt. 4:18–19; 10:2). Among the four disciples of the Lord, Andrei was awarded by Him the trust to hear His prophecy about the future destinies of the Church and the world (Mark 13:3–5) and the special closeness of his relationship with Jesus Christ (John 12:21–22). In the Upper Room of Zion, together with the other disciples, Andrei was consoled by the appearance of the Risen One and received from Him, together with the other Apostles, the power to bind and solve sins. In the same upper room he was honored with the descent of St. Spirit, suffered for preaching the Gospel in Jerusalem from the Jews and participated in the Apostolic Council, which took place around 50 AD (Acts 15:28). Raising labors and illnesses in the gospel of Christ, Ai. Andrew spread his preaching around many countries of Asia and Europe, Bithynia and Propontis, Greece and Macedonia, Thrace and Scythia. To preach the Gospel, he made three journeys from Jerusalem and Judea - the first to Syrian Antioch, to Tiana, a city in Cappadocia, from where he reached Sinop within Scythia, the former capital of Pontus, where residents still point out monuments of his stay. From Sinop, the First-Called was in Amisia or Amasia on the banks of the Pontus; He also visited Trapezon, from where he went to Iberia, from there to the land of the Parthians or to Samkhetia and returned to Jerusalem for the Easter holiday. After the Feast of Pentecost, St. Ap. Andrew undertook his second journey to preach the Gospel and establish churches. From Jerusalem he again arrived in Syrian Antioch, in Ephesus, in Laodicea, in Odysse, the city of Mysia, in Nicaea in Bithynia, where the Apostle converted many to Christ and baptized. After staying in Nicaea for two years, the First-Called wandered to neighboring Nicomedia. From there he sailed by sea to the Bithynian city of Chalcedon, then visited Heraclius and Pontic Amastra or Amastris by sea, where he remained for a long time, and enlightened many with the light of the Gospel. From Amastris he arrived in the city of Charikon. After planting the saving faith in this city, the Apostle sailed to Sinop and was again in Amisia and Trebizond. With great success he preached the faith of Christ in Neocaesarea and reached the city of Samosat in Armenia, from where he returned to Jerusalem for the Easter holiday. From Jerusalem, the First-Called set off on his third and last journey to convert Jews and pagans to Christ and arrived in Edessa, visited Svaneti, the borders of Ossetia. From Ossetia he went to Abkhazia and stopped in the city of Sevast (Sukhum); from here along Pomorie to the land of the Dzhigets. Then he visited the seaside city of Pontus Euxine - Kerch or ancient Vosporus, which lay in the land of the Taurohunns. Following along the southern coast of Taurida, he visited Feodosia, and traveled to the western tip of the peninsula, to the city of Gotfov-Khersones. From here, it is assumed, the Apostle sailed up the Dnieper to Scythia. According to an ancient legend, based on the legend of Hippolytus and Origen - writers of the 3rd century, and, most importantly, accepted by the Church, the First-Called Apostle was even in the then uninhabited mountains of Kyiv, where, having erected a cross, he prophesied the future enlightenment of Russia with the Christian faith. “Do you see these mountains? the Apostle prophesied to his disciples; on these mountains the grace of God will shine, the city will be great and God will erect many churches.” The place where the cross of the First-Called was erected is commemorated in Kyiv with a church in his name. From the mountains of Kyiv Ap. Andrey reached Lake Ilmen. Returning to Chersonesos, St. Andrew again visited Vospor, from there he sailed across Pontus and for the third time arrived in Sinop, where through his diligent labors Christianity had already been established. Having visited many cities and villages where churches were founded, the Apostle Andrew sailed from the shores of Anatolia to preach the Gospel to Byzantium, and in the current suburb of Constantinople, Argyropolis (the silver city), he ordained Stachys bishop for Byzantium (Rom. 16:9), one of the 70 disciples of Christ. From Byzantium, the First-Called arrived in the Thracian city of Heraclius and introduced Christianity there. Then the Apostle preached the Gospel in Thessalonica and confirmed the faith of those converted to Christianity. Paul in the Peloponnese and in the Achaian city of Patras. Here the head of the region, Ageat, an evil pagan, seeing the growing number of Christians and the desolation of pagan temples, and especially irritated with the Apostle for converting his wife to Christianity, imprisoned the preacher of salvation. But the prison of the Apostle became a church where Christians flocked to listen to the saving teaching of the Holy One. prisoner Aegeus or Ageates, seeing the continuation of the preaching he hated, condemned the Apostle to crucifixion, and for preaching the Gospel he was crucified on a cross that looked like the letter X, and therefore is called the cross of Ap. Andrey. The sufferings of the First-Called on the cross continued for two days, and during all this time he did not cease to teach the people crowding around the cross. On November 30, around 70 A.D., the Apostle reposed. The presbyters and deacons of Achaia buried St. the body of the First-Called and betrayed the story of his martyrdom in a small message that has survived to our times. In 355 A.D., during the reign of Constantius, the relics of the First-Called were found and transferred at his request from Patras to Constantinople and placed in the church of St. Apostles between the tombs of St. Evangelist Luke and St. Timothy - a disciple of St. Pavel. The story of this discovery and transfer of the relics instructively shows the high reverence of ancient Christians for St. To the apostles. Constantius, having learned from one bishop that the bodies of Christ's Apostles, Andrew and Luke, were buried in Achaia, that the body of Andrew rested in Patras, and Luke in Thebes of Boeotia, he was very happy with the news, exclaimed loudly and said to those present: “Call Artemius to me.” Artemy came immediately. “I congratulate you, most God-loving of all people,” Constantius called to him. Do you find anything more favorable than the acquisition of the bodies of Christ’s Apostles?” Artemy answered: “Who now and from where, sir, will reveal this treasure to us?” “The Bishop of Achaia, who now presides in Patras, will open,” said Constantius. So go and quickly take them to Constantinople.” Having heard this from the king, Artemy set off on a journey to transfer the holy remains of the Apostles to Constantinople. The relics of Ap. transferred from Achaia. Andrew, Evangelist Luke and St. Timothy, who died in Ephesus of Ionia, was laid in the church of St. Apostles. Since the transfer of the relics of St. Ap. Andrew the First-Called, his memory on November 30 began to be celebrated more solemnly. In the 4th century St. Fathers - Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Proclus and others glorified Andrew the First-Called in their teachings. St. Gregory the Theologian in the IV word against Julian says: “Are you not ashamed of the victims slain for Christ’s sake, and were you not afraid of the great ascetics: Peter, Paul, John, James, Stephen, Luke, Andrew, Thekla and all those to whom great honors and celebrations have been established, whose very bodies, as well as souls, are powerful when they are honored or touched.” In the 5th century, Anatoly of Constantinople, in the 7th century, Andrew of Jerusalem, in the 8th century, John of Damascus, Germanus of Constantinople, and Malax composed many songs of praise that are now sung. Church in honor of St. Ap. Andrew the First-Called. During the time of the Crusaders, the relics of the First Called were transferred in 1208 on May 8th to Italy - to the city of Amalfi, where the 8th day of May is still solemnly celebrated. The head of the First-Called by the last emperor of Constantinople, Constantine, was transferred to Rome, where it is still honored in the Vatican Basilica of St. Ap. Petra. According to the long stay of the relics of St. Audrey in Constantinople due to the communication, kindred and spiritual, of the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople with the autocrats and saints of Russia, particles of St. were repeatedly given to them. relics of the First-Called. Thus, in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, a brush from the gum of his hand is kept, which was brought as a blessing to Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich from the Ecumenical Patriarch Parthenius by Archimandrite Galaktion of Thessalonica. Also, Patriarch Athanasius of Jerusalem sent, as a sacred gift to the Holy Synod, part of the relics of the First Called from Jerusalem, which is now kept in a silver ark in the Synodal Chamber. The reverence of ancient Christians for St. Andrei also preserved his external image for posterity: he was of considerable height, somewhat bent, had an aquiline nose, eyes filled with a gracious expression, slender eyebrows, thick hair and braid. Just as Western Christians turn with special faith to Peter, to whom they attribute the founding of the Roman Church, so Eastern Christians turn with special love to Andrew, who bypassed the boundaries of the Orthodox Church. In 1698, Russia established an order in the name of St. Ap. Andrew the First-Called and at this order she named the Apostle her special patron. Therefore, the day of remembrance of St. Ap. St. Andrew the First-Called in our fatherland is also a cavalry holiday of the order established in honor of this Apostle. On the day dedicated to the memory of St. Apostle Andrew, the Church glorifies him “like the First-Called Apostles, the courage of the same-named God-speaker and the Church’s supreme follower, Peter’s relative: before, as in ancient times, even now he cried to us: come, having found what you desire (Christ). The city of Patras showed the shepherd to you, Apostle Andrew.” Saint Frumentius, Enlightener of Ethiopia The Tyrian merchant Meropius had a nephew, Frumentius, whom he, out of curiosity and on trade matters, went to the countries adjacent to the Red Sea, and took with him, as well as his brother, Edesius. Meropius, landing on the shores of Abyssinia, was killed along with others by local residents (about 340), and Frumentius and Edesius, who were left alive, were presented to the Ethiopian king in Auxum. The king entrusted them with important positions (treasurer and clerk), and after the death of the king, around 342, his widow convinced the brothers to take care of the affairs of the government until the heir came of age. The Christian faith was then known in Abyssinia only through traders from the Roman Empire, for whom Frumentius built a church in Auxum. When the Chagem king reached adulthood, both brothers were released to their fatherland. Edesius went to Tire and was a priest there, and Frumentius arrived in Alexandria to inform the bishop about the situation of the Christians there and the need for evangelists for the country there. Athanasius the Great, after due preparation, consecrated Frumentius himself as bishop around 353. With the help of priests taken from Egypt, he converted to Christianity the two kings who reigned together after the childless Chagem (d. about 351), Elazan and Sazan, and planted the holy faith among the natives, laying the foundation for the translation of the Holy Scriptures and liturgical books into the Abyssinian language. Therefore he is rightly called the Apostle of Ethiopia. Died around 370.