Encomium to Saint Andrew the Apostle (St. Athanasios the Great)

 

Encomium to Saint Andrew the Apostle 

By St. Athanasios the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria

A. Seeing this radiant flock of the Spirit, this apostolic net cast into a truly calm and untroubled sea, I am reminded of the Master’s voice crying, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” O voice full of power! O words made known by deeds! O promise that is true and grows day by day! For whose is this great catch of human beings? Who has gathered together this illustrious festival, if not the illustrious Andrew, the foremost of the apostles? He it was who cast out the nets of his tongue and memory, so that — filling this sacred ship with the oars of apostleship — he might steer the vessel straight toward heaven.

And what are the first fruits of this catch? What are the choice offerings of these labors? Those who brighten the enclosure of the priesthood with their virtues; those who first spread wide these apostolic arms and drew into salvation those wandering outside. Indeed, the great Andrew has given the occasion for our present festival; yet the whole chorus of the apostles is honored together. For those whom grace has joined, no place can part.

Homily for the Commemoration of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily for the Commemoration of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

I congratulate you all on the feast of Saint Andrew the First-Called! He is the first Russian enlightener to bring us the gospel; for he was sent by Christ to the northern lands. He circumnavigated the entire Black Sea, preaching in Sinope, Adjara, Georgia, Abkhazia, and Crimea. He also visited Kuban, where he was nearly eaten by cannibals. According to legend, he ascended the Dnieper to what would become Kiev and erected a cross on Saint Andrew's Hill as a sign that the gospel would shine forth there. A church dedicated to Saint Andrew the First-Called now stands on this site. Tradition says that the Apostle Andrew also reached Valaam. He founded the Church in the city of Byzantium (the future Constantinople), from which the Russian Church traces its lineage. The line of all Russian bishops and priests descends from Saint Andrew the First-Called. He also preached in European countries. He ended his life in the city of Patara or Patras.

Homily Two on the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two on the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called 

By St. John of Kronstadt

"God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men" (1 Cor. 4:9).

This time, on the glorious day of the commemoration of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, we will explain the daily reading from the Apostle, for this reading briefly gives us an understanding of the entire activity of Christ's Apostles, and therefore also of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called: their ardent love for Christ and for people, their lofty and unwavering faith and hope of eternal life, their self-denial for the sake of God and the salvation of people, their complete disdain for everything that flatters the feelings of the old man here in this age. Here is the reading from the Apostle in Russian: 

"Brethren, God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in dishonor. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me" (1 Cor. 4:9-16). 

Homily Two on Andrew, the Apostle of Christ (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

Homily Two on Andrew, the Apostle of Christ 

By Archimandrite George Kapsanis,

Abbot of Gregoriou Monastery

On today's feast of the Apostle Andrew, we feel spiritual joy, because the Holy Apostle Andrew is the illuminator of the Greek Nation. For each Saint we celebrate, we feel spiritual joy, but we feel much more joy for those Saints who walked the soil of our homeland and enlightened our people and dyed this land porphyry with the fountains of their blood.

We are struck by the fact that the Holy Apostle Andrew from the beginning had followed the Lord with great desire, leaving his first teacher, Saint John the Forerunner. He obeyed and humbled himself before Christ and served Him together with the other Holy Apostles until the end and even shed his blood in a horrible death for the love of the Lord Christ.

November: Day 30: Teaching 2: Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called

November: Day 30: Teaching 2:
Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called
 
(The Call of Believers to Salvation and our Indifference to This Call)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. One day, during the first year of His public ministry to humanity, Jesus Christ was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He was then still little known to the world as a Preacher and was just gathering His first followers, His disciples, around Him. Seeing two young brothers, Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew — later known as the Apostle Andrew, the First-Called, whose memory is celebrated today — casting their nets into the sea, the Savior, as if in passing, said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." The brothers did not question their divine Master about who He was, by what power He commanded them, or where He would lead them, but immediately abandoned their nets and followed the Savior. Walking with them further, Jesus Christ saw two more brothers, James and John, sitting with their father Zebedee in a boat, mending their nets. The Son of God, who sees into the hearts and innermost thoughts of men, called these young men, and they immediately responded with complete readiness to the voice calling them: they left their father, the boat, and the nets and followed Jesus.