November 30, 2018. + Orthodox Calendar

Orthodox Calendar 2018

Апостол Андрей

Old Style

November 30

Thursday

New Style

December 13

29th Week after Pentecost. Tone 3.
Nativity Fast.

Fish, wine and oil allowed.

Holy and All-Praised Apostle Andrew the First-Called (62).

St. Frumentius, archbishop of Abyssinia (380).

Sts. Peter I (5th c.) and Samuel I (5th-6th c.), catholicoses of Georgia. St. Vakhtang Gorgasali, king of Georgia (502). St. Tudwal, bishop in Wales and Brittany (6th c.). St. Andrew (Saguna), metropolitan of Transylvania (1873). St. Elias, schemamonk of Valaam and Verkhoturye (1900).

Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse

St. Theophan the Recluse

Thursday. [Tit. 1:5-2:1; Luke 20:9-18]

The parable about the vineyard portrays the Old Testament Church; the husbandmen are the hierarchy of those times. Because it was not fulfilling its purpose, a sentence was pronounced over it: to take its vineyard and give it to others. These others were first the holy Apostles, then their successors—the bishops with all the priesthood. God’s vineyard has been the same from the beginning of the world, and the purpose of its husbandmen was, is, and will be the same until the end of the world—to bring to the Lord fruit of the vine—saved souls. This is the task of the Christian hierarchy, and thus, our task. The extent of its fulfilment we can all see. What can one say to this? About many things—glory be to God! But about many, many things one cannot help but to desire better. This particularly concerns the preaching of the word of God. Somewhere preaching is heard; and yet this is only one garden knife in the hands of the husbandmen of God’s vine. Let this not be fulfilled over us: The lord of the vineyard shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. But what if these others should break in on their own, and destroy not only the husbandmen, but the vine itself…

Articles

The Astonishing Missionary Journeys of the Apostle Andrew

Nun Nectaria (McLees), George Alexandrou

The most important thing is that these puzzle pieces – the separate local traditions of Bulgaria, Romania, Ethiopia, of the Aramaic people, the Syrians, the Copts, even the Greek and Roman church traditions all fit together, but you have to follow them step by step to recreate his life. Finally, I had only one piece that I couldn’t fit, even as a possibility: the Declaration of Arbroath, the fourteenth-century Scottish declaration of independence from England which says that the Scots were taught the Christian faith by St. Andrew himself. Historians dismiss this, but I have to point out that his presence there was not physically impossible.

The Astonishing Missionary Journeys of the Apostle Andrew

Nun Nectaria (McLees), George Alexandrou

After the dormition of the Mother of God, St. Andrew began his final journey from Jerusalem. The trail of tradition says that he went back to Pontus, then to Georgia, to the Caucuses, and to the Sea of Azov in southern Russia. From there he went to Donets, to the Crimea, up the Dnepr River to Kiev and to the Scythians of the Ukraine. In the Crimea, where he stayed with the Greeks of Sebastopol and Cherson, we know that there were first-century Christian communities organized by St. Andrew himself. From the Crimea and Kiev in the Ukraine, he would have gone north by river to what is now Moscow, to Novgorod and then to Lake Ladoga (Valaam).

The Astonishing Missionary Journeys of the Apostle Andrew

Nun Nectaria (McLees)

Also, he had a sense of humor. For example, some of the sources say that when he first saw the saunas of the Slavs in what is now Novgorod he wrote letters to friends saying, “These Slavs are such strange people; they torture themselves with birch branches.” He was laughing about it. You cannot imagine him as a master of strictness. He was a humorous man, very humble, very easy. As a Mediterranean person he was surprised by these strange traditions. Of course, he was also a man who had seen many things.

Homily on the Day of the All-Praised Apostle Andrew the First Called. Man’s true, Eternal Riches

St. John of Kronstadt

This is what it means to possess all things. Truly, having nothing on earth and no passionate attachment to anything earthly, the Apostles possessed everything—all spiritual riches, all spiritual power; all spiritual consolation. They counted everything earthly as rubbish, dust, and vanishing smoke, because they had God Himself living in them, working countless miracles through them and saving through them a countless multitude of people.

Unremitting zeal for the preservation of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Instruction on November 30, the feast of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called

Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev)

Today we celebrate the memory of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. This Apostle means very much to the Russian Church. There is tradition that says that during the course of his apostolic journeys, he reached the hills of Kiev and erected a cross there, blessed the people, and pronounced a prophecy: “On these hills will shine forth the grace of God, and a great city will be created here, and the Lord will raise up many churches in it.”

St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle

Nathan Duffy

After following Christ during His earthly ministry, beholding Him after His resurrection, and receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, St. Andrew heeded Our Lord’s commandment to preach the Gospel in all the world and baptize the nations in a most literal and spectacular fashion.

The Moment We Were First Called

Rev. Dr. J. Sergius Halvorsen

No matter where he was, no matter what he was doing, no matter how dark or cold, he needed to look no further than his own heart, for as St. Paul says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 5.5) Filled with that love, Andrew saw the image of God in everyone he met. He saw the image of God in the poor, the angry, the sick, the despairing, the lonely, the stranger. It was this love of God that allowed him to rejoice and give thanks even as he offered his life as a martyr.

The “Trier Sandal” of Apostle Andrew

Anatoly Kholodiuk

According to tradition, holy Empress Helen brought to Trier the sandal worn on the right foot of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called.

Apostle Andrew, the Holy and All-Praised First-Called

The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called was the first of the Apostles to follow Christ, and he later brought his own brother, the holy Apostle Peter, to Christ.

St. Frumentius the Archbishop of Abyssinia, Ethiopia

With the blessing of Saint Athanasius, Frumentius was elevated to become Bishop of Abyssinia and he returned to that country, which had sheltered him from his childhood.

St. Vakhtang Gorgasali, King of Georgia

The holy and right-believing king Vakhtang I ascended the throne of Kartli at the age of fifteen.

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