The reliquary containing fragments of the holy cross on which St Andrew suffered martyrdom in the first century was placed on Wednesday on a new marble base inside St Andrew’s Cathedral in Patra, Greece.
According to the Patra Metropolis, the base consists of three levels and was made by specialists at the initiative of His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patra.
On the second level, there is an inscription containing a passage of the Apolytikon (Troparion) of St Andrew’s cross, ‘We bow down before the wood of your Cross, O Apostle, for you were nailed on it, Andrew the First Called’.
On the upper level, there is an icon of St Andrew on the X-shaped cross, and around it are inscribed the words St Andrew uttered at the sight of the cross on which he would sacrifice his life, ‘Rejoice, O Cross! Truly, rejoice!’
The cross of Saint Andrew was taken from Greece by the Duke of Burgundy during the Crusades.
Fragments of the cross were enshrined at St Victor’s Church in Marseilles, France.
On January 19, 1980, these fragments were returned to Patra, Greece, where the First-Called among the Lord’s Apostles suffered martyrdom.
Photo: Patra Metropolis
