On 30 November, the Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Andrew the Apostle, the first called, Protector of Romania. His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch and All East and His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest.
The group of hierarchs consisted of His Eminence Sava, Metropolitan of Hauran, His Eminence Basil, Metropolitan of Arcadia, His Grace Qais, Bishop of Etzeroum (members of the Antiochian delegation) and of the following hierarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church: His Eminence Teofan, Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina, His Grace Andrei, Metropolitan of Cluj, Maramures and Salaj, His Eminence Irineu, Metropolitan of Oltenia, His Eminence Nifon, Archbishop of Targoviste and Patriarchal Exarch, His Grace Varlaam Ploiesteanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, His Grace Ieronim Sinaitul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch.
“After reading the Evangelical pericope, the Patriarch of Antioch delivered a sermon in which he spoke about the virtues of Saint Andrew the Apostle, from which we render a fragment below: “Saint Andrew is a telling example for every one of us. He said through his behaviour and the life he lived: “When I look at the Holy Cross, my dignity does no longer exist, I throw it away, because my Saviour, while loving me, did not take into account His dignity”. Andrew tells every one of us: “Whoever walks on the way of Christ, he walks on the way of Golgotha. But at the end of the way of Golgotha there is not the darkness of the graves, by the light of glory. The one who walks on the way of Christ is not afraid of the hard climb of Golgotha with the cross on his back, because he feels Jesus Christ, our Lord, is with him, and He does not let him fall under the weight of the cross. He, who gave his life out of love for humans, so much the more will help us on this hard way.”
To end with the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel spoke about Saint Andrew the Apostle.
“Your Beatitude, Your Eminences, Your Graces, Rt Rev and Rev Fathers, beloved faithful, men and women, we thank God for having celebrated together this Liturgy in this Holy Cathedral with His Beatitude Patriarch John of Antioch and All East as guest of honour. It is a great joy for us to see each other face to face and to celebrate together the Holy Divine Liturgy and to communicate from the same cup with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. The joy is so much the more intense as we could attend the enthronement of Your Beatitude as Patriarch of Antioch and All East, but now you have come here, to this cathedral consecrated in 1658 by Patriarch of Antioch, Macarie III Zaim. Several patriarchs of Antioch celebrated in this cathedral, and now Your Beatitude made us the great joy to come to participate in the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, the first called who is the Apostle of the Romanians. He preached the Gospel first in Jerusalem, then in Judaea, in Galilee, Samaria and Asia Minor (today’s Turkey), in Scythia Minor (today’s Dobrudgea), in Scythia High (today’s Ukraine), and in Greece where he died a martyr’s death in Patras city where his head is today after it was in Rome for a while, in 1960 having been restored to the Church of Greece.
Saint Andrew the Apostle you spoke so nicely of in Your Beatitude’s sermon, for which fact we thank you very much, was in the Near East, so in the Christian region of your country and in the neighbouring countries too, but as we have already said, Antioch of Syria played a very important part, because the Church was founded by Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles, where a cradle of the Syrian Christianity was which shone all over the world through the theological schools and the many saints, great hierarchs, hermits, and martyrs till nowadays. You have come to us in the year when the Romanian Patriarchate solemnly and specially commemorates the Brancovean Saints Martyrs who died a martyr’s death in 1714 because they did not want to convert from Christianity to Islam, so that they are saints and confessors of the Christian faith. Your Beatitude visited some of our institutions and monasteries these days, but the next years we shall invite you, at least every other year, to continue your visit on a finer weather, not cold one, to see our mountains and the Black Sea, as well as lots of our beautiful eparchies blessed by God. Thus, Saint Andrew the Apostle was our Apostle, of the Romanians’ forerunners, of the Gets-Dacians and of the Romans, because Dobrudgea was Romanised before Christ, so that he preached to the Gets-Dacians-Romans, as well as to the Greeks who were living in the cities on the seashore of the Black Sea.
Saint Andrew the Apostle is very popular, so that in 1994, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to write him in the calendar with red colour, because he used to be written with black colour before, like the ordinary saints. In 1966, the Head of Saint Andrew was brought to Romania, to Iasi and to Galati. The following year, the Holy Synod of our Church declared him as the spiritual saint patron of Romania. In 2011, the Holy Synod declared the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle as church national feast, and in 2012, the Romanian Parliament decided, by Bill 147/23.07.2013, following the application of the Romanian Patriarchate, that the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Protector of Romania, should be legal non-working day. This day has a great significance because it precedes the National Day of Romania, 1 December. We, the Church are one step before with the National Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle in order to show that the national unity of the Romanians is based on the apostolic faith. We have served two Patriarchs in two Apostolic Church and this is a very great joy on the earth and in Heaven”, His Beatitude said.
Then, His Beatitude Daniel offered the Patriarch of Antioch and All East an icon of Saint Andrew the Apostle, a medal of Saint Andrew the Apostle, a letter on behalf of the Holy Synod of our Church, and a cheque of money.
The money was raised within the collect organised in the Romanian Patriarchate after the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, for helping the Christians of Syria and of other regions of the Middle East, many of them victims of persecution and violence.
“Our fund raising is not big, but it is a sign of great brotherly love and help. Thus, here is the letter and a cheque of 500.000 euro. It is a sign of fraternity and concrete aid. We kindly ask you to convey all the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All East all our appreciation and love, our solidarity and desire to see peace settled in Syria, Lebanon and in the entire Middle East so that we should be able to meet in peace and good cooperation for the glory of God and the joy of our Churches”, the Patriarch of Romania said.
The Patriarch of Antioch thanked the Patriarch of Romania, in his turn, and the Romanian people for the aid granted.
“Your Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, your words touched my heart and so did our participation in this Liturgy, everything was common between us and we communicated together from the Holy Cup. We express our love for Your Beatitude and for the Church of Romania in my own name and in that of the delegation which have come with me. As you have said, the brothers live together and make a common life together. Our country which passes through such troubles at the time made the Romanian people practically feel the sufferance of their brothers of these countries. Certainly, this sign is not alien to the Romanian people because they have always supported their brothers from the entire Orthodox Church throughout the history. Now you wipe the tears of your brothers from these countries, and we express, on this occasion, our love for you, for the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church and for all the righteous people, and kindly ask you to convey this love to the entire Orthodox Church and to all the righteous people of Romania. We convey you our best wishes on the occasion of the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle and of the National Day of Romania which will be celebrated tomorrow, and pray God to bless all the Romanian Orthodox Church and all the people who love Christ”, His Beatitude John X said.
The Patriarch of Antioch offered the Patriarch of Romania an icon of Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles, the protectors of the Church of Antioch.
To end with, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church thanked His Beatitude John X for his visit to Romania.
“We thank His Beatitude Patriarch John of Antioch and All East for these nice words of appreciation of the Romanian Orthodox Church for the best wishes conveyed and we also congratulate all those of named Andrei or Andreea. There are over 650.000 Romanians of the name of Saint Andrew the Apostle. We wish much help of God to Your Beatitude, to the hierarchs who accompany you, to the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch and to All East and we pray for peace, so that those who went away should be able to go back to Syria, the kidnapped ones to go back to those homes, and all those who suffer to get relief from Christ, our Lord. The programme continues tomorrow and we know that on 2 December you leave for other countries, so that we wish you safe journey blessed by God and His help in the pastoral activity you unfold, both pastoral and missionary. The Patriarchate of Antioch has 2 million faithful in Syria and Lebanon and 8 million of Arab faithful who belong to this Patriarchate in Diaspora, in Latin America, North America, United States and Canada, having been a great Church with more faithful outside than inside because the phenomenon of immigration began 150 years ago. The Romanian hierarchs and priests are well received everywhere in the Orthodox Diaspora and have very good relations in Diaspora and in our countries over here too. We wish you many blessed years of life”, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said in the end.
The shrine of a particle of the relics of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Protector of Romania kept in the chapel of the Patriarchal Residence was laid in the Patriarchal Cathedral for veneration.
The faithful present received small icons of the Apostle of the Romanians on behalf of the Patriarch of Romania.
Saint Andrew the Apostle came from Bethsaida (a town on the Western shore of Genisareth lake, Galilee) and he was Peter’s brother, both of them the sons of fisherman Iona. He was the disciple of Saint John the Baptist, and urged by his teacher he went together with John, son of Zebedee, to look for the One about whom the Forerunner said He was the “Lamb of God”.
