After Thursday, 35 years after his passage to the Lord, Saint Pious Confessor Arsenius from Prislop was commemorated at the Prislop Monastery, Saturday, November 30, the faithful celebrate Saint Andrew, the Protector of Romania, “the first called” to the apostleship was Simon Peter’s brother.
“While (Jesus) was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrei, his brother, who were casting a net into the sea, because they were fishermen. And he said to them: “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” And they, immediately leaving the nets, followed Him” (Matthew 4, 18-20 and Mark 1, 16-18).
The Romanian Orthodox Church honors St. Andrei in particular, being considered the first preacher of the Gospel of our ancestors, an “apostle” of our nation, of Romanian Orthodoxy, and Romanian Christianity, considered of apostolic origin.
On the eve of December 1, the National Day or the unity of Romanians everywhere, the day of St. Andrei together form a true celebration of the nation, as the Church and the nation were one throughout our history!
According to tradition and what was written by some historians and theologians from the first Christian centuries, the Holy Apostle Andrew was the first preacher of the Gospel to the Geto-Dacians, in the territory between the Danube and the Black Sea – known then as Scythia (Scythia), but also in the territories beyond the Prut, in the north of the Black Sea.
But before arriving here, he preached in Asia Minor, from where he went to the aforementioned territories of the Danube and the Black Sea. We must note that in these territories, inhabited by the Geto-Dacians, through the VII-VI centuries i. Hr. Greek colonists settled, who founded the well-known fortresses on the western shore of the Black Sea: Tyras (Alba Fortress), Histria (Istria), Tomis (Constanta), Callatis (Mangalia) and others.
Towards the end of the 4th century i. Hr. tribes of Scythians, a nomadic population of Iranian origin, settled here, who were assimilated by the natives over time; however, they gave the respective territory the name of “Scythia” (Scythia). Later, the territories on the western shore of the Black Sea, up to the mouths of the Bug, were part of the Geto-Dacian state led by King Burebista (1st century BC), but in the year 28 the Greek fortresses here accepted protectorate of the Romanian state.
In the year 46 d. BC, the entire territory between the Danube and the Black Sea was conquered by the Romans and annexed to the province of Moesia Inferior (today’s Eastern Bulgaria), and in 297, during the Roman emperor Diocletian, it became a separate province, under the name of Scythia Minor ( Little Scythia).
The annexation of this territory – including the Greek cities mentioned above – in Greek and then Roman culture and ways of life, offered favorable conditions for the preaching of St. Andrew the Apostle.
In support of the evangelization of the territories on the western shore of the Black Sea by Saint Andrew, there are also some carols, legends and customs from Dobrogea and from the left side of the Prut, i.e. from Bessarabia, which remind of his passage through these places. One of these carols mentions the “hermitage” or “monastery” of Andrei, where Decebal and Trajan used to come, the latter also listening to the service performed there. Then there are several names of waters and places such as “Paraiasul Sfantului Andrei”, “Apa Sfantului” or “Pestera Sfantului Andrei”, which can still be seen today in the border of the Ion Corvin commune, near the Romanian-Bulgarian border.
There is no doubt that the Holy Apostle Andrew did not limit himself only to preaching the Gospel and baptizing those he brought to Christ from among the Greeks and Geto-Dacians in the mentioned territories, but he ordained some of them as bishops and priests, as he also did Saint Paul the Apostle in his missionary journeys. This is the only way to explain the fact that the oldest bishopric known on the territory of our country is the one from Tomis (today’s Constanta). The bishop (or bishops) on whom the Holy Apostle Andrew “laid his hands” ordained, in their turn, other bishops, priests or deacons for the new Christian communities on the Euxine Pontus, in order to ensure the uninterrupted “succession” of the priesthood, and who became preachers of the new faith, – through preaching and baptism – among the autochthonous Geto-Dacians, and later Daco-Romanians.
Nichifor Calistus writes that the Holy Apostle Andrew left us to the south, passing through Thrace, he arrived in Byzantium (the future Constantinople), and from here he passed through Macedonia and Thessaly, reaching the city of Patras in Achaia, so in Greece from today. There he suffered a martyr’s death, being crucified on an X-shaped cross (to this day called “St. Andrew’s Cross”).
The primary church established, since the end of the second century, November 30 as the date of celebration of his passion.
The year of his martyrdom is not known; some historians fix it during the persecution of Emperor Nero, around the years 64-67, others much later, at the end of the “apostolic” century, during the persecution of Emperor Domitian.
Source: Christian Orthodox
Approximately 970,000 Romanians celebrate their name day on Saturday, Saint Andrew
Approximately 970,000 people who bear the name Andrei or Andreea, as well as their derivatives, celebrate their name on Saturday, Saint Andrew the Apostle.
According to the data provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs – Directorate of Population Records, there are 535,919 men with the name Andrei or derivatives and 435,380 women with the name Andreea or derivatives.
507,220 men bear the name Andrei. Others are called Andi – 3,228, Andreeas – 925, Andreiaşi/Andreiasi – 6, Andreiu – 280, Andrew – 710, Andrey – 335, Andriaş/Andrias – 6, Andries/Andries – 41, Andru – 162, Andrusha/Andrusa – 8 , Andruta/Andruţă – 22, Andras/Andras/Andras – 10,988, Andrea/Andrea – 845, Andreas/Andreas/Andreaş – 10,997, Andu – 146.
The name Andreea is found in 347,210 women. There are also the derivatives Andra – 32,062, Andrada – 21,587, Andreia – 7,927, Andriana – 966, Andrusa/Andruşa – 7, Andrusca/Andruşca – 6, Andruta/Andruţa – 366, Andrea – 24,793, Deea – 422, Deia – 34.
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
