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In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit! Amen!
Glory to Jesus Christ, dear brothers and sisters!
Congratulations on Apostle Andrew's Day!
We know that on December 13 the day of the Apostle Andrew is always celebrated. He was the first apostle to follow Jesus, because of that he was called the First Called. Then he brought his brother Peter, John and other apostles. We know about the ministry of Apostle Andrew according to the tradition of the Greek Church. It left the chronicles about Apostle Andrew, as the Roman Catholic Church left the chronicle about Apostle Peter, as Roman Catholics built their Church on Peter.
So Greeks kept up with where Apostle Andrew preached. They described that he was here, where now Kyiv was situated that his feet were on these hills. And here he preached, prayed, founded communities. Once he woke up on the hill where St. Andrew's Church stood now, and just below a 10 meter (where now was a cross), looked around and said: "Do you see these mountains? God will build His Church on these mountains and the grace of this Church will shine forth to the east and west. "
Say, the prediction comes true partially. In 988, in the late tenth century, the official consecration, the baptism of Rus our Ukraine happened. The inhabitants of Kyiv were summoned and baptized in the Dnipro river. Maybe not all were gathered, but a large number of Kyiv inhabitants were baptized. So this year is considered the official year of baptism, acceptance of the Christian faith by all the Rus' people, that is, people of the present-day Ukraine.
Apostle Andrew, as the Gospel says, was a quiet man by nature, very balanced man and rarely got engaged in conversation or in dispute with Jesus. At the same time as we see apostle Peter often beat his breast and said: "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (John XXI:17), Peter wanted to occupy the first place among the other disciples because he was a little bit spontaneous, a bit emotional by his nature. He also had baritone voice so he could shout down anyone, and others had to listen to him. And he swore to love Jesus, but at the same time he betrayed Jesus, before the cock crowed (Luke XXII:61). God showed Apostle Peter, that in that was his great weakness. You'd better not swear to love or not betray and you'd better try not to betray, as it did Apostle Andrew. He did not betray Jesus, went to the Scythian land and preached.
According to our prayers, he was staying at the Kyiv hills and lived there about eight and a half months. And he founded many Christian communities. In those places now are monasteries, for example, Vydubitsky monastery. It was there that he lived constantly, where he had his cave, which was very convenient to go down to the Dnipro river. And (we were praying long ago) he preached wherever Pechersk Lavra stood today and where other large monasteries were now. Then there were settlements of people, just settlements. It was not a city, it was just a small village, settlements and there Apostle Andrew preached.
Further, according to the legend, he sailed to Novgorod and wrote about the land where people had steam bath, hitting each other with brooms for some reason and even jumped into cold water. So he did not understand what people were doing. Because it is always warm weather in Jerusalem, and they do not need steam bath. People there always has healthy bones, because there is a dry climate.
"For many are called, but few are chosen" - says the Lord in the parable of the king, who prepared the feast (Matthew XXII:14). The king is the Heavenly Father. He sent his servants to go and called for Jewish people first. But the Jews refused for various reasons. As one said: "I have a field to work." Second: "I bought oxen there, I have to try them." Third: "I have married, where should I go from my wife?" (Matthew XXII:3-5). And it is clear that the king, having prepared the feast was angry. He sent back his servant to the main roads to invite to the wedding feast as many as he could find (Mt. XXII:9).
This means that the saving Christian faith that was given to the Jewish people and to the whole world, was rejected by Jews, so the apostles went further and preached to the world. Apostle Andrew came to our Scythian land, to our motherland.
He preached about Christ, whom saw by his own eyes, about Jesus, with whom he and other apostles had a dinner. They were breaking bread together, drinking wine, eating fish, it was a favorite food of Jesus. And this way Andrew preached about the living Jesus, who before their eyes performed miracles of physical healing and preached to heal their souls. Therefore the apostle Andrew saved not one soul. He saved a lot of souls, not hundreds or maybe not thousands, Apostle Andrew many more souls saved.
Therefore, our Church is the apostolic one. Ukrainian Church is the apostolic foremost - not of Volodymyr the Great, but one of St. Andrew. Because he was the founder of the Christian saving Church in Ukraine in the first century. Do you agree? Therefore, our Church is the apostolic one, because it was established by Apostle Andrew, who predicted that God would build His church and its grace would shine forth for many people. Amen.
May God bless you!
Glory to Jesus Christ!
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