The 45th anniversary of the Return of the Cross of Apostle Andrew, from Marseille to Patras

It was 19 January 1980, when the entire people of Patras and beyond, led by the late Metropolitan Nikodimos of Patras and the other local Archons and leaders, welcomed the grace-filled Cross of the Apostle Andrew, brought back from the city of Marseilles, France, and the Church of Saint Victor, where it had been transferred there by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Adelmo, in 1205, who had seized the throne of Patras.

In the Orthodox Holy Metropolis of France, the late Protopresbyter Panagiotis Simiyiatos of Patras served as Vicar General, who was married to the niece of the late Metropolitan Meletios of France, Ms Anezoula, who lives to this day with her children in France.

Father Panagiotis was informed from trustworthy sources that the Cross of the Apostle Andrew was located in Marseilles and he reached the Church of Saint Victor, where the treasured Wood was found, on which the Apostle Andrew was placed and on which he was executed in Patras, tied up by the vile Roman Governor of Patras, the proconsul of the Aegean.

In collaboration with the Holy Metropolis of Patras and the Roman Catholic Church, with the assistance of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the necessary actions were taken and the Return of the Cross of the Apostle Andrew to Patras took place on 19 January 1980.

The Cross, transported in a wooden case, was first placed in an iron case and placed on the wall on the side of the Church of the Apostle Andrew, behind the shrine in which the veneration of the First-Called Apostle’s Skull is kept and venerated.

Later, during the time of the current Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras, the Cross of the First-Called Apostle Andrew was placed in a case made of precious wood and encased in a silver-and-gold casing, decorated with scenes from the life of the Apostle Andrew, and was placed in the northern aisle of the Holy Church, which was dedicated to the Cross of the Apostle Andrew and was painted, like the rest of the Church, with scenes from the life, miracles, and martyrdom of the Apostle Andrew.

On the eve of the feast, Saturday, 18 January, the Hierarchical Vespers were celebrated in the magnificent Church of the Apostle Andrew, officiated by His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras, and co-officiated by His Grace Bishop Chrysanthos of Kernitsa, with the participation of a multitude of Priests and Deacons of the city of Patras and the wider region and a multitude of pious Christians, while in the middle of the Church, the Cross of the First-Called Apostle was placed on a platform for veneration by the pious laity.

In his sermon, His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos referred to the martyrdom of the Apostle Andrew and read a text that in a shocking way describes the death of the First-Called Apostle on the Cross for Christ, from the book “Encomium to the Apostle Andrew”, by Nicetas of Paphlagonia, where reference is also made to Stratocles, the first Bishop of Patras, and to Maximilla, a baptized Christian, who was the wife of Aegeatus, who, repenting for the crucifixion of the Apostle Andrew, ascended to a high place (today’s Psilalonia of Patras, where the statue of Germanos III of Old Patras stands) and committed suicide, being torn to pieces by the fall and becoming a pitiful sight.

On the following day, Sunday, 19 January, His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos presided at the Matins Service and presided over the Divine Liturgy in the New Church of the Apostle Andrew, which was overflowing with a multitude of pious Christians, and preached the Holy Sermon, referring to the history of the Cross of the Apostle Andrew, to its journey of being transported to the West, being found after many centuries and being brought back to the city of Saint Andrew’s Martyrdom, to the illustrious city of Patras.

He spoke about the duty of the people of Patras, towards the Apostle Andrew, to preserve his sacred teaching, about the Triune God, about our Holy Church, as the ark of salvation through the holy Mysteries and about the value of humankind as a creation of God, but also the need to defend the Truth, which the Apostle Andrew delivered, to the point of blood, if necessary.

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, a prayer was offered for the repose of the late Hierarchs, Meletios of France and Nicodemos of Patras, and Presbyter Father Panagiotos Simiyiatos, of Patras.