55th anniversary of return of relics of St. Andrew celebrated in Patras

A glorious celebration was held in Patras, Greece on Sunday, honoring the 55th anniversary of the return of the relics of the first-called Apostle St. Andrew to the city after more than 500 years.

St. Andrew was crucified in Patras and is honored as the patron of the city.

The hierarchical Liturgy was celebrated in one of the city’s two churches of St. Andrew by His Eminence Metropolitan Andrew of Arkalochori, Kissamos, and Viannos, and five other hierarchs, including the local ruling hierarch His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras, and His Eminence Metropolitan Prodromos of Southern Madagascar, reports vimaorthodoxias.gr.

The homily was delivered by Met. Andrew of Arkalochori, who emphasized the great value and importance of the holy relics, in this case the skull of the honorable apostle, which was returned to Patras from the Vatican in 1964.

In the afternoon, a procession with the precious skull and icon of St. Andrew was held by sea and land.

Finally, on the Square of the Three Allies, where the reception of the holy relics was celebrated 55 years ago, a Doxology was celebrated, and Met. Chrysostomos of Patras preached about the great gift and blessing from God of belonging to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and of having the honor of venerating the tomb, skull, and cross of St. Andrew in Patras.

Father in God and His Church is not just a cultural value, as some would have it, His Eminence emphasized, “but it is the reason for our existence. It is our life, since we are created ‘in the image and likeness of God.’”

What would Greece be like without Orthodoxy and what would Patras be like without St. Andrew, Met. Chrysostomos asked.

As he explained, the teaching about the one, true God from St. Andrew and the other Apostles gave meaning and substance to the Greek people and sustained them through the bitter centuries of Turkish domination. “The guardian of this Truth is our holy Church, in which we must show devotion because it is the only way of salvation,” he preached.

“It is our responsibility to keep this invaluable treasure as we received it, without distortion or falsification, and to deliver it to our children for their good, for their salvation, for the salvation of our country, our homeland, for the good of the world,” His Eminence concluded.

The skull was taken from Patras to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where it remained for 504 years. It was returned by Pope Paul VI in 1964 in a gesture of goodwill to the Greek Orthodox Church, though, interestingly, the ceremony was boycotted by Greece’s primate at the time, His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos, and scholars disputed the authenticity of the relic, reported the New York Times on September 27, 1964.

  Source:orthochristian.com