Saints Andrew of Crete and Andrew Rublev
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Commemorated on July 4
Saint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, was born in the city of Damascus
into a pious Christian family. Up until seven years of age the boy was
mute and did not talk. However, after communing the Holy Mysteries of
Christ he found the gift of speech and began to speak. And from that
time the lad began earnestly to study Holy Scripture and the
discipline of theology.
At fourteen years of age he went off to Jerusalem and there he
accepted monastic tonsure at the monastery of St Sava the Sanctified.
St Andrew led a strict and chaste life, he was meek and abstinent,
such that all were amazed at his virtue and reasoning of mind. As a
man of talent and known for his virtuous life, over the passage of
time he came to be numbered among the Jerusalem clergy and was
appointed a secretary for the Patriarchate -- a writing clerk. In the
year 680 the locum tenens of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, Theodore,
included archdeacon Andrew among the representatives of the Holy City
sent to the Sixth Ecumenical Council, and here the saint contended
against heretical teachings, relying upon his profound knowledge of
Orthodox doctrine. Shortly after the Council he was summoned back to
Constantinople from Jerusalem and he was appointed archdeacon at the
church of Hagia Sophia, the Wisdom of God. During the reign of the
emperor Justinian II (685-695) St Andrew was ordained bishop of the
city of Gortineia on the island of Crete. In his new position he shone
forth as a true luminary of the Church, a great hierarch -- a
theologian, teacher and hymnographer.
St Andrew wrote many liturgical hymns. He was the originator of a new
liturgical form -- the canon. Of the canons composed by him the best
known is the Great Penitential Canon, including within its 9 odes the
250 troparia recited during the Great Lent. In the First Week of Lent
at the service of Compline it is read in portions (thus called
"methymony" [trans. note: from the useage in the service of Compline
of the "God is with us", in Slavonic the "S'nami Bog", or in Greek
"Meth' Humon ho Theos", from which derives "methymony"], and again on
Thursday of the Fifth Week at the All-night Vigil during Matins.
St Andrew of Crete gained renown with his many praises of the All-Pure
Virgin Mary. To him are likewise ascribed: the Canon for the feast of
the Nativity of Christ, three odes for the Compline of Palm Sunday and
also in the first four days of Holy Passion Week, as well as verses
for the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, and many another church-
song. His hynographic tradition was continued by the churchly great
melodists of following ages: Saints John of Damascus, Cosma of Maium,
Joseph the Melodist, Theophan the Written-upon. There have also been
preserved edifying Sermons of St Andrew for certain of the Church
feasts.
Church historians are not of the same opinion as to the date of death
of the saint. One suggests the year 712, while others -- the year 726.
He died on the island of Mytilene, while returning to Crete from
Constantinople, where he had been on churchly business. His relics
were transferred to Constantinople. In the year 1350 the pious Russian
pilgrim Stephen Novgorodets saw the relics at the Constantinople
monastery named for St Andrew of Crete.
Venerable Andrew Rublev the Iconographer
Commemorated on July 4
Saint Andrew Rublev, Russia's greatest iconographer, was born near
Moscow sometime between 1360 and 1370. While still very young, he went
to the Holy Trinity Monastery, and was profoundly impressed by St
Sergius of Radonezh (September 25).
After the death of St Sergius in 1392, St Nikon (November 17)
succeeded him as igumen. St Andrew became a novice in the monastery
under St Nikon. Sometime before 1405 he moved to the Spaso-Andronikov
Monastery founded by St Andronicus (June 13), with the blessing of St
Nikon.There St Andrew received monastic tonsure and was taught
iconography by Theophanes the Greek and the monk Daniel, St Andrew's
friend and fellow-ascetic.
St Andrew is first mentioned in the Chronicles in 1405, when he,
Theophanes, and Prochorus painted the cathedral of the Annunciation.
His next important project, which he undertook with the monk Daniel,
was to paint the frescoes in the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir in
1408.
St Nikon of Radonezh asked St Andrew and Daniel to paint the new
church in the reconstructed monastery of the Holy Trinity, which had
been destroyed by the Tatars in 1408. At this time St Andrew painted
his most famous icon: the Holy Trinity (actually, the Hospitality of
Abraham).
St Andrew fell asleep in the Lord between 1427-1430, and was buried in
the Andronikov Monastery. He was over seventy years old at the time of
his death. The monk Daniel, who died before St Andrew, appeared to his
friend and urged him to join him in eternal blessedness.
Venerable Martha the Mother of the Venerable Simeon Stylites the
Younger
Commemorated on July 4
Saint Martha, mother of Saint Simeon of Wonderful Mountain (May 24),
lived during the sixth century and was a native of Antioch. From her
early years she yearned for monasticism, but her parents persuaded her
to marry. Her husband, John, soon died, and righteous Martha with all
her strength devoted herself to the raising of her son. She was an
example of high Christian temperament for her son. She often visited
the temple of God, she attended church services attentively and with
piety, and frequently received the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
St Martha rose up to pray each night, and her prayers were offered
with heartfelt warmth and tears. She particularly venerated St John
the Forerunner, who was for her a protector, frequently appearing to
her in visions. St Martha was charitable towards the poor, she fed and
clothed them, she visited the convalescent and she attended to the
sick, she buried the dead, and for those preparing to receive holy
Baptism she made the baptismal garments with her own hands.
St Martha was reserved, and no one heard from her a frivolous, false
or vain word, no one saw her angry, nor fighting with anyone nor
bitter. She was a model of chaste and pious life and by her example
she guided many on the pathway to salvation. When her son, St Simeon,
had become a renowned ascetic, she urged him not to exalt himself for
his own efforts, but to thank God for everything.
The time of her death was revealed to St Martha. She beheld angels
with candles saying that they would come for her in another year's
time. The saint was also granted visions of Paradise, and the All-Pure
Virgin Herself showed to her the heavenly habitations prepared for the
righteous.
St Martha's death was peaceful, and her body was buried on Wonderful
Mountain, at the place of the ascetic deeds of her son, St Simeon the
Stylite.