The holy and glorious apostle Andrew, the first-Called. Born in Bethsaida, he was the brother of Simon Peter and a fisherman with him. He was called first from the disciples of John the Baptist at the Jordan by the Lord Jesus. Andrew followed him and even brought his brother to the Lord. After Pentecost it is said that he preached the Gospel in Achaia and at Patrae was tied to a cross. The Church in Constantinople considers him their praiseworthy and remarkable patron.
Andrew, as the first-called of the apostles and brother Peter their leader, pray to the Master of All that He grant peace to the world and great mercy to our souls.
Let us praise Andrew the theologian, the namesake of courage, the first apostle, and follower of his brother Peter, their leader. For, as he called him in times of old, so now he calls us: Come, we have found the One Whom the world desires.
1 Corinthians 4: 9-16
Brothers and sisters: As I see it, God has put us apostles at the end of the line, like men doomed to die in the arena. We have become like a spectacle to the universe, to angels and men alike. We are fools on Christ’s account. Ah, but in Christ you are wise! We are the weak ones, you the strong! They honor you, while they sneer at us! Up to this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, poorly clad, roughly treated, wandering about homeless. We work hard at manual labor. When we are insulted we respond with a blessing. Persecution comes our way; we bear it patiently. We are slandered, and we try conciliation. We have become the world’s refuse, the scum of all; that is the present state of affairs.
I am writing you this way not to shame you but to admonish you as my beloved children. Granted you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you have only one father. It was I who begot you in Christ Jesus through my preachings of the gospel. I beg you, be imitators of me.
John 1: 35-42
At that time John was present with two of his disciples. As he watched Jesus walk by he said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard what he said, and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned around and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi (which means teacher), where do you stay?” “Come and see,” he answered. So they went to see where he was lodged, and stayed with him that day. (It was about four in the afternoon.)
One of the two who had followed Jesus after hearing John was Simon Peter’s brother Andrew. The first thing he did was seek out his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” (This term means the Anointed.) Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon, son of John; your name shall be Cephas (which is rendered to Peter).”
Ephesians 1: 16-23
Brothers and sisters: I have never stopped thanking God for you and recommending you in my prayers. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, grant you a spirit of wisdom and insight to know him clearly. May he enlighten your innermost vision that you may know the great hope to which he has called you, the wealth of his glorious heritage to be distributed among the members of the church, and the immeasurable scope of his power in us who believe. It is like the strength he showed in raising Christ from the dead and seating him at his right hand in heaven, high above every principality, power, virtue, and domination, and every name that can be given in this age or in the age to come. He has put all things under Christ’s feet and has made him, this exalted, head of the church, which is his body: the fullness of him who fills the universe in all its parts.
Luke 12: 32-40
The Lord said, “Do not live in fear, little flock. It has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms. Get purses for yourselves that do not wear out, a never-failing treasure with the Lord which no thief comes near nor any moth destroys. Wherever your treasure lies, there your heart will be.
“Let your belts be fastened around your waists and your lamps be burning ready. Be like men awaiting their master’s return from a wedding, so that when he arrives and knocks, you will open for him without delay. It will go well with those servants whom the master finds wide-awake on his return. I tell you, he will put on an apron, seat them at table, and proceed to wait on them. Should he happen to come at midnight or before sunrise and find them prepared, it will go well with them. You know as well as I that if the head of the house knew when the thief was coming he would not let him break into his house. Be on guard, therefore. The Son of Man will come when you least expect him.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Friday, November 29 –
