Relics of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle viewed by 600,000 in Kyiv (09/09/01)

Relics of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle viewed by 600,000 in Kyiv

KYIV - Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma paid homage to the relics of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle on August 27 after attending services at the Monastery of the Caves (Pecherska Lavra) in celebration of the religious shrine's 950th anniversary.

The Archiepiscopate of Athens of the Orthodox Church of Greece allowed for the relics, a skull thought to be the remains of St. Andrew, who was the first person chosen to follow Jesus Christ as his disciple and the brother of St. Peter, to be brought to Kyiv in conjunction with the commemorations. The relic arrived on August 25 in Kyiv, where it was viewed by more than 600,000 pilgrims from various countries during its 10-day stay in the city.

On September 4, the relic's final day in Kyiv, it was brought to the newly built Chapel of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle, which stands at the edge of the Monastery of the Caves complex, and then moved across the street to St. Mykhailo's Greek-Catholic Church at Askold's Grave, where short prayer services were held, before being returned to Patrai, Greece, its permanent home.

Father Nikolai, the pastor of the church in which the remains of St. Andrew are kept, said on September 3 that the relic has traveled only three times previously - twice to Cyprus and once to Romania.

St. Andrew was the apostle who traveled the East propagating the word of Christ. He is said to have walked the hills that overlook the Dnipro where Kyiv stands today and prophesied the establishment of a large city on the site noting that the city would be filled with churches.

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