KNIGHTS OF ST. ANDREW

ST. ANDREWS DAY

The St. Andrew’s Cross is shaped liked the English letter “X,” and is also referred to as the “saltier” or “Crux Decussta,” with the two bottom legs set into the ground. According to tradition, Andrew, brother of Peter, was crucified on a cross of this shape. Andrew did not feel worthy enough to die on the same style cross on which Christ had died, and he requested a cross of different shape. His request was granted, and he was crucified upside down on the cross, which now bears his name.

To secure his limbs to the cross, Andrew was bound to the cross with ropes, rather than nails. His suffering was thus prolonged. St. Andrew’s Cross came into wide use during the Medieval period and became the national cross of Scotland, since Saint Andrew was its patron saint.

St. Andrews Day was already on the calendar more than a thousand years ago. Already established as a major town in the 12th century, St. Andrews University traces its roots back to the 15th century. But these are only road signs in a long history.

Druid priests were the great power of the land when St. Andrew, and that distinctive "X" shaped cross on which he was crucified in 70 AD, were embraced as Scotland’s symbol of nationhood - The Saint Andrew Cross.

How the early church brought the New Testament story of the fisherman apostle from Capernaum to Scotland, and made him the nation’s patron saint, is buried in the mists of time. It is recorded that Ninian, a Briton, brought the Christian message to the Picts in about 400 AD, which is one and a half centuries before the time of St. Columba. Ninian was a bishop who regularly traveled to Rome for further instruction, and was probably the most revered churchman in the land.

The last of the Scottish kings established the first Order of the Thistle, which used the “X” cross and the crucified figure of St. Andrew. The Order was based on the Biblical story with the sovereign and his twelve chosen knights its total membership.

Today, St. Andrews Day is a time to celebrate and socialize, for patriots, patriotic gatherings and happenings. So wherever you are -whatever you may be doing— raise a glass, toast this land and its Patron Saint for a brighter and happier tomorrow.

The 29th degree emphasizes the Masonic teachings of equality and toleration. We are reminded that no man, no one Church, no one religion, has a monopoly of truth; that while we must be true and faithful to our own convictions, we must respect the opinions of others.

ST ANDREW THE APOSTLE

The Bible tells us that Andrew, a fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee, was the ‘first called’ of Christ’s disciples and that he brought his brother Simon Peter to become a follower of Jesus. After the Crucifixion, as tradition relates, Andrew traveled the countries bordering the Black Sea and preached the Gospel in Scythia (as the Ukraine and Southern Russia were anciently known) and in Greece. (For a link between Scythia and the Scots, see the part of the Arbroath Declaration quoted overleaf). His missionary work is still remembered in that part of the world: to this day Andrew is patron saint in Greece, Russia and the Ukraine. It was in Greece, in the city of Patras, that he suffered martyrdom. Possibly because he felt himself unworthy to meet his death on a cross of the same shape as his Lord’s, he was crucified on a diagonal cross.

Part of the tradition is that St Andrew wore blue, and so the white of the wooden cross against the blue of his robes gave us the colors of our national flag. However, there is another legend to explain the white cross on a blue background, a legend which had its birth a long way from Greece, in the village of Athelstaneford in East Lothian.