St. Andrew, born in Betsaida, was an apprentice of St. John the Baptist’s before being God’s apostle .He decided to follow Christ and so he became “the first called”, as we can find out from historical documents. After Christ’s resurrection and after the descent of the Holy Spirit, the apostles gathered and decided where to preach the Christian faith. Scytia, or Dobrogea, belonged to Andrew. He settled near Corint, Constanta, where he died at the order of the Roman governor Aegas on 30 November, 60 A.D. Religious sources claim that St. Andrew died crucified on a linden cross with his head down, a cross that today can be found on Scotland’s flag (St. Andrew’s cross).
The theologian, Costin Mandrila, makes a terrifying and surprising confession about Saint Andrew. He believes that many Jew apprentices that followed the apostle in his missions arrived in Bukovina, where they discovered the so- called “ living churches”, some kind of synagogues made out of pine, that seemed to last forever because of their strength . It is also said that these apprentices taught us how to make violins out of a special type of wood, through an unusual technique and only the monks that were initiated after having an intense spiritual activity, fasting and acquiring faith were allowed to manufacture these violins. Some sources claim that even the wood Stradivarius violins are made of was processed by the monks from Bukovina by using immemorial techniques. |
