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Peter & Andrew

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ANDREW<br />

Twenty thousand stood by and mourned.Out of fear of the people<br />

Aegeates came to remove <strong>Andrew</strong> from the cross. <strong>Andrew</strong> told him that he<br />

could still become a Christian but that he would not permit his removal<br />

from the cross as he had seen Jesus. Many tried to untie the knots but<br />

their hands became numb. There then appeared a heavenly light which<br />

covered <strong>Andrew</strong> for about half an hour.When it left, <strong>Andrew</strong> was dead.The<br />

crucifixion occured in about the year 70. <strong>Andrew</strong> was 80 years old when<br />

he died.<br />

Relics<br />

He was removed from the cross by Bishop Stratoklis and Maximilla and<br />

buried with honour. Many came to Patras to pay their respects. When<br />

Aegeates realised that he had killed a man of God, he committed suicide.<br />

<strong>Andrew</strong>'s body was removed from Patras in 357 under the orders of the<br />

Emperor Constantine (son of King Constantine the Great) and buried in<br />

the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.The skull of St <strong>Andrew</strong><br />

was kept in Patras until 1460.It was then taken to Rome by Thomas<br />

Paleologos, the last ruler of Morea.In 1967 it was returned to Patras. The<br />

Christians with their bishop Stratoklis, the first bishop of Patras, then<br />

received the the Sacred Relic and buried it with great honor. Later, when<br />

the throne of Byzantium was ascended by Constantius, who was the son<br />

of Constantine the Great, part of the sacred relics were transferred from he<br />

city of Patras to Constantiniple and enshrined in the Church of the Holy<br />

Apostles "inside the Holy Altar".<br />

The holy of Skull of Apostle <strong>Andrew</strong>s seems to have remained in Patras.<br />

But when the Turks were to occupy the city in 1460, Thomas Paleologos,<br />

brother of the last emperor Constantine the last Master of Moria, took it to<br />

Italy and was placed in the church of St. <strong>Peter</strong> in Rome, where it remained<br />

until 1964. On September 26th of that year, a delegation from the pope<br />

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