National Pride
St Andrew is one of the oldest, most venerated saints in the world – and his influence extends far beyond the borders of Scotland. This November 30th, celebrations for our patron saint will be taking place as far apart as Moscow and Manitoba. . .
St Andrew – widely regarded as being the first of the 12 apostles – was the elder brother of St Peter. Both were fishermen, hence Christ's pledge to make them both 'fishers of men' and Andrew would become one of the apostles most closely associated with personal evangelism. As a consequence he was to travel widely from his birthplace at Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, in the process becoming one of the world's best-known saints.
His travels took him into Asia Minor and along the Black Sea as far as the Volga and Kiev – becoming patron saint of Russia and Romania in the process – until they ended at Patras in Greece, where he was martyred in AD70. He was said to have won over many followers and his popularity caused him to be feared by the local Roman governor who ordered him to be crucified. According to legend St Andrew requested to be crucified on an 'X' shaped cross because he deemed himself unworthy of being crucified on the same type of cross as Christ. Consequently the X-shaped cross – or saltire – came to be associated with St Andrew and subsequently Scotland.
After his death, St Andrew's legend began to grow exponentially. He became patron saint of Patras, where today the splendid St Andrew's Basilica stands upon what is said to be the site of his martyrdom. Romania and Russia followed suit, also adopting him as their patron saint, as did Luga (one of the Maltese islands), perhaps in recognition of the fact that fishing was one of the key industries on the island. The first chapel dedicated to St Andrew on Malta dates back as far as 1497. St Andrew also became patron saint of Amalfi, where his relics were enshrined in the early 1300's until, two centuries or so later, his skull was brought to Rome, where it became an integral part of the Vatican after it was enshrined in one of the four central piers of St Peter's, his brother's, basilica.
Three hundred years after his death, the Roman Emperor Constantine ordered his bones to be moved to the city named after him – Constantinople. However, according to legend, St Regulus, a Greek monk, was warned of the emperor's intent by an angel who appeared to him in a vision. The angel instructed him to take St Andrew's remains 'to the ends of the earth.'
Well, to a Greek in the fourth century, Scotland might well have qualified as the end of the earth! Shipwrecked off the Fife coast Regulus eventually made his way to Kilrymont, where some of St Andrew's remains (a tooth, a kneecap, an arm bone and some fingers) found their resting place. The town is now, of course, known to the world as St Andrews – the home of golf.
The saltire's intimate connection with Scotland is generally believed to date back to the battle of Athelstaneford, fought in the 8th century near Markle in East Lothian. The battle was between the Picts and Scots, led by King Hungus, on one side and the Angles of Northumbria on the other. Before the battle King Hungus prayed to the saints for victory and, that night, St Andrew appeared to him in a vision and promised the Scots and Picts victory. The next day, when battle commenced, the vision of a white saltire in the blue sky was seen in the skies above the battlefield! This roused Hungus' armies to victory and ensured the adoption of the St Andrew's Cross as Scotland's national banner – making it the oldest continually used sovereign flag in the world.
It is perhaps no coincidence that Scotland and Russia share a patron saint, as there has long been an affinity between the two nations. Many of the Scots Diaspora migrated to Russia and were to have a great influence on its military development. Peter the Great's principal military advisor was General Patrick Gordon from Aberdeenshire and during the course of the seventeenth century no fewer than fifteen Russian generals would be of Scottish provenance.
The Russian Navy was founded by a Scotsman, Admiral Samuel Greig, and – slightly modified to feature a blue cross on a white background – the saltire was duly adopted as the official ensign for the Imperial Russian Navy up until the revolution of 1917. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the flag – known as the Andreyevsky (or Andrew's) Ensign – was re-adopted and once again flies proudly on all Russian ships.
But Scotland's flag not only inspired Russia's navy – variations on the St. Andrews Cross have been adopted all around the world. . .
It has been the national flag of Tenerife (albeit with a slightly different shade of blue to Scotland) since 1845, ratified by law in the 1980's.
Today Nova Scotia is a Canadian dominion, but it was once a Scottish province and it still flies what might well be the most Scottish flag in the world: A reverse saltire (a blue cross on a white background) which surrounds a bold red and yellow lion rampant; two Scottish symbols for the price of one!
When another small, fiercely proud nation was granted her independence she also chose the saltire as her national flag. Of course in Jamaica's case the colours were green (for agricultural richness), gold (for sunlight) and black for the strength and creativity of the Jamaican people.
But why have so many nations been keen to identify themselves with such a powerful piece of Scottish iconography? It perhaps has less to do with the fact that the St Andrew's Cross is a simple, striking icon as the fact that it has come to represent certain elements of what the world – whether it be the Russian Navy or the Jamaican people – recognise as Scottishness: pride, determination in the face of adversity, creativity, joyousness and exuberance (from The Edinburgh Festival to Burns Night to Hogmanay, no one celebrates quite like the Scots) and a rugged sense of independence.
For a country of less than six million people, historically Scotland has always punched well above its weight, producing an incredible number of innovators in the fields of science, medicine, engineering and the arts. For centuries now, from Braveheart and the legend of William Wallace, to the fiercely humanitarian poetry of Robert Burns, Scotland's history and mythology has proved a blazing source of inspiration for other small nations. An English engineer travelling through Russia in the early nineteenth century observed that 'to come from the north side of the River Tweed is the best recommendation a man can bring to this country!' (Some would argue that this still holds true in many countries around the world!)
Make no mistake, this November, St Andrew – and the whole notion of Scottishness that he has come to represent – will be celebrated far outside the nation where some of his bones finally came to rest. . .
