The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called

Frumentios, archbishop and enlightener of Ethiopia; Alexander, bishop of Methymna

November 30, 2025

Troparion of the Resurrection – Tone 8

From the heights Thou didst descend, O compassionate One, and Thou didst submit to the three-day burial, that Thou might deliver us from passion; Thou art our life and our Resurrection, O Lord, glory to Thee.

Troparion of St Andrew the Apostle – Tone 4

As the first called of the Apostles, and brother of their leader, O Andrew, entreat the Master of all that peace be granted unto the world and great mercy to our souls.

Troparion of St Joseph the Betrothed – Tone 2

Proclaim, O Joseph to David, the ancestor of God, the amazing wonder, for by the angel they were revealed unto thee. For thou hast seen a Virgin great with child, and thou gave glory with the shepherds and didst worship with the Magi. Wherefore, plead with Christ God to save our souls.

Kontakion of the Prefeast of Nativity – Tone 3

The Virgin cometh today to the cave to give birth, ineffably to bring forth the Word eternal. Therefore, rejoice, O earth at the message with the angels and shepherds give glory to Him who shall appear by His own will as young child, He who is from eternity God.

Epistle – Corinthians 4:9-16

Brethren, God has exhibited us Apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Gospel – St John 1:35-51

At that time John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where art Thou staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “So you are Simon the son of Jonah? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel, and said to him, “We have found Him of Whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathaniel said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathaniel said to Him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathaniel answered Him, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God! Thou art the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

Venerable Sebastian Dabovich – November 30

   Venerable Sebastian of Jackson, California was born on June 9, 1863 in San Francisco to Serbian emigrés. Jovan Dabovich studied at the Kiev and St Petersburg Theological Academies. In 1887, while pursuing his studies at the St Petersburg Theological Academy, he was tonsured as a monk, and then ordained as a Hierodeacon.

   After completing his education, Father Sebastian returned to the United States, where he began to serve at Saint Alexander Nevsky church in San Francisco. In 1892 he was ordained as a Hieromonk by Bishop Nicholas of the Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska, who sent him to Minneapolis to replace St Alexis Toth as the priest of Saint Mary Church. Under Bishop Nicholas’s omophorion he carried out a program of educational, missionary, and pastoral work in Washington, California, and Minneapolis. Then he worked in the administration of the North American mission under Saint Tikhon, the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, preaching in English, Serbian, and Russian

   In 1894 he built a church for the Serbian community in Jackson, California in honor of St Savva of Serbia, which was the first Serbian parish in America. he was assigned to assist at St Michael Cathedral in Sitka, Alaska.

   During his lifetime, the missionary priest crossed the Atlantic Ocean fifteen times and the Pacific Ocean nine times, when he needed to visit Serbia and Russia, and his missionary journeys to Japan, where Father Sebastian met St Nicholas of Japan.

   In 1905, Igumen Sebastian was appointed to the post of Dean of Serbian churches, and in that same year, by decree of the Synod, he became the head of the Serbian mission. Archbishop Tikhon asked Fr Sebastian to head a Serbian Mission in the North American diocese. On August 15, Archbishop Tikhon elevated him to the rank of Archimandrite for his zealous labors for the Church.

   In 1910, Fr Sebastian went to Serbia, serving as a chaplain in the Serbian Army during the Second Balkan War (1912-1913), and during World War I (1914-1918). From 1936 until the end of his earthly life, he lived in retirement at the St Savva of Serbia Monastery in Žića. He reposed there on November 30, 1940, and St Nicholas (Velimirovich) presided at his funeral. In 2007, Venerable Sebastian’s relics were reburied in the church of Saint Savva in Jackson, California, which he had founded.

   On May 29, 2015 by the decision of the Bishops’ Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Sebastian was glorified as a Saint.