St. Andrew's flag

St. Andrew's flag is a white panel with two diagonal stripes of blue color, forming an inclined cross, called St. Andrew ; the ratio of the width of the flag to its length is one to one and a half; the width of the blue strip is 1/10 of the flag length ^{[4] [5]}

This cross gave the name of the flag. The symbolism of the St. Andrew cross rooted in the history of early Christianity. Apostle Andrew was the brother of Apostle Peter . Both brothers fished in the Sea of ​​Galilee , which led to their patronage of sea trade. Andrew was the first person whom Christ called to his disciples, so he was called the First-Called. According to medieval tradition, the Apostle Andrew also visited Russia, and therefore is considered the patron saint of Russia. In Kiev, he left a pectoral cross , after which he visited Novgorod and the nearby Volkhov . The apostle Andrew became famous after relentless preaching of Christianity in his journey and the adoption of martyrdom on the slanting cross in the Greek city of Patras .

The first official flag with the image of St. Andrew's Cross was the flag of the Kingdom of Scotland . According to legend, in 832, King Angus II , who led the army of the Picts and Scottes , before the battle with the Angles , led by Ethelstan , prayed to God on the night before the battle to grant victory on the battlefield, and made a vow that in case of victory he would announce the holy Apostle Andrew The First-Called Patron of Scotland. In the morning, the clouds over the battlefield formed the letter “X” in the blue sky, repeating the shape of the cross on which in the Greek city of Patras the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called was crucified . The Picts and Scottes were inspired by this divine omen, and the English were in awe. As a result, the army of Angus II, inferior in number to the army of the Angles, won the battle and the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called was proclaimed the patron saint of Scotland. However, the oldest known historical example of the use of the image of St. Andrew on the cross as a Scottish national symbol is the seal of the Scottish Guard in 1286, and for the first time the red flag with the St. Andrew's Cross was recorded in 1503 in the Vienna Book of Hours ^[6] . After the Scottish King James IV ascended the English throne , on April 12, 1606, the banner of the new state union was approved, combining the flags of both states (English St. George and Scottish St. Andrew) - "Union Jack" . After the unification of England and Scotland into a single state, it became the flag of the new state, and after the accession of Ireland , the flag of St. Patrick was included in its composition - the British flag acquired its modern appearance.

After the decolonization and collapse of the British colonial empire , Union Jack served as the basis or component for the flags of many former British colonies , dominions and protectorates .

In 1698, Peter the Great established the first order in Russia - the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First - Called - to be awarded for military exploits and public service. The order consisted of a golden cross, a blue ribbon, a silver eight-pointed star and a golden chain. In the center of the star, in a rosette covered with red enamel and gold stripes in the form of a radiance, there is a two-headed eagle crowned with three crowns, and on the chest of the eagle there is an oblique blue cross. In the same, in 1698, the blue St. Andrew's cross first appeared on the flag of Admiral Lefort.

Having become king, Peter I paid much attention to the development of draft flags. In 1699, he personally drew two projects. On one of them there were three parallel stripes with the inscription “white”, “blue”, “red”, on the second there was the Andreevsky cross against the background of three horizontal stripes. On December 1 (11), 1699, the flag with the St. Andrew's Cross was proclaimed by Peter I as the official flag of the Russian Navy ^[7] .

The St. Andrew’s Cross first appeared in the roof of the Admiral’s flags, first recorded by Peter Bergman in 1700 on the ship " Goto Predestination ". The first flag with the St. Andrew's Cross, which occupies the entire flag, appeared for the first time in 1710-1712, in 1720 it was confirmed in the charter. In preparing the Charter, Peter I gave the following description of the flag: “The flag is white, across this there is a blue St. Andrew’s Cross, with which he christened Russia.” In this form, the Andreevsky flag existed in the Russian Navy until the spring of 1918 (there was an attempt to introduce a red stern flag in 1917, but this attempt was unsuccessfully applied only on ships of the Baltic Fleet).

During the civil war (during the campaign Drozdovsky) was the banner of the detachment of Colonel Zhebrak . St. Andrew’s flag continued to be used on White ships during and after the Civil War. Only in October 1924, in the city of Bizerte in northern Africa, the Andreev flag was lowered by the last White Guard ships (on October 29 it became known that France recognized the Soviet Government of Russia). A number of ships were awarded the pennant of the Order of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker , while the St. George’s Admiral’s flag had a three-color stripe with flowers around the shield with the image of St. George: the first from the shield was red, the second was blue and the third was white.

On July 21, 1992, Russian President B. Yeltsin adopted Decree No. 798 regarding the return of the status of the Russian Navy to the St. Andrew flag. Guys and the fortress flag of Russia also carries the St. Andrew's Cross.

The pre-revolutionary St. Andrew’s flag and guys were reintroduced in the Russian fleet in 1992 ; they are still in use today. The official banner of the Russian Navy , based on the flag of the Russian Navy , was approved by Federal Law No. 162 of December 29, 2000 (with subsequent amendments and additions). St. Andrew's flag is depicted on the departmental medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation “300 years of the Baltic Fleet” , established by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 160 of May 16, 2003 .

Flag of the Arkhangelsk region		Flag of Rio de Janeiro		Flag of Fortaleza		Flag of Vladivostok

In March 1999, the Post of Russia issued the postal block 300 Years to St. Andrew's Flag with a face value of 7 rubles . The stamps and margins of the block depict sailing vessels of the Russian Navy of the XVII - XVIII centuries with stern Andreev flags, and the background is a map of the world. The block was released in a circulation of 250,000 copies. He received the Grand Prix ^{[10] of the} international contest of postal issues held in 2000 in Riga ( Latvia ).

Also, the image of St. Andrew's flag can be seen on the postal block issued in 2008 in honor of the 225th anniversary of the Russian Black Sea Fleet .

Voinovich Pavel Vladimirovich “Warrior under the flag of St. Andrew”

• In the fleet of the Russian Empire, traditionally the last parting words of the ship commanders to their crews before the battle were: “God is with us and the St. Andrew flag!” ^[11] .
• William Brown , a national hero of Argentina, the founding father of the Argentinean fleet, flew under the Andreev flag on the frigate "Hercules". His St. Andrew's flag is kept in the historical museum of Luhan ^[12] .
• St. Andrew's flag was present at the base of the emblem of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), which existed from 1942 to 1945 .
• Radio " Echo of Moscow " broadcast "Under the St. Andrew's flag" ^[13] . Its leader was the assistant to the commander in chief of the Russian Navy, the head of the press service of the Russian Navy, captain I rank Igor Dygalo .
• In November 2014, at the Mrs. World Peace Contest in the United States, actress Natalya Nikolaeva first represented Crimea and Sevastopol, flying under the Andreevsky flag ^[14] .

• Skritsky Nikolay Vladimirovich "St. George Knights under the Andreevsky Flag"
• Ammon Georgy Alekseevich “Maritime Memorial Dates”

• Information on the site "State Symbols" .