The St. Andrew's flag is a white rectangular cloth with two blue stripes connecting opposite corners and intersecting in the center. It is the official banner of the Russian Navy.
St. Andrew's cross
The phrase "Andreevsky flag" has long become stable and is associated exclusively with the fleet, but the question still arises: why this particular male name was chosen for the name, because it could well be Aleksandrovsky, Ivanovsky or Fedorovsky. The thing is that a special cross, which is called St. Andrew's, was chosen as a symbol for the banner.
And his story is as follows: among the apostles of Jesus there were two brothers-fishermen Peter and Andrew, the latter is just discussed in the song "Walking on the Water", which was popular in the 90s of the last century. After the crucifixion of Christ, he traveled, preached Christian teachings and was executed in Greece. He was martyred on a cross, the shape of which is the intersection of two beams driven into the ground at an angle and forming an acute angle. Therefore, the two intersecting lines are the symbol of the Apostle Andrew.
The proportions of the sides of the Andreevsky flag are 2 to 3, and the width of the blue stripes is 1/10 of the length.
Why exactly the apostle Andrew
The connection between the Apostle Andrew and the Russian Navy is not obvious, but there are two reasons why the symbol of this martyr adorns the flags of our fleet. First, in his wanderings, Andrew the First-Called reached the places that later became Rus, and even according to some legends, he left his thimble cross in Kiev. This statement can be questioned, because the emergence of the first urban settlements on the right bank of the Dnieper is attributed to the 5-6th century AD.
And although the legend remains a legend, it is because of her that Andrew the First-Called is one of the patrons of Russia. The second fact that connects the apostle with the fleet is his profession - he fished in the Sea of Galilee. And since part of the fish was sold, he initially patronized the entire sea trade, and only after that the St. Andrew's Cross decorated the flags of warships.
Peter I honored Andrew the First-Called, and it was he who, by his decree, approved the appearance of the stern flags in 1720.
St. Andrew's Cross on other Flags
It is interesting that the symbol of the apostle-fisherman, whom Christ called to his disciple first, is very popular in emblems and, in particular, in heraldry. St. Andrew's Cross can be easily seen in the flag of Great Britain, Scotland, Jamaica, the American states of Alabama and Florida, the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza. It was also used during the Great Patriotic War by Vlasov's troops, and now it is part of the jacks of such maritime states as Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Belgium.
