Order of St. Andrew the First-Called: history of creation, description, knights of the Order

The Order of St. Andrew the First-Called is one of the main symbols of the Russian state. Not only that he is the very first award in our country, he for a long time - until 1917 - took the highest step in the hierarchy of state orders and medals. In 1998, this status was returned to him by Boris Yeltsin's decree.

The Order of St. Andrew was established in a very difficult time for the country: there was an active preparation for the Northern War, Russia was preparing to become level with the mighty European powers. The first order in the Russian state was to symbolize the prestige of the country, its right to respect from other states. It is not by chance that the patron of this award was chosen one of the closest disciples of Peter - Andrew the First-Called, who at one time played a huge role in the formation of Kievan Rus.

The draft statute, which described the Order of St. Andrew, was prepared, among other things, by the active efforts of Peter I. According to one of the versions, he proposed to make the symbol of this award two crossed white stripes on a blue field, and the order itself to those who rendered "great services to the Fatherland ". The decree on the establishment of the order was signed by the future emperor at the end of March 1699.

Admiral F. Golovin tried on himself for the first time the cavalier ribbon on which the Order of St. Andrew was fortified, but with the second knight a discrepancy arose: he was the well-known ataman I. Mazepa, who soon surrendered to Charles XII, for which he was not only anathema, But also lost the highest Russian award. Peter himself, by the way, became only the sixth owner of this high order.

Knights of the Order of St. Andrew were awarded the medal, which was a silver cross, mounted against the background of a two-headed eagle of golden color and an eight-pointed star. The sign itself was painted blue and had in the center the image of St. Andrew. The order was to be worn on a blue ribbon, elegantly thrown over the right shoulder, while the left breast was to be stolen by an eight-pointed star.

Subsequently, the circle of applicants for this order was limited to the highest elite of the state, and the award itself gave them the right to the rank of Lieutenant-General. In addition, it became a tradition to award the Order of St. Andrew the First-Born to the members of the imperial family at birth.

At the same time in Russia, the winners of this award could be no more than twelve people. At the time of the February Revolution, the Order of St. Andrew was given, according to various estimates, from 900 to 1100 people, including such famous people as A. Suvorov, G. Potemkin, P. Rumyantsev, Napoleon. The last owner of this award in tsarist Russia was the representative of the imperial family, Prince Roman Petrovich.

In modern Russia, the Order of St. Andrew once again took its rightful place as the country's main award in 1998. His appearance was created according to the surviving sketches, so he completely copies the order that was before 1917. The first to receive this award was the famous academician D. Likhachev. Later they were awarded 12 more people, including N. Nazarbayev, M. Kalashnikov, A. Solzhenitsyn, Alexy II, S. Mikhalkov.