Everything about Apostle Andrew totally explained
» "St Andrew" redirects here, for other uses, see St Andrews (disambiguation).
Saint Andrew (
Greek:
Ανδρέας,
Andreas), called in the
Orthodox tradition
Protocletos, or the
First-called, is a Christian
Apostle and the younger brother of
Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" (from
Greek : "ανδρεία", Andreia, manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century B.C. No
Hebrew or
Aramaic name is recorded for him.
The
New Testament records that St Andrew was a son of Jonah, or John, (; ). He was born in
Bethsaida on the
Sea of Galilee . Both he and his brother Peter were
fishermen by
trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that He will make them "
fishers of men" (
Greek: ἁλιείς ἀνθρώπων,
halieis anthropon). At the beginning of Jesus' public life they occupied the same house at
Capernaum .
The
Gospel of John teaches that Andrew was a
disciple of
John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him and
John the Evangelist to follow Jesus . Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the
Messiah, and hastened to introduce him to his brother . Thenceforth the two brothers were disciples of Christ. On a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus (; ; ).
In the gospels Andrew is referred to as being present on some important occasions as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus (;, ), but in
Acts there's only a bare mention of him .
Eusebius quotes
Origen as saying Andrew preached in
Asia Minor and in
Scythia, along the
Black Sea as far as the
Volga and
Kiev. Hence he became a
patron saint of
Romania and
Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of
Byzantium (Constantinople) in AD 38, installing
Stachys as bishop. This diocese would later develop into the
Patriarchate of Constantinople. Andrew is recognized as its patron saint.
Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at
Patras (Patrae) in
Achaea. Though early texts, such as the
Acts of Andrew known to
Gregory of Tours, describe Andrew bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Christ was crucified, a tradition grew up that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called
Crux decussata (X-shaped cross) and commonly known as "
St. Andrew's cross"; this was performed at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross on which
Christ was crucified. "The familiar iconography of his martyrdom, showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, doesn't seem to have been standardized before the later Middle Ages," Judith Calvert concluded after re-examining the materials studied by Louis Réau.
Saint Andrew is the patron of Patras. According to tradition his relics were moved from Patras to
Constantinople, and thence to
St. Andrews (see below). Local legends say that the relics were sold to the Romans. The head of the saint, considered one of the treasures of St. Peter's Basilica, was given by the Byzantine
despot Thomas Palaeologus to
Pope Pius II in 1461. In recent years, by decision of
Pope Paul VI in 1964, the relics that were kept in the
Vatican City, were sent back to Patras. The relics, which consist of the small finger, part of the top of the cranium of Saint Andrew and small parts of the cross, have since that time been kept in the Church of St. Andrew at Patras in a special shrine, and are revered in a special ceremony every
November 30.
The Acts of Andrew
The
apocryphal
Acts of Andrew, mentioned by
Eusebius,
Epiphanius and others, is among a disparate group of
Acts of the Apostles that were traditionally attributed to
Leucius Charinus. "These Acts may be the latest of the five leading apostolic romances. They belong to the third century:
ca. A.D. 260," was the opinion of
M.R. James, who edited them in 1924. The
Acts, as well as a
Gospel of St. Andrew, appear among rejected books in the
Decretum Gelasianum connected with the name of
Pope Gelasius I. The
Acts of Andrew was edited and published by
Constantin von Tischendorf in the
Acta Apostolorum apocrypha (
Leipzig, 1821), putting it for the first time into the hands of a critical professional readership. Another version of the Andrew legend is found in the
Passio Andreae, published by Max Bonnet (
Supplementum II Codicis apocryphi,
Paris, 1895).
Relics
The purported
relics of the Apostle Andrew are kept at the Basilica of St. Andrew in
Patras,
Greece; the
Duomo de Sant'Andrea,
Amalfi,
Italy;
St Mary's Cathedral,
Edinburgh,
Scotland; and the Church of St. Andrew and St. Albert,
Warsaw,
Poland. There are also numerous smaller
reliquaries throughout the world.
St. Jerome wrote that the relics of St. Andrew were taken from
Patras to
Constantinople by order of the
Roman emperor Constantius II around
357 and deposited in the
Church of the Holy Apostles. The head of the saint was given by the Byzantine
despot Thomas Palaeologus to
Pope Pius II in
1461. It was enshrined in one of the four central piers of
St. Peter's Basilica in the
Vatican. In September
1964,
Pope Paul VI, as a gesture of good will toward the Greek Orthodox Church, ordered that all of the relics of St. Andrew that were in
Vatican City, were sent back to Patras. The relics, which consist of the small finger, part of the top of the cranium of Saint Andrew and small portions of the cross on which he was
martyred, have since that time been kept in the Church of St. Andrew at Patras in a special shrine, and are reverenced in a special ceremony every
November 30, his
feast day.
Amalfi
In 1208, following the
sack of Constantinople those relics of St. Andrew which remained in the imperial city were taken to
Amalfi,
Italy, by
Pedro, cardinal of Capua, a native of Amalfi.
The Amalfi cathedral (
Duomo), dedicated to St. Andrew (as is the town itself), contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still contains the rest of the relics of the apostle.
Romanian tradition
Romanians believe that Saint Andrew (named
Sfântul Apostol Andrei) was the first who preached Christianity in
Scythia Minor, modern
Dobrogea, to the native people of the
Dacians (ancestors of the Romanians): it's the official position of the
Romanian Orthodox Church.
Hippolyte of Antioch (died ~AD 250) in his
On apostles,
Origen in the third book of his
Commentaries on
Genesis (AD 254),
Eusebius of Caesarea in his
Church History (AD 340), and other sources, like the
Usaard's Martyrdom written between 845-865,
Jacobus de Voragine in the
Golden Legend (~1260), mention that Saint Andrew preached in
Scythia Minor.
There are
toponyms and numerous very old traditions (like carols) related to Saint Andrew, many of them having probably a pre-Christian substratum. There exists a cave where it's supposed he preached. The mysterious tradition of baptism which happens in the village of
Copuzu is also linked by some ethnologists with the
christianization campaign made by the Apostle.
Scottish legends
About the middle of the tenth century, Andrew became the
patron saint of
Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought under supernatural guidance from
Constantinople to the place where the modern town of
St Andrews stands today (
Gaelic, Cill Rìmhinn).
The oldest surviving manuscripts are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by
Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to
Louis XIV, now in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, the other in the
Harleian Mss in the
British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by one Regulus to the
Pictish king
Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) — the name is preserved by the tower of St. Rule — was an Irish monk expelled from
Ireland with Saint
Columba; his date, however, is c. 573–600. There are good reasons for supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of
Acca, bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not, according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of St. Andrews. The connection made with Regulus is, therefore, due in all probability to the desire to date the foundation of the church at St. Andrews as early as possible.
Another legend says that in the late eighth century, during a joint battle with the English, King Ungus (either the Óengus mac Fergusa mentioned previously or
Óengus II of the Picts (820–834)) saw a cloud shaped like a
saltire, and declared Andrew was watching over them, and if they won by his grace, then he'd be their patron saint. However, there's evidence Andrew was venerated in Scotland before this.
Andrew's connection with Scotland may have been reinforced following the
Synod of Whitby, when the
Celtic Church felt that Columba had been "outranked" by Peter and that Peter's younger brother would make a higher ranking patron. The 1320
Declaration of Arbroath cites Scotland's conversion to Christianity by Saint Andrew, "the first to be an Apostle".
Numerous parish churches in the
Church of Scotland and congregations of other Christian churches in Scotland are named after Saint Andrew. The national church of the Scottish people in
Rome,
Sant'Andrea degli Scozzesi is dedicated to St Andrew.
Saint Andrew and the Parish of Luqa (Malta)
The first reference regarding the first small chapel at Luqa dedicated to Saint Andrew dates to 1497. The pastoral visit of Mgr. Pietro Dusina affirms that this chapel contained three altars, one of them dedicated to Saint Andrew. The titular painting showing
Mary with Saints Andrew and Paul was painted by the Maltese artist Filippo Dingli.
At one time, many fishermen lived in the village of Luqa, and this may be the main reason behind choosing Saint Andrew as patron saint. The titular statue of Saint Andrew was sculpted in wood by Giuseppe Scolaro in 1779. This statue underwent several restoration works including that of 1913 performed by the Maltese renowned artist Abraham Gatt.
The
Martyrdom of Saint Andrew on the main altar of the church was painted by
Mattia Preti in 1687.
Saint Andrew in Ukraine
Early Christian History in Ukraine holds that the apostle Saint Andrew is said to have preached on the southern borders of modern-day
Ukraine, along the
Black Sea. Legend has it that he travelled up the
Dnieper River and reached the future location of
Kiev, where he erected a cross on the site where the
St. Andrew's Church of Kiev currently stands, and prophesied the foundation of a great Christian city.
Conclusions
Andrew is the
patron saint of
Scotland,
Russia,
Romania,
Greece,
Amalfi, and Luqa in Malta. He was also the patron saint of
Prussia. The
flag of Scotland (and consequently the
Union Flag and the
arms and
flag of Nova Scotia) feature St Andrew's
saltire cross. The saltire is also the
flag of Tenerife and the
naval jack of Russia. The
Confederate flag also features a saltire commonly referred to as a St Andrew's cross, although its designer,
William Porcher Miles, said he changed it from an upright cross to a saltire so that it wouldn't be a religious symbol but merely a heraldic device.
A statue of Saint Andrew is an important element in the story of the 1956
Hollywood wartime romance,
Miracle In The Rain starring
Van Johnson and
Jane Wyman. When Ruth, played by Wyman realizes she's lost Art, the statue inside
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York becomes a focus of devotion for her.
The
feast of Saint Andrew is observed on
November 30 in both the Eastern and Western churches, and is the
national day of Scotland.
Further Information
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