Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called

Life and first calling

Andrew came from Bethsaida and worked as a fisherman with his brother Simon, later known as the Apostle Peter. From his youth, he sought God and did not marry. When Saint John the Baptist began to preach, Andrew became his disciple. After John testified that Christ was the Lamb of God, Andrew followed the Savior. For this reason the Church calls him “the First-Called.” He then brought his own brother Peter to Christ, as the Gospel according to John relates. His first response to the Lord and his care for his brother remain central to the Church’s remembrance of him.

Preaching and Church tradition

After the descent of the Holy Spirit, Andrew preached in eastern lands. The account remembers his travels through Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, the region of the Danube, and the shores of the Black Sea. Church tradition also connects his missionary path with Crimea and the lands along the Dnieper: he is said to have blessed the hills where Kyiv would later stand and to have reached a settlement where Novgorod was later built. The same tradition links him with Byzantium, the future Constantinople, where he founded a Church. Thus his name holds a particular place in the ecclesial memory shared by the Churches of Constantinople and Russia.

Martyrdom and veneration

Andrew endured expulsion, beatings, and other sufferings, yet continued to proclaim the Gospel. In Patra, the final city of his ministry, many people came to faith through his preaching and, according to the Church’s account, through wonders worked by God in answer to his prayers. The prefect Aegeatos ordered the apostle crucified, with his hands and feet tied to the cross. Andrew accepted this suffering prayerfully and continued to teach those gathered around him. After his death, his body was buried with honor. Several centuries later, under Emperor Constantine the Great, his relics were transferred to Constantinople and placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Christians venerate Andrew as an example of fidelity to Christ, loving concern for others, and courage in bearing witness to the Gospel.

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