Andrew

Andrew was a fisherman and a follower of John the Baptist when, one day, Jesus was passing by and John said, “Look, the Lamb of God.” When Andrew and another man heard this, they followed Jesus and spent the day with Him and the crowds. When Jesus saw them, He turned around and asked, “What do you want?” They asked, “Where are you staying?” Jesus answered, “Come and you will see.” So, they stayed with Him until evening. Then, the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Peter, and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” and he brought him to Jesus. (John 1:35-42). Consequently, Andrew was Jesus’ first disciple and the first to call him, “Messiah.” 

The Bible doesn’t say much about Andrew, but the Gospel of Matthew’s report of the feeding of the 5,000 has a significant account of him. A multitude of people had spent the day listening to Jesus, and as evening approached, the disciples came to Jesus and suggested that He send the people away so that they could buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Peter responded that 200 days’ wages would not be enough for each person to have a little bit. However, Andrew bravely brought a little boy to Jesus who had only five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus multiplied them to feed the whole crowd with twelve basketfuls of broken pieces left over. 

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Andrew is said to have preached in areas around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and he established the early orthodox church at Patras called the Church of Saint Andrew. At one point in Andrew’s ministry, the Roman Proconsul Aegeates was visiting Patras. His intention was to put an end to the new Christian religion and convince Christians to honor Roman gods and offer sacrifices to them. When Andrew heard about this, he ran to meet Aegeates telling him that the Son of God came on account of the salvation of men. Of the Roman gods, he said, “...these idols are not only not gods, but also most shameful demons and hostile to the human race…” Aegeates was outraged and carried out a long dialogue with Andrew suggesting Jesus’ teaching was false doctrine and His death was foolish. At the end of their conversation, Aegeates ordered Andrew’s crucifixion. Andrew did not see crucifixion as an instrument of torture and death but as sharing Christ’s suffering and redemption. So, he ran to the cross and embraced it wholeheartedly. He insisted that the cross take an X shape instead of a T and was bound to the cross instead of being nailed to it.

Andrew’s relics are at the Church of St. Andrew in Patras, which was renamed to Constantinople, and is now Istanbul, Turkey.