Saint Andrew the Apostle

Saint Andrew the Apostle was a fisherman from Bethsaida, the brother of Simon Peter, and one of the Twelve. He was the first of the apostles to follow Jesus, which is why the Byzantine tradition calls him the Protoclete, that is, the First-Called. The Church celebrates his feast on November 30.

He came from Bethsaida in Galilee, and together with his brother he lived in Capernaum and fished in the Sea of Galilee. He bore a Greek name, not a Hebrew one, in which Benedict XVI saw a sign of a certain cultural openness in his family. The year of his birth is unknown.

Before he met Jesus, he was a disciple of John the Baptist. When he heard John call Jesus the Lamb of God, he followed him with another disciple and stayed with him that day. Then he sought out his brother, told him, “We have found the Messiah,” and brought him to Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark relate that by the Sea of Galilee Jesus called both brothers as they were casting a net, and promised to make them fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him.

Andrew appears three more times in the Gospels. Before the multiplication of the loaves it was he who pointed out to Jesus the boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. On the Mount of Olives, together with Peter, James, and John, he asked the Master about the signs that would announce the end of time. Shortly before the Passion, he and Philip brought to Jesus the request of the Greeks who wished to see him. After the Ascension he remained with the other apostles in prayer in the Upper Room.

The New Testament is silent about what became of Andrew afterward. Very ancient traditions see in him the apostle of the Greek world. According to writers of the first centuries he is said to have preached the Gospel in Asia Minor and along the Black Sea, and the Roman Martyrology records that after Pentecost he is said to have taught in Achaia and to have been crucified at Patras. According to a later tradition he died on an X-shaped cross, known ever since as Saint Andrew’s cross. An account of his passion from the beginning of the sixth century relates that he greeted the cross with joy, as the way to his Master. The year of his death cannot be established; a date around the year 60 is usually given.

Andrew has been venerated as a saint since antiquity, without a formal canonization, and November 30 is kept by the calendars of both East and West. The Church of Constantinople, which according to tradition owes its beginning to him, honors him as its special patron. Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Scotland also have him as their patron.

The relic of the Apostle’s head, brought from Patras to Rome in the time of Pope Pius II, rested for five centuries in Saint Peter’s Basilica. In 1964 Paul VI returned it to the Orthodox Church in Patras. The brotherhood of Peter and Andrew remains a sign of the bond between Rome and Constantinople. For the Apostle’s feast the popes send their delegation to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIV themselves took part on that day in the liturgy at the Phanar.