Calling and Gospel Ministry
The Gospel of John records that Andrew was initially a follower of John the Baptist. The Baptist's testimony led Andrew, together with John the Evangelist, to follow Jesus, and Andrew at once recognized him as the Messiah and brought his brother Simon Peter to him. Jesus called both brothers from their work as fishermen, promising to make them 'fishers of men'. This sequence — Andrew recognizing and following Christ before the others — is the basis of his Orthodox title 'Protokletos', the First-Called.
Andrew is named among the first four apostles throughout the New Testament lists. The Gospels record his participation in several notable moments: he posed questions that prompted Jesus's eschatological discourse, identified the boy carrying five loaves and two fishes at the feeding of the five thousand, and helped bring Greek visitors into contact with Jesus shortly before the Crucifixion. He was present at the Last Supper and at Pentecost.
Missionary Journeys
Historical tradition describes Andrew preaching across a wide territory after Pentecost: Cappadocia, Galatia, Bithynia, Scythia, and the Greek colonies along the northern coast of the Black Sea, including Chersonesus in Crimea. His travels are also placed in Thrace, Byzantium, and Achaia in Greece. He may have preached in Dobruja (Scythia Minor), corresponding to modern Romania and Bulgaria.
By tradition he reached Byzantium, where he is said to have founded the see and appointed Saint Stachys as its first bishop around 38 AD — a tradition foundational to Constantinople's claim of apostolic succession. Another account relates that he reached the future site of Kiev and prophesied that a great Christian city would one day rise there.
Martyrdom
Tradition holds that Andrew was martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patrae) in Achaia around AD 60, during the reign of Nero and under the Roman governor Aegeas. Early texts describe him as bound rather than nailed to the cross, so as to prolong his suffering.
Later tradition depicts him crucified on an X-shaped cross, the saltire, said to have been requested by Andrew himself because he deemed himself unworthy to die in the same manner as Jesus. The Catholic Encyclopedia gives the date of his martyrdom as November 30, AD 60.
Relics & Shrines
Andrew's relics were originally preserved at Patras. Most were transferred from Patras to Constantinople by order of the Roman Emperor Constantius II around 357 AD and deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles.
By legend a monk named Regulus carried some of the bones — a kneecap, an upper arm bone, three fingers, and a tooth — westward, eventually reaching Scotland; historians suggest, however, that relics were more likely brought to Britain in 597 as part of the Augustine Mission and then to Fife in 732. In 1208, after the sack of Constantinople, the relics of Saint Andrew and Saint Peter remaining in the imperial city were taken to Amalfi, Italy, by Cardinal Peter of Capua the Elder; most, including an occipital bone, remain in Amalfi Cathedral. In 1461 Thomas Palaiologos brought the purported skull to Pope Pius II.
In September 1964, Pope Paul VI, as a gesture of goodwill toward the Greek Orthodox Church, ordered the relic of Saint Andrew held in Vatican City returned to Patras; the skull was formally presented on September 24, 1964. The cross on which he was martyred was returned to Patras on January 19, 1980. The skull, the small finger, and the cross are now kept in the Cathedral of Saint Andrew at Patras in a special shrine. Relics attributed to Andrew are also preserved at St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, and the Church of St Andrew and St Albert, Warsaw.
Feasts and Commemorations
The Eastern Orthodox Church observes Andrew's primary feast on November 30, the date shared by both the Eastern and Western Churches. Additional commemorations include June 20 (the translation of his relics), June 30 (the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles), and September 26 (the translation of the skull in 1964).
