Saint Andrew

Andrew was a fisherman of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, the brother of Simon Peter. He was first a disciple of John the Baptist, and when John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God,” Andrew followed him and spent the day with him. Then he went to find his brother: “We have found the Messias,” and he brought Simon to Jesus (John 1). For this the Eastern Churches call him the Protoclete, the First-Called.

Soon afterwards Jesus called the two brothers from their nets by the lake: “Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men” (Matthew 4). Andrew appears again at the feeding of the five thousand, where he brought forward the boy with five barley loaves and two fishes (John 6). He also brought to Jesus some Greeks who wished to see him.

After Pentecost, according to early tradition, Andrew preached around the Black Sea and in Greece. He was martyred at Patras in Achaia, bound to a cross, on which he is said to have preached to the people for two days before he died. Later tradition made that cross X-shaped, and the saltire of Saint Andrew appears on the flag of Scotland.

His relics were taken to Constantinople, and in 1208 to Amalfi in Italy, where most of them remain. The Church of Constantinople honours him as its founder, as Rome honours his brother Peter.