The saints

Saint Andrew

Apostle · Feast day November 30 · First century · Galilee, Greece · Also known as Andrew the First-Called

Saint Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was the first of the apostles to follow Jesus and the one who brought his brother to him. Ever after he is the apostle who introduces people to Christ, and he is the patron saint of Scotland, Greece, and Russia.

He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.John 1:41 (KJV)

The first-called

Andrew was a fisherman of Galilee and, before he met Jesus, a disciple of John the Baptist. When John pointed to Jesus and said, Behold the Lamb of God, Andrew followed, spent the day with him, and then went straight to find his brother Simon, saying, We have found the Messiah, and brought him to Jesus. For this the Eastern church calls him the First-Called.

The one who brings others

Andrew appears a few more times in the Gospels, and each time he is bringing someone to Jesus. It was Andrew who found the boy with the five loaves and two fish before the feeding of the thousands, and Andrew to whom the Greeks came when they wished to see Jesus. His whole character is captured in that one habit: he brings people to Christ and steps back.

Mission and martyrdom

By the constant tradition of the early church, after Pentecost Andrew carried the gospel to Greece and the lands around the Black Sea. He was martyred at Patras in Greece, crucified, tradition says, on an X-shaped cross, since called the Saint Andrew's cross, which still appears on the flag of Scotland. Nations from Scotland to Russia claim him as their patron.

Why Andrew still matters

Andrew is the patron of every quiet Christian who is not the leader or the preacher but who simply brings a brother, a friend, a stranger to Jesus. The whole church is full of people who came because an Andrew went and found them.

A note for all traditions: the saints are honored across the church as examples of faith and, in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, as friends who pray with us, never worshiped, for worship belongs to God alone. What Scripture records and what later tradition holds are distinguished above. In every tradition there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, and every believer, not only the saints, is called to follow him.

Related: Saint Peter · Patron saint of fishermen · Saints for November 30 · Saint of the day