About St Andrew The Apostle |
|
Andrew's name occurs only twelve times in
the New Testament. Four of these
twelve occurrences
are found in the lists of Apostles:
Mark
3.18; Matthew 10.2; Luke 6.14;
Acts 1.13.
According to the Gospel of St.
Mark, Jesus
called Andrew and his brother
Peter to "become
fishers of men" (Mark 1.16-18)
Andrew, along with Peter, James
and John,
heard Jesus predict the destruction
of the
temple (Mark 13.3). The Gospel
of Matthew
adds nothing to Mark's picture
of Andrew,
and in fact Matthew omits the
name in his
redacting of Mark 1.29-31 and
13.3; (cfr
Matthew 8.14; and 24.3) Outside
of the lists
of Apostles, the author of Luke
/ Acts omits
reference to Andrew altogether.
In the fourth Gospel - John -
Andrew fares
somewhat better. He is the first
of the Apostles
called by Jesus (John 1.35-40);
he brings
his brother Simon to Jesus (John
1.41-42),
and he informs Jesus about the
lad with the
"expandable" lunch.
(John 6.89),
and Andrew also informs Jesus
about the Greeks
who want to see him (John 12.22).
None of
these narratives appear in the
Synoptics
gospels, and some of the information
in them
in fact contradicts the Synoptics.
Apart from the information that
we have in
the New Testament about Andrew,
we have another
two important sources of information
(though
not always reliable): The Acts
of Andrew
(apocrypha, late second century)
and information
passed on to us by Gregory of
Tours (sixth
century). The Acts of Andrew
and traditions
derived from it had placed Andrew's
ministry
in the region of the Black Sea,
and if one
can trust the epitome of Gregory
of Tours,
the Acts in fact sent the apostle
Andrew
to Byzantium. In 357, Constantius
II deposited
the apostle's remains in the
Church of the
Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
In 1204,
crusaders stole Andrew's relics
from Constantinople
and took them to Amalfi, Italy.
According
to ancient Celtic tradition,
St Regulus (fourth
century) took the apostle's arm
to St Andrews,
Scotland, where the archdiocese
still celebrates
the event every May 9.
The name Andrew is derived from
the Greek
Andreia (courage). In iconography,
the most
distinctive mark in the drawings
is his X-shaped
cross, a feature not attested
to prior to
the seventh century.
St Andrew's feast day is November 30. For
more information on St Andrew, click here.
|
|
|