Andrew

St. Andrew, brother of Peter, is remembered by Orthodox tradition as the first of the Twelve to be called by Christ — earning him the title Protokletos, "the First-Called" — and appears throughout the Gospels as the one who brings other people to Jesus.

For Inquirers

Some people are remembered for what they said; Andrew is remembered for who he brought. Every time he appears by name in the Gospels, he is doing more or less the same thing: introducing someone else to Jesus. He brings his own brother, Simon, who will become Peter, the most prominent of the Twelve. He brings forward a boy with a small lunch that becomes the seed of a miracle feeding thousands. He brings a group of foreign visitors who simply want to see Jesus and don't know how to arrange it. Andrew is never the center of the story he keeps appearing in — he is the hinge that opens the door for someone else to meet Christ.

The Orthodox Church remembers this pattern in Andrew's own title: Protokletos, "the First-Called" — Andrew is the first of the future Twelve named in the Gospels as having left everything to follow Jesus, and, having found Him, his very first recorded act was to go find his brother and bring him along too. The man remembered as first-called spends the rest of his appearances in the Gospels making sure he is not the only one who came.

Overview

  • Andrew, brother of Simon Peter, was originally a disciple of John the Baptist; when John pointed to Jesus, Andrew followed Him immediately and is the first of the future Twelve named in the Gospels as doing so — the traditional basis for the Orthodox title Protokletos, "the First-Called" (John 1.35-40).
  • His first recorded act after finding Jesus is to find his own brother: "he first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah!'… he brought him to Jesus" (John 1.41-42).
  • He and Peter are later called together in a separate, more formal call to full-time discipleship while fishing on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 1.16-18).
  • He appears twice more in John's Gospel doing the same thing: pointing out the boy with the loaves and fish before the feeding of the five thousand (John 6.8-9), and bringing a group of Greeks who wished to see Jesus (John 12.20-22). By tradition he preached among the Scythians and Thracians and was martyred at Patrae in Achaia.[^hipp]

The First-Called

John's Gospel gives the earlier and more personal account of how Andrew comes to Christ. He is first a disciple of John the Baptist, present when John, seeing Jesus pass by, says, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (John 1.36). Andrew and another disciple immediately leave John to follow Jesus, and after spending the day with Him, "one of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother" (John 1.40). John's Gospel never names the second disciple, and tradition often identifies him with John the Evangelist himself, called in this same moment rather than afterward — so what Scripture actually establishes is narrower but still real: Andrew is named first among these earliest followers, and he is unambiguously first to bring in a future member of the Twelve, his brother Peter. This is the traditional basis for the Orthodox title Protokletos, "the First-Called."

What Andrew does next sets the pattern for every later appearance he makes: "he first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah!'… He brought him to Jesus" (John 1.41-42). The very next thing Andrew does, on the same day he himself is found, is go find someone else. Some time later, Christ calls both brothers again, more formally, to leave their nets altogether: "passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, 'Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men.' Immediately they left their nets, and followed him" (Mark 1.16-18).

The one who brings others

Andrew's remaining appearances in the Gospels all repeat the same shape. Before the feeding of the five thousand, when the disciples have no idea how to feed the crowd, "one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?'" (John 6.8-9) — Andrew does not solve the problem himself, but he is the one who brings the boy and his small lunch forward at all. Later, when Greek visitors at the feast want an audience with Jesus and do not know how to get one, "these came to Philip… and asked him, saying, 'Sir, we want to see Jesus.' Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus" (John 12.20-22). Even here, where Philip is approached first, it is Andrew who is needed to actually make the introduction happen.

Mission and martyrdom

Later tradition, recorded in an early list of the apostles and their fates, gives Andrew's field of mission and his end: "Andrew preached to the Scythians and Thracians, and was crucified, suspended on an olive tree, at Patrae, a town of Achaia; and there too he was buried."[^hipp] This is worth noting honestly: the popular image of Andrew dying on an X-shaped cross ("St. Andrew's Cross") does not appear in this earliest available record, which says only that he was "suspended on an olive tree" — the X-cross detail is a later development this entry cannot date precisely from the sources at hand. What this record does establish is the place, Patrae, and the manner, crucifixion — Andrew's last act, like so many of his first, was simply to go where he was needed and stay there until the end.

Sources

[^1]: John 1.35-42 (WEB) — Andrew's call from among John the Baptist's disciples, and his bringing Peter to Jesus. [^2]: Mark 1.16-18 (WEB) — the formal call of Andrew and Peter from their nets. [^3]: John 6.8-9 (WEB) — Andrew bringing forward the boy with the loaves and fish. [^4]: John 12.20-22 (WEB) — Andrew bringing the Greek visitors to Jesus. [^hipp]: Attributed to Pseudo-Hippolytus, On the Apostles and Disciples, "On the Twelve Apostles" — "Andrew preached to the Scythians and Thracians, and was crucified, suspended on an olive tree, at Patrae, a town of Achaia.".