Apostle
Apostle Andrew
I век, † ок. 67
Apostle Andrew the First-Called — the brother of Apostle Peter, the first of the disciples called by Christ (hence his epithet "First-Called"); according to tradition, he preached in Scythia and the lands of future Rus'; he was martyred in Patras, Greece, crucified on an X-shaped ("St. Andrew's") cross.
Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the brother of Apostle Peter, was a disciple of St. John the Baptist and was then the first of the apostles to follow Christ (John 1:35-40), earning him the epithet "First-Called." After the descent of the Holy Spirit, he preached the Gospel in various countries, according to tradition reaching Scythia and the lands along the Dnieper, where, according to Russian chronicles, he foretold the founding of Kyiv and the spread of Christianity in Rus'. He completed his apostolic journey in the city of Patras (Greece), where he was martyred around the year 67, crucified at his own request on a cross of a special, diagonal shape (X-shaped, later called "St. Andrew's cross"). His memory is kept on November 30/December 13, as well as June 30/July 13 in the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles.
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