Apostle Andrew the First-called

Andrew was a disciple of St. John the Baptist and the first to follow Christ, which is why the Church calls him the First-called. He went straight to his brother Simon and said, “We have found the Messiah.” After Pentecost he preached around the Black Sea and, by tradition, up the Dnieper to where Kyiv now stands. In Patras the governor Aegeates had him crucified on an X-shaped cross, and he preached to the crowd from it for two days before he died. His relics rest in the great church of St. Andrew in Patras.

• Feast: November 30 (New Calendar)
• Lived: died c. 60
• Place: Patras
• Relics today: St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Patras