The First One Called

November 30 is the Feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle. For most of us Andrew is just the younger brother of St. Peter, who was born in Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. The New Testament doesn't say much about Andrew, but there is enough there to reveal some interesting facts. In Orthodox tradition Andrew is known by another name - Prōtoklētos, or the First-called! St. Andrew was the first disciple of Jesus. To get clarification we need to read the Gospel of John Chapter 1:35-42 along with Matthew Chapter 4:18-20. St. John tells us that Andrew was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. When John pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God" Andrew along with another disciple left John and followed Jesus to His house. There is no mention since about the other disciple who accompanied Andrew, so it can be concluded that he never stayed on. Andrew, however, after visiting Jesus' home went and brought his brother Simon Peter. It is believed that Andrew and Peter continued their trade as fishermen until Christ called them to a closer relationship, as we see in the Gospel of Matthew. 


Andrew shows up again in John's Gospel during the multiplication of loaves. In Chapter 6 John tells us that there was a large crowd following Jesus, and Jesus told the disciples about His intention of feeding them all for the feast of Passover. This has presented a very difficult problem for His disciples as Philip puts it, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little bit". The disciples knew that there were way too many people following them and it was impossible to feed them all. But somehow Andrew dared to suggest to Jesus about "a boy with five barley loaves and two fish", and an amazing miracle was born.

So what is the significance of St. Andrew among all of Jesus' Apostles? I would say that Andrew was fully aware of one of the great ways God work - creating 'amazing' out of 'ordinary', making 'everything' out of 'nothing'. Andrew obeyed to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to leave John the Baptist - a somebody during that time, to follow Jesus - a nobody at the time. He then brought Peter to Jesus - Peter was a nobody, just a smelly fisherman. Jesus took Peter and turned him into the Rock on which Christ built His Church on earth. Again it required enormous faith to tell Jesus about a boy with five loaves and two fishes, believing that Christ could do something with it. St. Andrew succeeded where many of us fail - we shy away from doing God's work thinking that we have nothing to offer Him. 

St. Andrew was martyred by crucifixion at Patras in Achaea in Greece. Like his brother St. Peter, he too deemed himself unworthy to die the same way Christ died, and requested an X shaped cross. St. Andrew got his wish of an X shaped cross, but instead of being nailed on to it he was tied on to the 'Crux decussata' so he wouldn't die right away. He was left to suffer for two days on it, but he continued to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ until finally died. 

"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that we preach. For, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. For the scripture says, 'No one believes in him will be put to shame.'" (Romans 10:8-11)