The Apostle Andrew the First-Called was from Galilee. This northern part of the Holy Land was distinguished by fertility and picturesqueness, and its inhabitants were good–natured and hospitable. The Galileans easily got along with the Greeks who inhabited their country in large numbers, many spoke Greek and even had Greek names. The name Andrey is Greek and means "courageous" in translation.
When John the Baptist began to preach on the banks of the Jordan, Andrew, along with John Zebedee (who came from the same city as him, Bethsaida), followed the prophet, hoping to find the answer to their spiritual questions in his teaching. Many began to think that maybe John the Baptist was the expected Messiah, but he explained to people that he was not the Messiah, but was sent only to prepare the way for Him. At that time, the Lord Jesus Christ came to John the Baptist on the Jordan for Baptism, and he pointed to the Lord and said to his disciples, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." When Andrew and John heard this, they followed Jesus. When the Lord saw them, he asked: "What do you need?" they said: "Rabbi (Teacher), where do you live?" "Come and see," Jesus replied, and from that time on they became His disciples. On the same day, the Apostle Andrew went to his brother Simon Peter and said to him: "We have found the Messiah." So Peter joined the disciples of Christ.
However, the apostles did not immediately devote themselves entirely to the apostolic office. We know from the Gospel that the brothers Andrew and Simon Peter and the brothers John and James had to return to their families for a while and do their usual work – fishing. A few months later, the Lord, passing by the Lake of Galilee and seeing them fishing, said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then they left their boats and nets, and from that day on they became the inseparable disciples of Christ.
After the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, Saint Andrew went to the eastern countries to preach the Word of God. He passed through Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, reached the Danube, passed the coast of the Black Sea, the Crimea, the Black Sea coast and ascended the Dnieper River to the place where the city of Kiev now stands. Here he stayed at the Kiev Mountains for the night. When he got up in the morning, he said to the disciples who were with him, "Do you see these mountains? The grace of God will shine on these mountains, there will be a great city, and God will build many churches." The apostle went up to the mountains, blessed them, and erected a cross. After praying, he climbed even higher along the Dnieper and reached the settlements of the Slavs, where Novgorod was founded. From here, the apostle traveled through the lands of the Varangians to Rome to preach and returned to Thrace, where he founded a Christian Church in a small village of Byzantium, the future mighty Constantinople. The name of St. Andrew the Apostle connects the mother Church of Constantinople with her daughter, the Russian Church.
On his way, the First-called Apostle suffered many sorrows and torments from the pagans: he was driven out of the cities, beaten. He was stoned in Sinope, but, remaining unharmed, the faithful disciple of Christ tirelessly preached to people about the Savior. Through the prayers of the apostle, the Lord performed miracles. Through the labors of St. Andrew the Apostle, Christian Churches arose, to which he appointed bishops and the priesthood. The last city where the First-called Apostle came and where he was destined to suffer a martyr's death was the city of Patras, located near the Gulf of Corinth.
The Lord performed many miracles through His disciple in the city of Patras. The sick were healed, the blind regained their sight. Through the prayer of the apostle, the seriously ill Sosius, a noble citizen, recovered; Maximilla, the wife of the ruler of Patras, and his brother Stratokly were healed by the laying on of the apostolic hands. The miracles performed by the apostle and his fiery word enlightened the true faith of almost all the citizens of the city of Patras. There were few pagans left in Patras, among them was the ruler of the city of Aegeatus. The Apostle Andrew addressed him more than once with words of Evangelism. But even the miracles of the apostle did not enlighten Egeates. The Holy Apostle appealed to his soul with love and humility, striving to reveal to him the Christian mystery of eternal life, the miraculous power of the Holy Cross of the Lord. Enraged, Egeates ordered the apostle to be crucified. The pagan thought to defame the preaching of St. Andrew if he put him to death on the cross, which the apostle glorified. St. Andrew the First-Called joyfully accepted the ruler's decision and, with a prayer to the Lord, he himself ascended to the place of execution. In order to prolong the apostle's torment, Aegeatus ordered that the saint's hands and feet not be nailed, but tied to a cross. For two days, the apostle from the cross taught the townspeople gathered around. The people who listened to him felt compassion for him with all their hearts and demanded that the holy apostle be removed from the cross. Fearing popular outrage, Egeate ordered the execution to be stopped. But the holy apostle began to pray that the Lord would honor him with death on the cross. No matter how the soldiers tried to remove the Apostle Andrew, their hands would not obey them. The crucified apostle, having praised God, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit." Then the bright radiance of Divine light illuminated the cross and the martyr crucified on it. When the radiance disappeared, the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called had already committed his holy soul to the Lord (+62). Maximilla, the ruler's wife, took down the apostle's body from the cross and buried it with honor.
Several centuries later, under Emperor Constantine the Great, the relics of St. Andrew the Apostle were solemnly transferred to Constantinople and laid in the Church of the Holy Apostles next to the relics of St. Luke the Evangelist and St. Paul's disciple, St. Timothy.
The Russian Church, having accepted the faith from Byzantium, whose bishops are descended from the Apostle Andrew, also considers itself his successor. That is why the memory of St. Andrew the First-Called was so solemnly revered in pre-revolutionary Russia. Emperor Peter I established the first and highest order in honor of the Apostle Andrew, which was given as a reward to dignitaries of the state. Russian Russian Navy has made the St. Andrew's flag its banner since Peter the Great, with a blue X-shaped cross on a white background, under the shadow of which the Russians have won many victories.