St. Andrew's Society

of Atlanta

The Versatile Saint Andrew
by Carol R. Bishop

St. Andrew, whose feast day is 30 November, is well known to us at the Patron Saint of Scotland. But he also represents other geographic regions: Greece, Russia, Romania, Amalfi (in Italy), Achaia (in the former Peloponnese island of Greece), the University of Patras and the diocese of Constantinople. St. Andrew also supports a strange mixture of causes: fishermen, fish mongers, singers, spinsters, old maids, maidens, unmarried women, gout and sore throats.

Andrew, whose name in Greek means "strong" or "manly", was born in Bethaisda, a town in Galilee (now in Israel) and became a fisherman like his father. At first he followed John the Baptist, but after meeting Jesus, Andrew realized Jesus was the Messiah and he (Andrew) switched loyalties and became the first Apostle. Andrew and his brother, Simon Peter, were still fishermen, but when Jesus promised that he would make them "fishers of men", they gave up their trade.

After Jesus' death and resurrenction, Andrew travelled to Greece via the Black Sea (and probably Russia.) He landed in Achaia and started spreading the Gospel to the family of Aegeates, the local Roman officia. When Aegeates' wife, Maximilla, converted to Christianity and stated a preference for the love of Jesus to that of her husband, he ordered Andrew arrested, flogged and crucified on a saltire (x-shaped cross), not with nails, but tied with ropes. Andrew stayed alive for two days, preaching until his last breath.

The most popular version of why Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland concerns the transfer of his remains from Greece, although non of these myths are substantiated. In the 4th Century AD, Emporor Constantine the Great decided to have Andrew's bones moved from Patras to Contantinople. From there the remains could have gone to Amalfi. In 732 AD, it is thought an angel instructed Saint Regulus to carry many relics to the northwest, including Andrew's. Regulus stopped on the Fife coast of Scotland and there founded the settlement of St. Andrew, which became an important religious site in the east, while on the west coast of Scotland, various local saints such as Columba, Mungo, and Maelrubha were much esteemed.