The Life of Jesus in Harmony |
Index
Andrew
ANDREW
Gr. "Andreas" (manly)
A native of the city of
Bethsaida in
Galilee and brother of
Simon Peter. Became one of the 12
apostles.
TRADITIONS. The traditions
about him are various. Eusebius makes him preach in Scythia; Jerome and Theodoret
in Achaia (Greece); Nicephorus in Asia Minor and Thrace. It is supposed that he
founded a church in Constantinople and ordained Stachys, named by Paul (Rom.
16:9), as its first bishop.
At length, tradition states, he came to Patrae, a city of Achaia, where
Aegeas, the proconsul, enraged that he persisted in preaching, commanded him to join
in sacrificing to the heathen gods, and upon the apostle's refusal ordered him
to be severely
scourged and then
crucified. To make his death more lingering, he was fastened to the
cross, not with nails, but with cords. Having hung two days, praising God, and
exhorting the spectators to embrace, or adhere to, the faith, he is said to have
expired on November 30, but in what year is uncertain.
The cross is stated to have been of the form called Crux decussata, and
commonly known as "St. Andrew's cross, X." Some ancient writers speak of an
apocryphal Acts of Andrew.