By Andrey Zaitsev
The Apostle Andrew is one of the most famous and mysterious figures among the disciples of Christ. The tireless traveler and preacher, who was martyred in Patras on a cross in the shape of the letter X, became the hero of the "Acts of the Apostle Andrew", which sometimes reads like a fascinating novel. The Church celebrates his memory on November 30/December 13.
The apocryphal apostolic acts, which were not included in the New Testament, are an important genre in the history of Christianity. They reflect the struggle of ideas that took place between heretics and Orthodox Christians. In the Middle Ages, there was no concept of authorship, and the apostles were consciously attributed with the postulates shared by one or another sect. For example, the "Acts of Paul and Thecla" contain a sermon by the Apostle Paul which forbids entering into carnal relations with a husband and creating a family, which contradicts the traditional Christian teaching on marriage and the messages of the Foremost Apostle.
In the "Acts of the Apostle Andrew" one can also find a sermon on celibacy, which actually became the cause of the death of the Apostle, but the main emphasis is placed on the travels of the foremost apostle to the land of cannibals and successful preaching among the barbarians.
The narrative in the "Acts of Andrew and Matthias" in the city of cannibals begins with the story of how the Apostles are sent by lot to preach in different parts of the world. The Apostle Matthias, who would later be saved by Andrew the First-Called, had to travel to a city of cannibals, where “people neither ate bread nor drank wine, but ate human flesh and drank human blood. Therefore, every person who arrived in their city, they seized and blinded, gouging out his eyes. After gouging out his eyes, they gave him a potion to drink, prepared with the help of witchcraft and magic, and when they gave him the potion, his heart changed and his mind was changed.”
The terrifying description reflects the traditional attitude of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire and Byzantium (the Acts were written in Greek) to the barbarians as dumb, cruel creatures, devoid of reason and human appearance. The repulsive characterization of those who would later become followers of the new religion increased the importance of the preaching of the Apostles, who were able to make a Christian even out of a cannibal. This technique was actively used by Christian apologists, for whom the Apostle Andrew became a "specialist" in converting cannibals.
The evil inhabitants of the city seized Matthias, blinded him and gave him a potion that turned a man into an animal (the episode of the Acts directly refers us to the story of Odysseus, who avoided the trick of one of the nymphs and did not drink the potion that turned his companions into pigs). After this, the Apostle Matthias is put in prison, where he spends 27 days, after which he overhears the guards talking about how in three days the city residents will kill and eat him.
At the same time, Saint Andrew goes to help the prisoner. He and his disciples sail on a ship, which is steered by Christ Himself in the form of a beautiful young man, and tells his companion and helmsman about the basics of Christianity. Arriving in the city of cannibals, the First-Called Apostle frees the prisoners, which leads to famine. Horrible scenes take place in the city - the inhabitants first decide to kill old people by lot in order to temporarily satisfy the need for cannibalism, but one of the barbarians offers to eat his children instead of himself. Then begins the many-day torture of the Apostle Andrew, who is dragged by a rope throughout the city. Then the Saint performs a miracle, and the statue standing in the dungeon brings down streams of water so salty on the cannibals that it corrodes the flesh of the barbarians.
The amazed pagans begin to believe in the “foreign god,” and the events end with a lengthy sermon by Andrew the First-Called, the punishment of the most brutal cannibals, and the founding of a new church community.
According to Andrey Vinogradov, a researcher of the "Acts of the Apostle Andrew", it is the sermon that is the main element of the text, and the story of a fascinating journey is just a way to attract the reader's attention to the teaching that the foremost apostle preaches.
This technique was used by both Christian and ancient authors, who placed important reflections in the text of biographies or lives. The historian Plutarch in one of his comparative biographies directly states that the goal of any historical work is to help the reader choose good and move away from evil.
It should be noted that the sermon of the Apostle Andrew is one of the most boring sections of the Acts from the point of view of the modern reader. He recounts in detail the gospel story and the foundations of Christ's moral teaching. The Acts constantly emphasize that neither the Apostle nor his disciples take any reward for their work and everywhere preach extreme non-acquisitiveness. They perform numerous miracles, heal the sick, cast out demons and resurrect the dead, which ultimately opens the hearts of even the wildest barbarians to them.
Another hagiographic text, part of the "Acts of the Apostle Andrew", is dedicated to successful preaching among cannibals. "The Tale of Saint Christomaios" [or "Acts of the Apostles Andrew and Bartholomew"] is entirely dedicated to the cannibal to whom an angel appeared. He forbade the barbarian to harm the Apostles and called for every possible help for Saint Andrew and his disciples, and changed his character from wild to meek.
The transformed Christomaios appeared before the disciples of Christ in all his splendor: “He was six cubits tall (from two to three meters – Ed.), his face was wild, his eyes burned like fiery lamps, his teeth hung from his mouth like a wild boar’s, his fingernails were crooked like sickles, and his toenails were like those of a large lion. He looked so that, having seen his face, it was impossible to remain alive.” Seeing him, Saint Andrew turned pale and called for help from his companion Bartholomew, and their disciple simply fainted. Then the barbarian, who miraculously learned Greek, told his companions about the appearance of the angel, and together they went to preach in one of the Parthian cities. The savage Christomaios asks the Apostles to cover his face so as not to frighten the people. It so happened that at first the sermon of the Apostle Andrew was unsuccessful, the townspeople set wild animals on the Christians.
Then Christomaios asked for time to return him to his original nature: "And God heeded his prayer, and turned his heart and mind to his former wildness. He uncovered his face... and rushed at the beasts and tore them apart... before the people. Seeing how he was tearing the beasts apart, the crowd was greatly frightened, they were seized with great horror. Everyone rushed out of the circus, fell on each other in panic, and many in the crowd died from fear of his appearance." After this, the preaching of Christianity was more successful, and through the prayer of the Apostle Andrew, the savage again became meek and humble, resurrected and baptized those who had died from fear of him and even the animals he had torn apart. Then the paths of the Apostles and Christomaios diverge.
It should be noted that the author of the legend presents the Apostle Andrew and his companions not only as a preacher of Christianity, but also as a conductor of Roman culture and civilization. A Jew by origin, he becomes a Roman citizen by his functions. Christian apologetics uses this image to convince the authorities of the empire of the usefulness of the new faith. It is easy to see that the conversion of Christomaios does not change his nature, but only makes it harmless and manageable. According to the author of the legend, he remains a barbarian Christian, and the Apostle Andrew is a bearer of the usual Roman culture with a respectable appearance and skillfully constructed speech, who brings civilization to the wild lands.
The legend that the Apostle Andrew erected a cross on the hills where Kiev would later appear also attributes this function to him. "The Tale of Bygone Years" clearly links this action of one of Christ's closest disciples with the subsequent spread of the Christian faith and culture in Rus'.
The chronicler even made the Apostle Andrew visit the baths and marvel at the strange custom of using brooms. Of course, this apocrypha has nothing to do with the real figure of Andrew the First-Called, but it shows the desire of our ancestors to turn from barbarians, which the Byzantines considered them, into an ancient Christian cultured people, to whom the First-Called Apostle preached.
Ivan the Terrible used the same argument in his dispute about faith with the Jesuit Antonius Possevinus. The Russian tsar did not agree that Rus' had adopted the faith from the Greeks, but he directly pointed out that Christianity was brought to the territory of Rus' by the Apostles. As we can see, the image of the Apostle Andrew could also be used by tsars to emphasize their right to be considered the sovereigns of the country, part of Christian civilization.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
