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*Rus' lands: in [[Church of Ukraine|Kiev]] he planted a cross on one of the high hills of Kiev, and he prophesied a city that would have many golden-domed churches, and a bright Christian future for the Rus' people.
==Martyrdom==St. Andrew was [[martyr]]ed in Peloponnese, in the city of Patras. The Proconsul Aegeates' family believed in the miracles and preaching of St. Andrew, and the enraged Proconsul tortured and crucified St. Andrew. The new converts wanted to remove him from his cross, but the saint would not allow them. Instead, he comforted them from the cross and as he prayed an extraordinary light encompassed him for about a half hour. When it left, he gave up his soul. It was the year 62 AD.
The Lord worked many miracles through His disciple in Patra from where the Apostle preached throughout all Achaia. The infirm were made whole, and the blind received their sight. Through the prayers of the Apostle, the illustrious citizen Sosios recovered from serious illness and Maximilla and Stratokles, the wife and brother of the governor of Patra, were healed. The miracles accomplished by the Apostle, and his fiery sermons enlightened almost all the citizens of the city of Patra, bringing them to the True Faith. Few pagans remained at Patra, but among them was the prefect of the city, Aegeates. The Apostle Andrew repeatedly turned to him with the words of the Gospel. But even the miracles of the Apostle did not convince Aegeates. Caring only for the prefect’s salvation, the holy Apostle appealed to him with love and humility, striving to reveal to him the Christian mystery of eternal life, through the lifegiving power of the Holy Cross of the Lord. The angry Aegeatos gave orders to crucify the apostle. The pagan thought he might undo Andrew’s preaching if he were to put him to death on the cross. Saint Andrew the First-Called accepted the decision of the prefect with joy and with prayer to the Lord, and went willingly to the place of execution saying, “O, good Cross, made beautiful by the body of my Lord. So long desired, so anxiously loved, so unceasingly sought after, and now at last ready for my soul to enjoy! Take me from amidst men, and restore me to my Master, that by you He may receive me, who by you redeemed me.” In order to prolong the suffering of the saint, Aegeates gave orders not to nail the saint’s hands and feet, but to tie them to an X-shaped cross. For two days the apostle taught the citizens who gathered about. The people, in listening to him, with all their souls pitied him and tried to take the saint down from the cross. Fearing a riot of the people, Aegeates gave orders to stop the execution. But the holy apostle began to pray that the Lord would grant him death on the cross. Just as the soldiers tried to take hold of the Apostle Andrew, they lost control of their hands. The crucified apostle, having given glory to God, said: “Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit.” Then a blazing ray of divine light illumined the cross and the martyr crucified upon it. When the light faded, the holy Apostle Andrew had already given up his holy soul to the Lord. It was the year 62 AD. Maximilla, the wife of the prefect, had the body of the saint taken down from the cross, and buried him with honour, and lived out the remainder of her days in faith. ==Relics==St. Andrew's [[relics]] were taken transferred from Patra to Constantinopleand placed in the church of the Holy Apostles, his head while a hand was taken to Rome Moscow. The Crusaders stole the relics and cross of Saint Andrew during the sacking of Constantinople, however, in a hand gesture of goodwill, Pope Paul VI presented the skull of the saint back to Moscowthe Greek Orthodox Church in 1964, while the cross of the saint was returned in 1980. The saint’s relics and cross are now venerated in the magnificent church of Saint Andrew in Patra at the place of his martyrdom.
==Hymns==
[[Troparion]] (Tone 4)
:Andrew, As the first-called of the Apostles
:and brother of the foremost disciple,
:Andrew, entreat the Master of all
:to grant peace to the world
:and to our souls great mercy.
[[el:Απόστολος Ανδρέας]]
[[fr:Apôtre André]]
[[pt:Apóstolo André]]
[[ro:Apostolul Andrei (cel Întâi chemat)]]