Miracles of Andrew by Gregory of Tours

Liber de miraculis Andreas Apostoli, aucture Gregorio Turononsi

Standard abbreviation: Mir. Andr.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 244; CANT 225.II

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Miracles of Andrew by Gregory of Tours.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/miracles-of-andrew-by-gregory-of-tours/.

Created December 2021. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

Gregory begins with a statement that he came upon a book of the deeds of Andrew and states his goal of extracting only the stories of his miracles, since the verbosity of the speeches “breed weariness.” He then reports the travels of Andrew from Pontus by way of Amasia, Sinope, Nicaea, Nicomedia, Byzantium, Thrace, Perinthus, Philippi, and Thessalonica to Patras (chaps. 2–21), followed by his activities in Acts in Patras and Achaea (22–35), and briefly, his martyrdom (35–38).

The text opens with the apostles dispersing for their missionary journeys, with Andrew being dispatched to Achaea and Matthew to Myrmidonia. Then follows a short account of the Acts of Andrew and Matthias, after which Andrew returns to his own mission.

In Amasia, Andrew heals a blind man and resuscitates an Egyptian boy for Demetrius. Then a youth named Sostratus asks Andrew to intervene in a dispute with his mother. She wished to sleep with him, but when he refused, she went to the proconsul to accuse him of the same offence. Andrew appears before the proconsul, prays, and an earthquake and thunder kills the woman. The proconsul becomes a believer. Andrew expels a demon from the son of Gratinus and heals both Gratinus and his wife.

Andrew goes to Nicaea where he casts out seven demons from the roadside tombs. As he approaches the gate of Nicomedia, he sees a dead man being carried out on a bier. He was killed by the demons he cast out. Andrew revives him and the man’s son joins Andrew’s group of devotees. The group passes through a storm near Byzantium and arrives at Thrace. There a crowd of armed men prepare to attack them but an angel touches their swords and they fall to the ground. They arrive at Perinthus and find a boat to take them to Macedonia.

At Philippi he prevents the wedding of two sons and two daughters of two noble families, one with two girls, other with two boys, out of concern over incest. A young man from Thessalonica named Exochus comes to the apostle. His parents want to retrieve him and set fire to the house in which Andrew’s followers are staying. Andrew prays and the fire goes out. The parents go home and die and the young man remains with Andrew. The young man encourages Andrew to come to Thessalonica, where the apostle performs several healings (the son of Carpianus who has not walked for 23 years, a man killed by an impure spirit, the crippled son of Medias, the daughter of Nicolaus, and a young man possessed of a demon). Philosophers come to Andrew and dispute with him.

Then an opponent comes to the proconsul Varianus claiming Andrew is preaching an end to the temples and rites and that only one God is to be worshipped. Soldiers are sent to retrieve Andrew, but they fall at his feet terrified when they see Andrew’s face shining brightly. The proconsul comes but cannot find Andrew until the apostle reveals himself. He is accused of being a magician and a troublemaker and is brought into a stadium and attacked by animals but they do him no harm. One animal, a leopard, instead kills Varianus’s son but Andrew revives him. Andrew is asked by a woman to rid her estate of a huge snake. A child killed by the serpent is raised at Andrew’s command by the proconsul’s wife (whose conversion is not mentioned by Gregory).

Andrew has a vision of Peter and John on a mountain. John tells him he will soon hang on a cross. Andrew’s followers weep when they hear of this. Andrew moves on to Thessalonica. He commissions two boats and once again experiences a storm at sea. But after twelve days they arrive in Patras, a city in Achaea. The proconsul Lesbius is told in a dream to seek him out. He tells Andrew that he has been beaten by two Ethiopians (demons) because Andrew is interfering with their activities in the city. Andrew heals his injuries and he becomes a disciple. The crowds bring the sick to him for healing and they destroy the temples and their statues.

Trophime, once the proconsul’s mistress has left her new husband to be with Andrew. She visits the proconsul’s house to see Andrew and her husband gets jealous. He he tells Lesbius’s wife Callisto about it and she is enraged to learn that her husband had a mistress and condemns Trophime to prostitution. At the brothel, Trophime is protected from fornication by holding a copy of the gospel to her chest. After an encounter with a demon at the bath, Callisto becomes a believer and makes peace with Trophime. Lesbius too joins the group.

Lesbius and Andrew take a walk on the seashore where they come upon a corpse. Andrew revives him and learns his name is Philopater and that he fell overboard while in search of Andrew. He asks the apostle to revive everyone who perished from the boat. A woman named Calliope from Corinth is bearing a child conceived out of wedlock. She seeks aid from Andrew; Andrew castigates her for her behavior and saves her life, but allows the baby to be stillborn because it was conceived unworthily. Sostratus, the father of Philopater, is told in a vision to visit Andrew; they meet and he and his servant Leontius join Andrew. Soon after, Andrew orders a bath, and there sees an old man and a boy possessed by demons; Andrew heals them and sends them to their homes.

An old man named Nicolaus comes to Andrew promising to change from his life of debauchery and fornication. He is instructed to fast and give all of his possessions to the poor. After six months he dies but a voice tells Andrew that he has been saved. After Andrew heals the wife and son of Antiphanes of Megara, he has a vision of Jesus who tells him to go to Patras and take up his cross and follow him. He is told also to appoint Lesbius his successor. As they enter Patras, Andrew heals a paralytic lying on a dung heap.

The new proconsul, Aegeates, has a wife named Maximilla. Her servant Iphidama comes to Andrew to ask him to heal her mistress. He cures Maximilla and Aegeates tries to pay him but Andrew refuses. Andrew performs more healings (a paralyzed man, a blind family, and a man with leprosy). Stratocles, the brother of Aegeates arrives and becomes a follower after Andrew frees his slave Alcman from a devil. Angry that his wife has left him to be with Andrew, Aegeates comes to retrieve her but is stricken with diarrhea, allowing Maximilla and the others to escape. Andrew is imprisoned and crucified; the details of the martyrdom are not provided, but Gregory directs readers to the account of Andrew’s Passion. Maximilla embalms and buries Andrew’s body and from the tomb comes manna like flour and oil.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Adimantus, Aegeates (proconsul), Alcman, Andrew (apostle), Anthimus, Antiphanes, Callisto, Carpianus, Demetrius (of Amasia), devil, Diana, Exochus, Gratinus, Iphidama, Jesus Christ, John (son of Zebedee), Leontius, Lesbius (proconsul), Lysichus, Matthaias (apostle), Matthew (apostle), Maximilla (wife of Aegeates), Medias, Nicolaus (of Corinth), Nicolaus (of Thessalonica), Peter (apostle), Philomedes, Philopater, Sosius, Sostratus (of Amasia), Sostratus (father of Philopater), Stratocles, Trophime, Varianus (proconsul).

Geographical Locations: Achaea, Amasia, Byzantium, Corinth, Lacedaemon, Macedonia, Megara, Myrmidonia, Nicaea, Nicomedia, Patras, Perinthus, Philippi, Pontus, Sinope, Thessalonica, Thrace.

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Online Resources

“E07865: Gregory of Tours, Miracles of the Blessed Apostle Andrew.” The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity (discussion by David Lambert).

“E07877: Gregory of Tours, Miracles of the Blessed Apostle Andrew.” The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity (summary by David Lambert, with discussion and bibliography).

“Gregory of Tours.” Wikipedia.

2.2 Art and Iconography

Andrew Triptych, Trier Cathedral Treasury: twelfth-century triptych with images of Andrew before Aegeates, the healing of Matthias, and the crucifixion of Andrew.

Vatican, Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 8541 (1320–1342) ~ pp. 16–20 feature illuminations based on Mir. Andr. 4, 12, 24, and 36 (via the Golden Legend 2); discussion in Cartlidge and Elliott, Art and the Christian Apocrypha, 211–13)

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Latin (BHL 430)

These manuscripts are used in the edition of Bonnet. For additional manuscripts and editions of the text incorporated into the Apostolic Histories collection, see Acts of Andrew (Latin).

Bern, Burgerbibliothek, 48, fols. 60–72 (10th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 5339, fols. 32^r–54^r (10th cent.) ~ Gallica

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 12603, fols. 10^r–11^r (12th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 12604, fols. 19^r–34^v (12th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 18104, fols. 102^r–113^v (14th cent.) ~ Gallica

Montpellier, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de médecine, 1, vol. 1, fols. 179^r–188^r (12th cent.)

Montpellier, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de médecine, 30, fols. 227^v–234^r (12th cent.)

Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 13074, fols. 28^v–52^r; illustrations fol. 27^v, 28^r (1175)

Valencia, Biblioteca Universitaria, 471, fols. 21–36 (12th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 1274, fols. 78–119 (11th cent.) ~ BAV

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 8565, pp. 241–266 (12th cent.) ~ BAV; not known to Bonnet

Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek Weissenburg, 48, fols. 36^v–57^v (9th cent.)

Bonnet, Maximilen. “Gregorii episcopi turonensis liber de miraculis beati Andreae apostoli.” Pages 821–46 in Gregorii episcopi turonensis miracula et opera minora. Edited by Bruno Krusch. Monumenta Germaniae historica, Scriptorum rerum Merovingicarum 1/2. Hanover: Hahn 1885; repr. 1969 (edition pp. 827–46; list of manuscripts used, p. 823).

Bordier, Henri Léonard. Les Livres des Miracles et autres opuscules de Grégoire de Tours. Paris: J. Renouard, 1857–1864 (edition in vol. 4, pp. 33–96).

Migne, Jacques-Paul. Patrologiae Latinae. 217 vols. Paris: Lutetiae Parisiorum, 1844–1864 (reprint of Ruinart, vol. 71, cols. 1099–1102).

Prieur, Jean-Marc. Acta Andreae. 2 vols. CCSA 5–6. Turnhout: Brepols, 1989 (reproduction of Bonnet’s introduction, vol. 2, pp. 556–63, and edition with Prieur’s facing French translation, 564–651; introductory notes, pp. 553–54).

Reynolds, Burnam W., Randy R. Richardson, and Raymond van Dam, eds. and trans. Gregory of Tours: The Book of the Miracles of the Blessed Andrew the Apostle. Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations 29. Leuven: Peeters, 2022 (Bonnet’s Latin text with English translation).

Ruinart, Theodorus (Thierry). Sancti Georgii Florentii Gregorii Opera omnia. Paris: Lutetiae Parisiorum, 1699 (excerpt from a manuscript in the possession of St. Germain-des-Prés, pp. 1261–64).

3.2 Modern Translations