Narratio Andreae
Standard abbreviation: Story Andr.
Other titles: Martyrdom of Andrew
Clavis numbers: ECCA 340; CANT 229
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Andrew, Acts of Andrew and Matthias, Life of Andrew by Epiphanius the Monk, Life and Martyrdom of Andrew, List of the Apostles and Disciples by Pseudo-Dorotheus of Tyre
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Story of Andrew.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/story-of-andrew/.
Created December 2021. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Of the three Byzantine accounts of the travels and martyrdom of Andrew, Story Andr. appears to be the earliest, composed in the first half of the eighth century. The author claims to have obtained his information from local traditions and written sources, a declaration common in these texts. The story begins with a summary of Andrew’s activities from the New Testament Gospels (chs. 1–3), then follows a brief overview of his journeys to Bithynia, Nicaea, Thrace, Scythia, and Sebastopolis the Great (ch. 4; the itinerary agrees with the List of the Apostles and Disciples by Pseudo-Dorotheus). Then he moves on to Sinope where he rescues Matthias from cannibals (ch. 5–7), to Byzantium (8), then through Thessaly and Hellas, before reaching Achaea and Patras (ch. 9). The remainder of the text (chs. 9–37) presents the martyrdom from the Acts of Andrew, with some omissions and elaborations, finishing with the standard date of Andrew’s martyrdom as November 30 (38).
Andrew’s stop in Nicaea is presented in more detail and has points of agreement with Gregory of Tours’ Miracles of Andrew 6, where Andrew casts out seven demons in the form of dogs. When in Byzantium, Andrew stops at a place called Argyropolis, which is under the rule of the tyrant Zeuxippus. There he builds a church and establishes Stachys (from Romans 16:9 and traditionally identified as one of the 70 disciple) as bishop of Byzantium. These traditions about Argyropolis are found also in Pseudo-Dorotheus.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Aegeates (proconsul), Andrew (apostle), Iphidama, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Jonah (father of Peter and Andrew), Matthaias (apostle), Maximilla (wife of Aegeates), Moses (patriarch), Peter (apostle), Philip (apostle), Stachys, Stratocles, Zeuxippus.
Geographical Locations: Achaea, Argyropolis, Bethsaida, Bithynia, Byzantium, Galilee, Hellas, Jerusalem, Nicaea, Patras, Pontus Euxeinus (Black Sea), Apsarus River, Phasis River, Scythia, Sebastopolis, Sinope, Thessaly, Thrace.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Greek (BHG 99)
A Mount Athos, Monē Megistēs Lauras, Δ 56, fols. 43r–73v (11th cent.) ~ chs. 1–8, 11, 13 combined with Life Andr.; Pinakes
C St. Petersburg, Russian National Library/Rossijskaja Nacional’naja biblioteka (RNB), Ф. № 906 (Gr.), 96, fols. 1–12 (10th/11th cent.) ~ Pinakes
E Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 824, fols. 105v–128r (12th cent.) ~ chs. 23–28 replace the ending of Life Andr.; Pinakes
F Weimar, Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Q.729, fols. 134v–150v (11th cent.)
P Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1485, fols. 164v–174r (10th cent.)
V Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, B 35, fols. 77r– 86v (11th cent.)
Mount Athos, Monē Megistēs Lauras, Η 206, fols. 205r–210r (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Bonnet, Maximilien. “Martyrium Sancti apostoli Andreae.” AnBoll 13 (1894): 354–72 (editio princeps based on PFCV).
____________. Supplementum codicis apocryphi. Vol. 2. Paris: Caroli Klincksieck, 1895 (reprint of 1894 article as pp. 46–64).
Vinogradov, Andrej. Греческие предания о св. апостоле Андрее. [Greek Legends about St. Apostle Andrew]. Библиотека “Христианского Востока” 3. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Press, 2005 (overview, pp. 35–38; manuscript descriptions, 64–66; Greek text based on ACEFPV, pp. 97–116; Russian translation, pp. 267–80).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
MacDonald, Dennis. R. The Acts of Andrew and the Acts of Andrew and Matthias in the City of the Cannibals. SBLTT 33. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990 (English translations of chs. 4 and 8, pp. 207 and 215).
Peterson, Peter M. Andrew, Brother of Simon Peter: His History and his Legend. NovT Sup 1. Leiden: Brill, 1958. Repr. 1963 (translation of chs. 4–38; pp. 49–58).
3.2.2 French
Flamion, Joseph. Les Actes apocryphes de l’apôtre André: Les Actes d’André et de Matthias, de Pierre et d’André et les textes apparentés. Leuven: Bureau du recueil, 1911 (summary, pp. 62–69).
3.2.3 Russian
Vinogradov, Andrej. Греческие предания о св. апостоле Андрее. [Greek Legends about St. Apostle Andrew]. Библиотека “Христианского Востока” 3. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Press, 2005 (Greek text based on ACEFPV, pp. 97–116; Russian translation, pp. 267–80).
3.3 General Works
Blumenthal, Martin. Formen und Motive in den apokryphen Apostelgeschichten. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1933.
Bonnet, Maximilien, ed. Acta apostolorum apocrypha. 2 vols. in 3 parts. Series edited by Richard A. Lipsius and Maximilien Bonnet. Leipzig: Mendelssohn, 1889–1903; reprinted Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1959 (vol. 2.1, pp. xvi–xvii).
Dvornik, Francis. The idea of Apostolicity in Byzantium and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew. Dumbarton Oaks Studies 4. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958 (pp. 171–73).
Flamion, Joseph. Les Actes apocryphes de l’apôtre André: Les Actes d’André et de Matthias, de Pierre et d’André et les textes apparentés. Leuven: Bureau du recueil, 1911 (pp. 62–69).
Lanzillota, Fernando Lautaro Roig. “The Apocryphal Acts of Andrew: A New Approach to the Character, Thought, and Meaning of the Primitive Text.” PhD. diss, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2004 (see esp. 81–82, 87–96, 105–10).
Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3. Braunschweig, 1883–1890 (see vol. 1:548 n. 1; 604 n. 1).
Prieur, Jean-Marc. Acta Andreae. 2 vols. CCSA 5–6. Turnhout: Brepols, 1989 (vol. 1, pp. 17–18; and appears in his edition of the martyrdom under the siglum N).
____________. “Les Actes apocryphes de l’apôtre André: Présentation des diverses traditions apocryphes et état de la question.”ANRW II 25,6 (1988): 4384–4414 (at 4399–401).