Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ

by David Francis Bacon

But such a simple conclusion to this apostle’s life would by no means answer the purposes of the ancient writers on these matters; and accordingly the inquirer into apostolic history is presented with a long, long talk of Andrew’s journey into Europe, through Greece and Thrace, where he is said to have founded many churches, undergone many labors, and performed many miracles,——and at last to have been crucified in a city of Greece. The brief, but decided condemnation of all this imposition, however, is found in its absolute destitution of proof, or of truly ancient authority. Not the most antique particular of this tedious falsehood can be traced back to a date within two hundred years of the time of the pretended journey; and the whole story from beginning to end, was undoubtedly made up to answer the demands of a credulous age, when, after the triumphant diffusion of Christianity throughout the Roman empire, curiosity began to be greatly awakened about the founders of the faith,——a curiosity too great to be satisfied with the meager statements of the records of truth. Moreover, every province of Christendom, following the example of the metropolis, soon began to claim some one of the apostolic band, as having first preached the gospel in its territories; and to substantiate these claims, it was necessary to produce a record corresponding to the legend which at first floated about only in the mouths of the inventors and propagators. Accordingly, apocryphal gospels and histories were manufactured in vast numbers, to meet this new demand, detailing long series of apostolic labors and journeys, and commemorating martyrdoms in every civilized country under heaven, from Britain to India. Among these, the Grecian provinces must needs come in for their share of apostolic honor; and Andrew was therefore given up to them, as a founder and martyr. The numerous particulars of fictitious miracles and persecutions might be amusing, but cannot deserve a place in this work, to the exclusion of serious matters of fact. A cursory view of the fables, however, may be allowed, even by these contracted limits.

The earliest story about Andrew is, that he was sent to Scythia first, when the apostles divided the world into provinces of duty. His route is said to have been through Greece, Epirus, and then directly northward into Scythia. Another later writer however, makes a different track for him, leading from Palestine into Asia Minor, through Cappadocia, Galatia and Bithynia;——thence north through the country of the cannibals and to the wild wastes of Scythia;——thence south along the northern, western and southern shores of the Black sea, to Byzantium, (now Constantinople,) and after some time, through Thrace, southwestwards into Macedonia, Thessaly, and Achaia, in which last, his life and labors are said to have ended. By the same author, he is also in another passage said to have been driven from Byzantium by threats of the persecution, and therefore to have crossed over the Black sea to city of Argyropolis, on its southern coast, where he preached two years, and constituted Stachys bishop of a church which he there founded; and thence to Sinope in Paphlagonia. It is said by others that, on his great northern journey, he went not only into Scythia but into Sogdiana, (now Tartary,) and even to the Sacae, (near the borders of Thibet,) and to India.

The earliest mention made of the apostle Andrew, by any writer whatever, after the evangelists, is by Origen, (about A. D. 230 or 240,) who speaks of him as having been sent to the Scythians. (Commentary on Genesis, 1. 3.) The passage is preserved only in the Latin translation of his writings, the original Greek of that part having been lost. The date of the original however, is too late to deserve any credit. A story making its first appearance nearly two centuries after the occurrence which it commemorates, with no reference to authorities, is but poor evidence. Eusebius (Church History, III. 1.) mentions barely the same circumstance as Origen, (A. D. 315.) Gregory Nazianzen (orat. in Ar.) is the first who says that Andrew went to Greece. (A. D. 370.) Chrysostom also (Homily on xii. apostles) mentions this. (A. D. 398.) Jerom (Script. Ecc.) quotes Sophronius, as saying that Andrew went also to the Sogdians and Sacans. (A. D. 397.)

Augustin (the faith against Manichaeanism) is the first who brings in very much from tradition, respecting Andrew; and his stories are so numerous and entertaining in their particulars, as to show that before his time, fiction had been most busily at work with the apostles;——but the details are all of such a character as not to deserve the slightest credit. The era of his writings moreover, is so late, (A. D. 395,) that he along with his contemporaries, Jerom and Chrysostom, may be condemned as receivers of late traditions, and corrupters of the purity of historical as well as sacred truth.

But the later writers go beyond these unsatisfactory generalities, and enter into the most entertaining particulars, making out very interesting and romantic stories. The monkish apostolical novelists, of the fifth century and later, have given a great number of stories about Andrew, inconsistent with the earlier accounts, with each other, and with common sense. Indeed there is no great reason to think that they were meant to be believed, but written very honestly as fictitious compositions, to gratify the taste of the antique novel-readers. There is therefore, really, no more obligation resting on the biographer of the apostles to copy these fables, than on the historian of Scotland to transcribe the details of the romances of Scott, Porter and others, though a mere allusion to them might occasionally be proper. The most serious and the least absurd of these fictions, is one which narrates that, after having received the grace of the Holy Spirit by the gift of fiery tongues, he was sent to the Gentiles with an allotted field of duty. This was to go through Asia Minor, more especially the northern parts, Cappadocia, Galatia and Bithynia. Having traversed these and other countries as above stated, he settled in Achaia. Where, as in the other provinces, during a stay of many years, he preached divine discourses, and glorified the name of Christ by wonderful signs and prodigies. At length he was seized by Aegeas, the Roman proconsul of that province, and by him crucified, on the charge of having converted to Christianity, Maximilla, the wife, and Stratocles, the brother of the proconsul, so that they had learned to abhor that ruler’s wickedness.

This story is from Nicephorus Callistus, a monk of the early part of the fourteenth century. (See Lardner, Credibility of Gospel History chapter 165.) He wrote an ecclesiastical history of the period from the birth of Christ to the year 610, in which he has given a vast number of utterly fabulous stories, adopting all the fictions of earlier historians, and adding, as it would seem, some new ones. His ignorance and folly are so great, however, that he is not considered as any authority, even by the Papist writers; for on this very story of Andrew, even the credulous Baronius says, “Sed fide nutant haec, ob apertum mendacium de Zeuzippo tyranno,” &c. “These things are unworthy of credit, on account of the manifest lie about king Zeuzippus, because there was no king in Thrace at that time, the province being quietly ruled by a Roman president.” (Baronius, Annals, 44. § 31.) The story itself is in Nicephorus, Church History, II. 39.

One of the longest of these novels contains a series of incidents, really drawn out with considerable interest, narrating mainly his supposed adventures in Achaia, without many of the particulars of his journey thither. It begins with simply announcing that, at the time of the general dispersion of the apostles on their missionary tours, Andrew began to preach in Achaia. but was soon after interrupted for a time by an angelic call, to go a great distance, to a city called Myrmidon, to help the apostle Matthew out of a scrape, that he had fallen into of himself, but could not get out of without help. Where in the world this place was, nobody can tell; for there is a great clashing among the saintly authorities, whether it was in Scythia or Ethiopia; and as the place is never mentioned by any body else, they have the dispute all in their own hands. But since the story says he went all the way by ship, from Achaia to the city, it would seem most likely to have been in that part of Scythia which touched the northeastern border of the Black sea. Having finished this business, as will be elsewhere told, he went back towards Achaia, and resumed the good works, but just begun, soon gathering around him a throng of disciples. Walking out with them one day, he met a blind man, who made the singular request that the apostle would not restore him to sight, though confessedly able, but simply give him some money, victuals and clothes. The acute Andrew straightway smelt a devil, (and a mighty silly one too,) in this queer speech, and declaring that these were not the words of the blind man himself, but of a devil who had possessed him, ordered the foolish demon to come out, and restored the man to sight, supplying him also with clothes from the backs of his disciples. The fame of this and other miracles spread far and fast, and the consequence was that the apostle had as many calls as a rising quack doctor. Every body that was in any sort of trouble or difficulty, came to him as a thing of course, to get a miracle done to suit the case exactly. A rich man who had lost a favorite slave, by death, had him raised to life by Andrew. A young lad whose mother had wrongfully accused him, before the proconsul, also called for help or advice;——Andrew went into court and raised a terrible earthquake, with thunder and lightning, whereby all present were knocked down to the ground, and the wicked woman killed. The proconsul, as soon as he could get up, became converted, with all who had shared in the tumble. The apostle still increasing in business, soon had a call to Sinope, to see a whole family who were in a very bad way,——the old gentleman, Cratinus by name, being quite sick with a fever,——his wife afflicted with a dreadful dropsy, and his son possessed with a devil. These were all healed, with sundry charges about their secret sins, and some particulars as to the mode of cure, not worth translating, since it reads better in Latin than in English. He then went on through Asia to the city of Nicaea, in Bithynia, where his arrival was hailed with a universal shout of joy from the whole community, who were terribly pestered with seven naughty devils, that had taken up their quarters among the tombs close to the highway, where they sat with a large supply of grave-stones constantly on hand, for no earthly purpose but to pelt decent people as they went by, and doing it with such a vengeance that they had killed several outright,——besides broken bones not counted. Andrew, after exacting from the inhabitants a promise to become Christians if he cleared out this nuisance, brought out the seven devils, in spite of themselves, in the shape of dogs, before all the city; and after he had made them a speech, (given in very bad Latin, in the story, as it stands,) the whole seven gave a general yelp and ran off in the wilderness according to Andrew’s direction. The inhabitants of course, were all baptized; and Callistus was left bishop over them. Going on from Nicaea, Andrew came next to Nicomedia, the capital, where he met a funeral procession coming out of the city. Andrew immediately raised the dead person,——the scene being evidently copied from that of the widow’s son raised at Nain, considerably enlarged with new particulars. Going out from Nicomedia, the apostle embarked on the Black sea, sailing to Byzantium. On the passage there was occasion for a new miracle,——a great storm arising, which was immediately stilled by the apostle. Going on from Byzantium through Thrace, he came among a horde of savages, who made a rush at him, with drawn swords. But Andrew making the sign of the cross at them, they all dropped their swords and fell flat. He then passed over them, and went on through Thrace into Macedonia.

This story is literally translated from one of the “apostolical stories” of a monk of the middle ages, who passed them off as true histories, written by Abdias, said to have been one of the seventy disciples sent out by Jesus, (Luke x. 1,) and to have been afterwards ordained bishop of Babylon, (by Simon Zelotes and Jude.) It is an imposition so palpable however, in its absurdities, that it has always been condemned by the best authorities, both Protestant and Papist: as Melancthon, Bellarmin, Scultetus, Rivetus, the [♦]Magdeburg centuriators, Baronius, Chemnitius, Tillemont, Vossius, and Bayle, whose opinions and censures are most of them fully given in the preface to the work itself, by Johann Albert Fabricius, (Codex apocrypha of the New Testament, part 2.)

[♦] “Magdeburgh” replaced with “Magdeburg”

Besides all these series of fictions on Andrew’s life, there are others, quoted as having been written in the same department. “The Passion of St. Andrew,” a quite late apocryphal story, professing to have been written by the elders and deacons of the churches of Achaia, was long extensively received by the Papists, as an authentic and valuable book, and is quoted by the eloquent and venerable Bernardus, with the most profound respect. It abounds in long, tedious speeches, as well as painfully absurd incidents. The “Menaei,” or Greek calendar of the saints, is also copious on this apostle, but is too modern to deserve any credit whatever. All the ancient fables and traditions were at last collected into a huge volume, by a Frenchman named Andrew de Saussay, who, in 1656, published at Paris, (in Latin,) a book, entitled “Andrew, brother of Simon Peter, or, Twelve Books on the Glory of Saint Andrew, the Apostle.” This book was afterwards abridged, or largely borrowed from, by John Florian Hammerschmid, in a treatise, (in Latin,) published at Prague, in 1699,——entitled “The Apostolic Cross-bearer, or, St. Andrew, the Apostle, described and set forth, in his life, death, martyrdom, miracles and discourses.”——Baillet’s Lives of the Saints, (in French,) also contains a full account of the most remarkable details of these fables. (Baillet, Vies de Saints, Vol. I. February 9th.)