The Beowulfian Apostle

Fr. Andrew and Dcn. Seraphim conclude their discussion of "Andreas," the Old English poem about St. Andrew rescuing St. Matthew from an island of cannibals. One of the wildest stories involving the apostles is told in multiple early sources, from the 4th-century Greek "The Acts of Andrew and Matthias among the Anthropophagi" to Homily XIX in the 10th-century Old English Blickling Homilies to the 1700-line 10th-century Old English poem “Andreas,” found in the Vercelli manuscript. In this story, the Apostle Andrew rescues one of his fellow apostles from Marmidonia, a city of cannibals. In the earlier source, it’s St. Matthias, but in later sources it’s the Apostle Matthew the Evangelist. (Could they be the same saint?) The devil makes an appearance, as does Christ multiple times and some angels. St. Andrew appears here as a rescuing hero who nonetheless is entirely dependent on God. And of course there’s a flood and a ring of fire.