St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ
St. Andrew, a Slav by birth, was brought to Constantinople as a slave in the household of the nobleman Theognostus during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise.
Obeying a heavenly vision, he took up the ascetic path of foolishness for Christ's sake, feigning madness while living in utter poverty, praying through the night, and giving away whatever alms he received. For his humility and endurance God granted him gifts of prophecy and discernment, and at the Blachernae church he and his disciple Epiphanius beheld the Most Holy Theotokos spreading her veil in protection over the faithful, the vision commemorated in the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. He reposed in the early tenth century (911 according to the Prologue of Ohrid; other accounts give 936), and his Life was recorded by Nikephoros, a priest of Hagia Sophia.
Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos, praying for all the world?
Troparion · Tone 1
O Christ God, hearing the words of Your Apostle Paul, saying: "We are fools for Christ's sake," Your servant Andrew became a fool for Your sake; therefore, now, honoring his memory, we pray that the Lord will save our souls.
Kontakion · Tone 4
Having become a fool of your own free will, you despised the blessings of this world, and mortified carnal wisdom by fasting and thirst, heat, and bitter frost, never avoiding rain and snow, and other hardships of weather; you purified yourself like gold in a furnace, O blessed Andrew.
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