In addition to Epiphanius the Wise, the monk Andrew knew well other highly educated people of his time, with whom he was in close contact. Among them, first of all, we should mention St. Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow. The monk Andrew was close to the spiritual world of Saint Cyprian, who went through the school of Athonite monasticism. Communication with him was quite close, since not only St. Andrew was interested in it, but also St. Cyprian, who was accustomed to the intellectual atmosphere of Byzantium and therefore singled out the most spiritual and educated Russians in Moscow. Through this communion, the spiritual genealogy of the Monk Andrew goes back to both chapters of the Athonite hesychasm, since Metropolitan Cyprian was a disciple of the holy Patriarch Philotheus, a disciple of St. Gregory Palamas, and a relative (as it is assumed) of St. Euthymius, Patriarch of Tarnovo, a disciple of St. Theodosius of Tarnovo, a disciple of St. Gregory the Sinaite. The elevation of the "mind and thought" to the "immaterial and Divine light" from the contemplation of holy icons ("the elevation of the sensual eye") – this completely hesychastic characterization was not accidentally given by St. Joseph of Volotsk to the Monk Andrew and his "companion" Daniel. There are probably not very many analogies for it in Russian hagiography.

Undoubtedly, the monk Andrew also knew well the holy Metropolitan Photius, who replaced the deceased Metropolitan Cyprian in 1409. Photius also belongs to the number of highly educated, spiritual and active hierarchs, to whom belongs a number of epistles, which the monk Andrew undoubtedly knew.

"Surpassing all in wisdom," in the words of the Monk Joseph, the monk Andrew was well acquainted with the works of many holy fathers and teachers of the Church. He undoubtedly knew the works of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, translated into Slavonic in the fourteenth century by the Athonite monk Isaiah on behalf of the supreme ecclesiastical authority in connection with the hesychastic disputes. The works of St. Gregory the Sinaite, accessible to the Russian reader, were also close to him. The reading circle of the enlightened man and, undoubtedly, of St. Andrew included the "Theology" of John of Damascus, the "Six Days" of John the Exarch, the "Expository Palea" and other works of Orthodox writers and Church Fathers.

In 1408, according to the chronicle, the Monk Andrew and Daniel painted the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir. Under this year, the chronicles indicate: "In the same summer, on May 25, the painting of the great and cathedral church of the Most Pure Volodymyr was begun by order of the Grand Duke, and the masters were Danilo the icon-painter and Andrei Rublev."

In a short chronicle report, he draws attention to the fact that the date of the beginning of the painting is indicated. This is an exceptional case. Obviously, great importance was attached to the frescoes, which is explained by the expectation of the arrival from Constantinople of a new metropolitan, who, after the death of Cyprian in 1406, became Photius (in 1409).

Vladimir continued to be considered the city-residence of the metropolitan, and the city cathedral, accordingly, was a cathedral. Therefore, the metropolitan cathedral had to have paintings worthy of a high envoy of the Church of Constantinople, and to show no less dignity of the Russian Church. In this way, the iconographers carried out a kind of "representative mission", and their task was very difficult, if we take into account the exceptionally high requirements of the Greek Church of that time for church art, the requirements, first of all, of the spiritual witness to the truth in art, and hence its qualities. In addition, the expected metropolitan himself was undoubtedly a good connoisseur and connoisseur of church art, which follows from his Constantinople upbringing.

The high mission was entrusted to Daniel the Black and the Monk Andrew, who is mentioned by the latter as the younger. The iconographers worthily fulfilled the obedience entrusted to them.

In 1408, the monk Andrew was first mentioned together with his "fellow traveler Daniel the Black", who also led a high spiritual life. Since that year, we have known about the close spiritual connection between the two iconographers-ascetics, which lasted until their death, for about 20 years. The eloquent, though brief, testimonies to the spirit of Christ's love that united them show the highest example of this love, similar to that which we encounter in the legends of the ancient ascetics of the Christian East. The tradition of the close spiritual ties between St. Andrew and Daniel was carefully preserved throughout the 15th century and was written by St. Joseph of Volotsk from the words of the former abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Spyridon. Let us cite a well-known text: "And behold, he is the honest Tsar Spyridon... they are the notorious iconographers Daniel and his disciple Andrew... possessing a little virtue, and only a little reverence for fasting and for other life, which they will be vouchsafed with Divine grace and only a little in Divine love, so that they can never exercise themselves from earthly things, but always lift up their mind and thought to the immaterial and Divine light, and the sensual eye always leads them to the image of the Lord Christ and His Most-Pure Mother and all the saints, it also on the very feast of the Bright Resurrection, sitting on its seats, and having before it the all-honorable and Divine icons, and on them unswervingly beholding the Divine joys and brightness; and not only on that day I did so, but also on other days, when I did not diligently paint. For this reason glorify the Lord Christ also in the final hour of death: for first Andrew reposed, and then his fasting companion Daniel fell ill, and in his final breath he saw his fasting companion Andrew in great glory and with joy calling him to eternal and infinite bliss."

The above brief story of St. Joseph brings to us an amazingly bright image of two ascetic artists, true monks and ascetics. They "succeeded" in the divine love that revealed itself to them and drew them to itself. By the acquisition of great divine grace, the Monk Joseph explains their complete departure from all earthly cares, "as never to exercise themselves about earthly things." Their truly hesychastic experience has already been mentioned above. St. Joseph briefly described their experience of attitude to icon painting, which is a truly spiritual experience that teaches us the correct perception of the image. For them, the contemplation of icons is a feast that fills the heart with "Divine joy and brightness", since it raises the mind "from material ramparts", that is, from a material, coarse, immovable imitation of the immaterial Prototype exuding life from the world. Hence the special significance of the icon as a testimony to the truth, hence the especially heartfelt attitude to each movement of the brush.

"For this sake," that is, for the sake of such a lofty and so spiritual way of life, "O Lord Christ, glorify them even in the final hour of death." Already after the death of Saint Andrew, his "fellow-traveler" Daniel, who was not separated from him in his heart and after death, dying, received a revelation about the glorification of his spiritual brother in the Kingdom of Heaven: "I saw... Andrew in many glory and with joy calling him into eternal and infinite bliss." This especially important testimony is also given in a slightly different edition, in the "Life of St. Nikon of Radonezh", compiled by Pachomius the Logothete: "For when Daniel wanted to renounce the bodily union, he saw his beloved Andrea, calling him in joy. And he, when he saw him, desired to be filled with joy; To the brethren who stood before him, he told them his fellow traveler the coming, and gave him up the spirit..."

Thus, we have two indications about the mortal glory of St. Andrew. The youngest in earthly life, he is indicated as the elder in the spiritual world and, as it were, receives the soul of the righteous Daniel at its separation from the body. The eternal resting place of both ascetics was the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery.

During the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, the memory of both iconographers, first of all St. Andrew, was surrounded by deep veneration. In the middle of the XVI century, the Hundred Chapters Council elevated it to a universal model, prescribing to paint the image of the Holy Trinity, as Andrei Rublev and "notorious Greek painters" wrote. Thus, St. Andrew is placed on a par with those "notorious", although overwhelmingly unknown Byzantine artists who developed the Orthodox canon of icon painting. It can also be thought that the ideal image of the iconographer, inscribed in the 43rd chapter of the Stoglav and widely disseminated through the iconographic originals, is to a large extent inspired by the tradition of St. Andrew, well known to the fathers of the Council.

Evidence of the spiritual recognition of the holiness of St. Andrew is found in the Stroganov iconographic original (late XVI century). This original was apparently compiled among court iconographers and enjoyed the widest influence and authority. The original says: "St. Andrew of Radonezh, an iconographer, nicknamed Rublev, painted many holy icons, all miraculous, and before that you live in obedience to the Venerable Father Nikon of Radonezh. He commanded that the image of the Most Holy Trinity be painted with him, in praise of his father, St. Sergius the Wonderworker..." Here St. Andrew is called venerable (as, a little later, Daniel), all his icons are recognized as especially grace-filled; his belonging to the spiritual tradition of Saints Sergius and Nikon is indicated. The name of St. Andrew (together with Daniel) is also found in ancient calendars.

According to a later source, "their holy relics are buried and rest in that Androniev monastery under the old bell tower, which has recently been destroyed, and the place has been razed to the ground, as all kinds of people and unclean people walk on it, and thus they have given themselves over to oblivion (memory) of those holy relics of theirs."