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."

The old bell tower was located, as it is supposed, to the north-west of the western side of the Spassky Cathedral. Archaeological research is needed to clarify its location.

In the miniatures of manuscripts of the XVI century, St. Andrew is depicted with a halo (Osterman Chronicler; The Life of St. Sergius, the end of the XVI century, from the Great Collection of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra).

The cited sources certify that in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries no one doubted the holiness of Andrei Rublev, as well as the high righteousness of Daniel.

According to tradition, in the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius, the memory of St. Andrew was celebrated on July 4, the day of commemoration of St. Andrew of Crete.

The 18th-19th centuries were a time of oblivion of many Orthodox traditions and, in particular, canonical iconography, so this period was not favorable for venerating the memory of holy iconographers. The fame of St. Andrew began to return only from the beginning of the XX century, when interest in the traditions of Orthodox icon painting was awakened. Over the course of this century, it has increased enormously. By the manifest Providence of God, it was in the 20th century that the "Holy Trinity" of St. Andrew, as well as his other works, acquired the significance of witnessing the truth of Orthodoxy in the face of the whole world.

The Monk Andrew was canonized on the basis of the holiness of his life, on the basis of his feat of iconography, in which he, like the Evangelist, bore witness and continues to proclaim to people the true truth about God, glorified in the Trinity, and also on the basis of the testimony of the Monk Joseph of Volotsk.

July 5