May 12 is an official holiday in Georgia and marks the day that the Apostle Andrew the First-Called arrived in Georgia, in the present-day Ajara region.
St. Andrew was the first of the apostles of Jesus Christ. The church tradition of Georgia regards St. Andrew as the first preacher of Christianity in Georgia and as the founder of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
A fisherman by trade, Andrew was born in Bethsaida on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee. The Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him to follow Jesus Christ.
A large statue commemorating St Andrew was placed in front of a waterfall near the village of Sarpi in the Ajara region of Georgia in 2008.
