Andrew of Crete

Andrew of Crete, also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was a Byzantine bishop, preacher, and hymnographer of the later seventh and early eighth centuries. He was born in Damascus in Syria, according to his traditional life, around the middle of the seventh century. Hagiographical accounts state that he was unable to speak until the age of seven, when he received the gift of speech after receiving Holy Communion. This event is presented in the sources as the beginning of his dedication to the Church. Precise years of birth and death are not securely established; modern reference works give only approximate or conflicting figures.

In his mid-teens he entered the lavra of Saint Sabas (Mar Saba) in the Judaean desert near Jerusalem, where he was tonsured a monk and received a substantial education in Scripture and theology. He subsequently served in the patriarchal administration at Jerusalem as a secretary or notary. Sources report that he was sent by the Patriarch of Jerusalem as a representative to the Sixth Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople in 680–681, which defined the doctrine of two wills in Christ against Monothelitism. After the council he remained in the imperial capital rather than returning to Palestine.

In Constantinople Andrew was ordained deacon of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia and was given charge of an orphanage. At a later date he was appointed metropolitan archbishop of Gortyna, the principal see of Crete. As bishop he became known for his preaching. A substantial body of homilies is attributed to him, treating dominical and Marian feasts as well as saints, and emphasizing repentance, the incarnation, and the spiritual life. His rhetorical style reflects the learned ecclesiastical culture of the period. He is not recorded as having married or as having held patriarchal or papal office.

Andrew’s lasting reputation rests chiefly on his hymnography. He is regarded as a principal developer of the liturgical canon as a poetic form, in which a series of odes based on the biblical canticles is elaborated with original stanzas. His Great Canon, a long penitential composition of some 250 troparia, became a fixed part of the Orthodox Lenten cycle, appointed in full for Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent and in sections during the first week. Numerous other canons and stichera for the liturgical year are ascribed to him, though the authenticity of some later attributions is debated by modern scholars.

The year and circumstances of his death are not established with certainty. Traditional accounts place his death on the island of Lesbos, at Eressos, while he was returning from a visit to Constantinople, and give dates ranging across the early to mid-eighth century. He is commemorated as a saint on 4 July in the calendars of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. He should be distinguished from the later martyr Andrew of Crete, who suffered under iconoclast persecution in the eighth century. Andrew of Crete’s influence on Byzantine liturgical poetry remained considerable in subsequent centuries.