SAINT ANDREW OF CRETE. — Byzantine orator and hymnographer, b. in Damascus c. 660, d. at Porto of Erisso, on the island of Lesbos, 4 Aug. 740. A monk in Jerusalem, he remained there until 685, when he was sent to the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus to convey the adherence of the patriarchate of Jerusalem to the decrees of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (681). He was therefore called the Jerusalemite, but is better known as Andrew of Crete because, toward the end of the 7th or the beginning of the 8th century, he was appointed bishop of Gortyna, the metropolitan see of Crete.
While metropolitan of Crete, Andrew yielded to the demands of the usurper Philippicus Bardanes by signing the decrees of the conciliabulum of Constantinople in 712, which reinstated monothelitism and condemned the Sixth Ecumenical Council. He atoned for this error the following year (713), after the death of Philippicus, by adhering to the dogmatic definition of the Sixth Council (cf. A. Heisenberg, Ein tainbisches Gedicht des Andreas von Crete, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 10 [1901], pp. 505-14), and later vigorously opposed the decree of Leo the Isaurian against images (PG 19, 1301-1304).
Andrew also distinguished himself as a preacher. His sermons have been published only in part: twenty-two homilies or panegyrics are collected in PG 97, 805-1302. To these must be added a Panegyric of St. George, in Acta SS. Aprilis, III, Antwerp 1675, pp. 123-31, and another of St. James the Brother of the Lord, edited by A. Papadopoulos-Kerasmeus, in *’Ανάλεκτα ’Ιεροσολυμιτικῆς σταχυλογίας*, V, pp. 1-14. On unpublished homilies see J. A. Fabricius, *Bibliotheca graeca*, XI, Hamburg 1740, p. 84. The authenticity of the published homilies is generally acknowledged. Spurious are the five homilies on the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple contained in cod. Laud. graec. 81 of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The preacher’s style is elaborate and at times obscure.
As a hymnographer, Andrew was the initiator of the poetry of canons and the principal representative of this genre. He also left numerous *troparia*, called *idiomela*, a kind of rhythmic antiphons each having its own melody. On Andrew’s poetic work see the comprehensive article by L. Petit, *André de Crète*, in DACL, I, cols. 2034-41.
ANDREA DA FIRENZE — Suppliants before the altar of St. Peter Martyr — Detail of the fresco in the Cappellone degli Spagnoli — Florence, S. Maria Novella.
ANDREA DI FIRENZE — Suppliants before the altar of St. Peter Martyr — Detail of the fresco in the Cappellone degli Spagnoli — Florence, S. Maria Novella.
This, published by Papadopoulos-Kerasmeus in the 1st of the *Annales*, was reprinted in 1906, pp. 169-80. The principal published works are collected in PG 97, 805-1304. On the published and unpublished poetic works see the cited article by L. Petit. Many are scattered in Byzantine liturgical books. See also: M. Jugie, *Saint André de Crète et l’Immaculée Conception*, in *Echos d’Orient*, 13 (1910), pp. 129-33; O. Bardenhewer, *Geschichte der altkatholischen Literatur*, V, Freiburg in Br. 1932, pp. 152-57.