Orthodox Church in AmericaΕλληνικά για τον άγιο (και τους αγίους της ημέρας) εδώSaint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, was born in the city of
Damascus into a pious Christian family. Up until seven years of age the
boy was mute and did not talk. However, after communing the Holy
Mysteries of Christ he found the gift of speech and began to speak. And
from that time the lad began earnestly to study Holy Scripture and the
discipline of theology. At fourteen years of age he went off to
Jerusalem and there he accepted monastic tonsure at the monastery of
Saint Sava the Sanctified. Saint Andrew led a strict and chaste life, he
was meek and abstinent, such that all were amazed at his virtue and
reasoning of mind. As a man of talent and known for his virtuous life,
over the passage of time he came to be numbered among the Jerusalem
clergy and was appointed a secretary for the Patriarchate -- a writing
clerk. In the year 680 the locum tenens of the Jerusalem Patriarchate,
Theodore, included archdeacon Andrew among the representatives of the
Holy City sent to the Sixth Ecumenical Council, and here the saint
contended against heretical teachings, relying upon his profound
knowledge of Orthodox doctrine. Shortly after the Council he was
summoned back to Constantinople from Jerusalem and he was appointed
archdeacon at the church of Hagia Sophia, the Wisdom of God. During the
reign of the emperor Justinian II (685-695) Saint Andrew was ordained
bishop of the city of Gortineia on the island of Crete. In his new
position he shone forth as a true luminary of the Church, a great
hierarch -- a theologian, teacher and hymnographer. Saint Andrew
wrote many liturgical hymns. He was the originator of a new liturgical
form -- the canon. Of the canons composed by him the best known is the
Great Penitential Canon, including within its 9 odes the 250 troparia
recited during the Great Lent. In the First Week of Lent at the service
of Compline it is read in portions (thus called “methymony” [trans.
note: from the useage in the service of Compline of the “God is with
us”, in Slavonic the “S’nami Bog”, or in Greek “Meth’ Humon ho Theos”,
from which derives “methymony”], and again on Thursday of the Fifth Week
at the All-night Vigil during Matins. Saint Andrew of Crete
gained renown with his many praises of the All-Pure Virgin Mary. To him
are likewise ascribed: the Canon for the feast of the Nativity of
Christ, three odes for the Compline of Palm Sunday and also in the first
four days of Holy Passion Week, as well as verses for the feast of the
Meeting of the Lord, and many another church hymns. His hymnographic
tradition was continued by the churchly great melodists of following
ages: Saints John of Damascus, Cosma of Maium, Joseph the Melodist,
Theophan the Written-upon. There have also been preserved edifying
Sermons of Saint Andrew for certain of the Church feasts. Church
historians are not of the same opinion as to the date of death of the
saint. One suggests the year 712, while others -- the year 726. He died
on the island of Mytilene, while returning to Crete from Constantinople,
where he had been on churchly business. His relics were transferred to
Constantinople. In the year 1350 the pious Russian pilgrim Stephen
Novgorodets saw the relics at the Constantinople monastery named for
Saint Andrew of Crete. See also The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete, a dialog between a man and his soul!ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ για το Μεγάλο Κανόνα εδώTHE SYNAXIS OF THE HOLY TWELVE APOSTLES (June 30)
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