Saint Andrew of Crete

When he learned of the edict by which this prince forbade, under great penalties, the rendering of any honor to those sacred figures that represent to us Jesus Christ or his holy Mother and the other Saints, far from being terrified by it like many others who fled for that reason outside the lands of the empire, he came generously into the very city o f Constantinop le, in order to fight heresy and impiety there in the place where they were causing the most havoc. Dès qu'il y fut arrivé, il ouvrit publiquement la bouche pour défendre la vérité orthodoxe, et sans craindre les magistrats ni l'empereur même, il exhorta les fidèles à demeurer constants dans la doctrine de l'Église, et les nouveaux hérétiques à rentrer dans le sein de leur mère, que la lâcheté leur avait fait abandonner. As soon as he arrived there, he publicly opened his mouth to defend the orthodox truth, and without fearing the magistrates or the emperor himself, he exhorted the faithful to remain constant in the doctrine of the Church, and the new heretics to return to the bosom of their mother, whom cowardice had caused them to abandon.

One day, Constantin e having had a throne placed in the Ba silica of Saint Mamas, di splayed there with great ostentation all his imperial pomp, and moreover gave very cruel orders against the Orthodox, having some murdered with blows from ox-hide whips, throwing others into the fire, plucking out the eyes of some, and cutting out the tongues of others: Andrew, burning with divine zeal, split through the crowd, addressed the emperor in person, and reproached him for his impiety. The tyrant, unable to endure this freedom, ordered his archers to seize him; and at the same time they took him, tore off his cloak, ripped his tunic, and committed several other outrages against him.

The emperor then ordered that he be stripped and whipped with the greatest rigor. Then the martyr, lifting his eyes to heaven, cried out with strength: "I will never despise your image, O my Savior, I will never mistreat your figure; let them tear my body, let them tear out my tongue, let them cut off my feet, I am ready to suffer all things rather than fail in the respect I owe to your divine Majesty.

The guards gave him a thousand blows with ox-sinews and left him all covered in blood. Others threw stones at him, and everyone strove to do him some outrage. But all these torments could not diminish his constancy in the least, and he spoke always with the same firmness as before.

Constantine did not want to put him to death, so as not to give him the glory of martyrdom; but he desired extremely to be able to seduce him, so that his example might serve to corrupt the other orthodox; he therefore had him taken to prison, and in several conferences he had with him, he tried to win him over with fine promises; but, finding him always just as invincible, he had him whipped again and finally abandoned him to the executioners to be put to death in the place of public executions.

As he was being led to his execution, a fisherman ran after him, and having taken a large butcher's knife, he cut off his foot. This blow was so cruel and so painful that it took the life of our blessed Martyr. His body was left in the fields to be the prey of dogs and vultures; it was then buried with those of the criminals; but by a miraculous effect of divine power, a group of possessed persons came to the place of his burial, and having opened the earth with their fingernails, they distinguished him from the other bodies and exposed him to the sight of the faithful. They received as a reward the grace of being delivered from the demons that possessed them. This holy body was interred with the honor due to his merit, and several miracles have since occurred at his tomb.

Saint Andrew of Crete is often characterized among the Greeks by an image of the Mother of God, serving to recall the holy cause to which he sacrificed his life.

We have preserved the account of Father G iry.