The Church honors today the memory of St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, poet of the great canon, and Michael Acominatos, Archbishop of Athens († 1220).
We also celebrate the finding of the Relics of St Anysia from Thessaloniki. The second city of Greece celebrates along with Saint Dimitrios magnificent Church, which hosts the holy relics of Saint Anysia.
Saint Andreas, archbishop of Crete, was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. He was engaged in the study of ancient Greek philosophy, and then in the study of the Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Tradition.
Then he became a monk and served near Patriarch Theodore of Jerusalem, as his secretary. The Patriarch appreciated and admired him so much about his knowledge that he sent him as his representative at the VI Ecumenical Council, which was established in Constantinople in 680 AD. The occasion for the convening of the Ecumenical Synod was the notoriety and wrong teaching of Archbishops Sergius of Constantinople and Honorius of Rome, who claimed that Christ has only one will. The Synod condemned monothelitism and determined that, as in the face of Christ there are two natures, divine and human, so there are two wills and energies, divine and human, with the clear theological explanation that the human subjugates the divine will.
Saint Andreas is the author of the “Great Canon”, which is a lengthy poetic work that invites the faithful to repentance during the time of the Great Lent. The Great Canon is to be read in church are the first four nights of Great Lent (Clean Monday through Clean Thursday, at Great Compline, when it is serialized) and at Matins for Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent, when it is read in its entirety.
Bishop Gregory of Mesaoria
Source: Church of Cyprus
