Andrew of Crete

The holy father Abba Dorotheus, asked why the saints mourn unceasingly, gave this answer:

— A saint is a man walking towards the light; the nearer he draws to the light, the more he sees the sins of men. That is why they spend their whole life in mourning.

The very first words of the penitential canon express the same thought:

“Where shall I begin to lament the deeds of my life? What beginning shall I make, O Christ, for this lamentation?”

And this was written by Andrew of Crete, a holy father who began to serve the Church at the age of fourteen.

What sins, then, weighed so heavily on him?

Who was Andrew of Crete?

St Andrew, this great father of the seventh century, lived in Damascus. Until the age of seven he was mute. At seven he received the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time and was miraculously healed — he began to speak. So the Saviour showed how great is the power of Communion. His overjoyed parents filled their son with the divine books, and at fourteen they sent him to Jerusalem to learn the service of the Church. By then he was so learned that his knowledge amazed even the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Later Andrew became Archbishop of the island of Crete, and from then on he has been called “of Crete”. He wrote the Great Canon of repentance, in which the sinful nature of man is set out with such force that, if we enter deeply into it, we shall surely be filled with repentance. It is also longer than any other canon. That is why it is divided into four parts and read on the first four days of Great Lent.

“To see one’s sins in all their depth is truly a gift of God,” says St John of Kronstadt.

People often do not see their sins.

“I have stolen nothing”, “I have done nothing of the kind”, “I live like everyone else”, “I have killed no one” — so they begin their confession, and cannot even imagine that they sin. It irritates us to be rebuked, yet we ourselves judge others easily, and we have forgotten God. Are these not sins to repent of?! And if we do not understand why we must love our enemies, are we Christians at all?! How are we to explain our self-assurance in our own sinlessness, if not by a hardened heart, by our spiritual death?!

Great Lent is also called the feast of the soul. At this time all of a person’s attention is turned to the soul, to heal it. And if we wish to keep it worthily, then before the Fast begins let us compel ourselves to forgive one another every offence and heartache. That is exactly why Forgiveness Sunday is set before Great Lent.

“There is no sin in the world, no fall, no evil, O Saviour, that I have not committed, in mind and word and thought, in will, intention and deed, as no other ever did.”

So Andrew of Crete laments, while we are sure that we do not sin. Let us at least in Great Lent enter deeply into this canon of repentance. It will help us to see our sins. So let us take the first step and climb the ladder of virtues that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Archbishop Sergi (Chekurishvili) of Nekresi