From the Prologue of Ochrid
Born in Damascus of Christian parents. From birth until his seventh year he was mute. When his parents brought him to church and gave him Holy Communion, he began to speak. Such is the power of divine Communion. At the age of fourteen he went to Jerusalem and was tonsured in the Lavra of Saint Savvas the Sanctified. In intellect and asceticism he surpassed many older monks and was an example to many. The patriarch then took him as his secretary. And when the Monothelite heresy (the heresy of the single will) — which taught that the Lord Jesus had no human will but only a divine will — began to rage, the Sixth Ecumenical Council was convened in Constantinople in the year 681, during the reign of Constantine the Bearded. Patriarch Theodore of Jerusalem was unable to attend the Council, so he sent as his representative this Andrew, then an archdeacon. At the Council, Andrew displayed his brilliant giftedness, eloquence, zeal for the faith, and extraordinary discernment. Having helped to confirm the Orthodox faith, Andrew returned to Jerusalem to his duties. He was later elected and appointed Archbishop of the island of Crete. As a hierarch he was greatly beloved by the people. He was zealous for Orthodoxy and vigorously combated all heresies. He worked miracles through his prayers. By prayer he drove the Saracens from the island of Crete. He wrote many instructive books, hymns, and canons, of which the most renowned is the Great Canon of the Theotokos, which is read on the Thursday of the fifth week of the Holy Fast. His outward appearance was such "that looking upon his face and listening to his honey-flowing words, everyone was delighted and edified." Returning once from Constantinople, he foretold his death before reaching Crete. And so it came to pass. When the ship was sailing near the island of Mytilene, this luminary of the Church ended his earthly life and passed over in soul to the Kingdom of Christ, in the year 712.
