Today October 20

Although today is the feast of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, we are going to go with an obscure saint, Andrew of Crete (died 766 AD). Poor guy. There are TWO Andrews of Crete, and this one (the one from the town with the super name of Krisis ) isn't even the most famous! This one isn't the poet and hymnologist. So, you might say, why go with him? Because there is more to art than just poetry . . . and this man, this great man, gave his very LIFE for art; notably, art in the form of icons -- sacred paintings and other representations. In the art world, people will respect you for "not compromising your artistic principles" or even "sacrificing all for your art" -- but often not for having the same sentiment toward religion itself. But what if people were not even allowed to use sacred beings -- God, angels, saints -- as subjects? Well, Andrew of Crete believed we had that right . . . and he died defending it.

He even went to the heart of the struggle: Constantinople. He cried out in protest, and the iconoclastic emperor Constantine V heard him. He accused Andrew of worshiping idols (in the form of icons), and Andrew told the emperor he was in frank heresy. We worship only God, but we USE images properly in devotion. As Andrew was actually dragged away, he said: "See how powerless you are against faith?"

The next day he was scourged and dragged through the streets, and a fanatical iconoclast stepped out of the crowd and stabbed him with a fishing spear. Andrew staggered to the Place of the Ox, where he fell down dead. The authorities threw his body in the open sewer, but some Christians fished it out and buried it nearby. There is now the monastery of St. Andrew over it. St. Andrew, pray for us.