Andreas 3 was archbishop of Crete; he was known as Andreas of Jerusalem: Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis (Βίος καὶ πολιτεία τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἀνδρέου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κρήτης τοῦ Ἱεροσολυμίτου), cf. Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis 1 (cited below). Future archbishop of Crete; he was born in Damascos, but was known as Andreas of Jerusalem (Δαμασκὸς πατρὶς τῷ μεγάλῳ τούτῳ καὶ περιφήμῳ τῆς Κρήτης προέδρῳ, ὡς ὁ τῆς ἱστορίας παρεστήσατο λόγος, Ἀνδρέᾳ φημὶ τῷ Ἱεροσολυμίτῃ κληθέντι); son of devout parents; he studied hard and was a quick learner: Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis 1. At the age of fourteen, having completed his studies, he went to Jerusalem, where he became a monk; Synaxarion, in Magnus Canon Andreae 1361-1364. He was made anagnostes at Jerusalem by Theodoros 23 (παρὰ Θεοδώρου τοῦ τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως προέδρου τῷ λαῷ χειροτονεῖται τὰς θείους βίβλους ἐπὶ τῷ ἀναγινώσκειν καλῶς), and then was appointed by Theodoros 23 to be his secretary (εἶτα καὶ ὑπογραφεὺς αὐτῷ καθίσταται καὶ θερμὸς ὑπηρέτης); he became famous both for his care for the Church and for his personal advancement in virtue; he was very close to Theodoros 23 and (allegedly) attended the Council of Constantinople in 680 at which the Monothelete problem was discussed: Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis 2, cf. Synaxarion, in Magnus Canon Andreae 1364 (still a monk, he was sent to attend the Council of Constantinople by Theodoros 23). At Constantinople he made a considerable impression by his learning and character and was made a deacon of the Great Church (Hagia Sophia) by the heads of the church there (ψήφῳ τῶν τῆς Βυζαντίδος ἐκκρίτων διάκονος τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας καθίσταται); some time later he also became orphanotrophos there (μετά τινά χρόνον οὐκ ὄλιγον καὶ ὀρφανοτρόφος ὁ καλὸς ἀποδείκνυται) and later still he was appointed archbishop of Crete (Κρήτης χειροτονεῖται πρόεδρος): Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis 2, cf. Synaxarion,in Magnus Canon Andreae 1364 (made deacon at Constantinople, then orphanotrophos, and finally archbishop of Crete). When the iconoclast heresy began he visited Constantinople to attack it and allegedly refuted it; he then set off for home in triumph, but on the return journey fell ill at Eriste (so the Epitome Vitae) or at Ierissos (so the Synaxarion) on the island of Mitylene and died there: Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis 3-5, Synaxarion, in Magnus Canon Andreae 1364. The date of his festival in the Menologion is 4 July.

Metropolitan bishop of Crete, in 712 he attended the Council summoned by the emperor Philippikos 1 and subscribed its decision to condemn the Sixth Ecumenical Council and to reaffirm the Monothelete doctrine: Theoph. AM 6177, AM 6204. Archbishop of Crete; in 713 or soon afterwards (see below) he sent verses to Agatho 3 (then archdeacon at Constantinople) when he returned a work of Agatho 3 that he had borrowed and that had apparently caused him to change his mind and reject monotheletism:Andrew of Crete, Iambic Verses, 508ff., title: Ἀνδρέου τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κρήτης ἴαμβοι γραφέντες πρὸς τὸν ὁσιώτατον Ἀγάθωνα ... ὅτε λαβὼν τὴν παροῦσαν βίβλον μετέβαλε καὶ πὰλιν ἀπέστειλεν. The date was not before 713, when Agatho 3 was still only a deacon.

Andreas 3 is probably identical with the owner of a number of extant seals, all dateable to the early to mid eighth century, one of which was found at Knossos (now in the museum at Heraklion) and the others in Constantinople: Tsougarakis, SBS 2, p. 144, no. 3 (citing the four specimens, one from Knossos published by Xanthoudides, "Boullai" II, p. 44, no. 7 = Laurent, Corpus V 1, no. 619, and three from Constantinople, in Zacos and Veglery 1293a and b = DOSeals II 36.8 (two seals from the same boulloterion; a third is mentioned). Obv.: bust of St Titos and the legend ὁ ἅγιος Τῖτος. Rev.: cruciform monogram of Ἀνδρέαν and a metrical legend, the whole reading: Κρήτης πρόεδρον, Χριστέ, σῴζοις Ἀνδρέαν.

He was a prolific author and composed the Great Canon, and a Life of Mary the Egyptian, both of which he took to Constantinople with him when he attended the Council of 680: Synaxarion,in Magnus Canon Andreae 1361-1364. Author of many hymns and stories about the Fathers and the martyrs: Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis 2. While fatally ill on Mitylene he composed the Song of the Great Hymnody (μέλος τῆς μεγάλης ὑμνωδίας): Epitome Vitae Andreae Cretensis 4. Author of homilies and panegyrics and of liturgical poetry, on which see Beck, Kirche, pp. 500-502, and cf. ODB I, pp. 92-93. His writings are printed in PG 97, 790-1444. A Life of Andreas was written by Niketas patrikios and kuaistor (perhaps ninth century; PBE II) (in Papadopoulos-Kerameus, Analekta Hierosolumitikes Stachyologias V (1898) 169-179, 422-424) and later revised: BHG 113-114c.

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