Andreas 55 was a martyr who suffered under the emperor Constantine Copronymus (Constantine V; Konstantinos 7): Passio Andreae in Crisei (BHG 111) 3. He lived in Kastron in Crete (ἐν τῷ ἐπιλεγομένῳ τῆς Κρήτης Κάστρῳ): Passio Andreae in Crisei (BHG 111) 6, (BHG 112) 6. Andreas 55 was a supporter of the veneration of icons; when he heard that the emperor was removing icons from churches and persecuting clergy and monks who supported them, he left Crete for Constantinople and made his way to the Palace of St Mamas, where the emperor Konstantinos 7 was punishing supporters of icons: Passio Andreae in Crisei (BHG 111) 4, 6, (BHG 112) 6-7. Andreas 55 confronted the emperor and condemned what he was doing; he was then seized and punished, and brought back several times before Konstantinos 7, each time defying him and each time enduring more beatings and stonings: Passio Andreae in Crisei (BHG 111) 7-13, (BHG 112) 8-13. Finally he was taken away and dragged through the streets to the Forum of the Ox, where a hostile fish vendor (Anonymus 726) cut off his foot and he died; the date was 20 October; his corpse was first dumped, but was retrieved at night by sympathisers and buried in a tomb at a place called Krisis (ἐν τόπῳ ἐπιλεγομένῳ Κρίσις): Passio Andreae in Crisei (BHG 111) 14-16, (BHG 112) 14-16 and see Synax. Eccl. Const., 151-2, 17 (October 19) (a monk, from Crete, who went to Constantinople, condemned the emperor Konstantinos 7 and was beaten and killed in the Forum of the Ox).

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