tory gloss which credit into the text of several MSS [Galatians^, 1876, p. 31). The churches of Vienne and Mayence both claimed Crescens as their founder. Of the man himself nothing further is known. His name is Latin, and he may have been a Roman freedman. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on June 27 and in the Greek Menologion on May 30, where he is treated as one of ' the Seventy ' and bishop of Chalcedon (Acta Sanctorum, June 27 ; Menologion, May 30).
W. F. Boyd.
CRETE, CRETANS.— One of the largest islands in the Mediterranean, Crete (K/stjtij) lies 60 miles S. of Greece. It is about 150 miles in length from E. to W., and varies from 7 to 30 miles in width. The greater part of it is occupied by ranges of mountains, but the valleys are exceedingly fertile, and the climate is delightful. While the northern coast has good natural harbours, the southern is much less indented, the mountains in many parts rising almost like a wall from the sea. In ancient times Crete had very numerous cities ; Horace (echoing Homer, 11. ii. 649) describes it as ' centum nobilem Cretam urbibus ' (Ejwdes, ix. 29 ; of. Virgil, JEn. iii. 106). The recent excavations of early sites have furnished astonishing evidence of a highly developed pre-historic civilization, with ' Minoan ' palaces and shrines, a ' Minoan ' art of which that of Mycenae is only an offshoot, and a ' Minoan ' script of which the Phoenician alphabet is but an altered copy (EBr^^ vii. 421).
Tacitus (Hist. v. 2) commits a curious error in suggesting that the Jews came originally from Crete, and that the name Judcei was derived from Mt. Ida. The Jews who resided in Crete in the early Maccabsean period (1 Mac 10" 15-^) were of course immigrants. In 67 B.C. the island was annexed by Rome, and combined with Cyrenaica to form a single province, which remained senatorial under tlie Empire.
The ship in which St. Paul sailed from Myra for Italy would under ordinary conditions have gone north of Crete, but she was driven by stress of weather to seek the shelter of the south coast. Rounding the promontory of Salmone in the east, she coasted as far as Fair Havens, where she remained for some time weather-bound. In an attempt to reach the better harbour of Phoenix (now probably Lutro), she hugged the shore till she rounded Cape Matala, when a violent E.N.E. wind suddenly beat down upon her from the central mountains of the island, and compelled her to scud till she was able to get under the lee of the small island of Cauda (Ac 27^'^). See FAIR Havens, Phoenix, and Cauda.
It is not known how Crete was first evangelized. Cretan Jews and proselytes were present at the first Christian Pentecost, and some of them may well have been among the 3000 converts (Ac 2"'*^). It is hardly likely that St. Paul was idle while he was perforce spending ' much time ' (Ikcvov xpij'oi;) near the city of Lasea (27«-»). The Epistle to Titus, though perhaps not Pauline, reflects a credible tradition which links the name of Titus with Cretan Christianity. The need of the churches of which he had the oversight was organization (Tit P). • The natural inference is that up to this time the Cliiistians of Crete had gone on without any kind of responsible government, and that this anarchic condition was one considerable cause of the evidently low moi-al condition to which they had sunk. Accordingly, the appointment of elders was a necessary first step towards raising the standard of Christian life generally' (F. J. A. Hort, Christian Ecclesia, 1897, p. 176).
The Cretans were a brave and turbulent race, hard to govern, with an evil reputation for avarice, mendacity, and drunkenness. The writer of TiL
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CROSS, CRUCIFIXION
quotes a hexameter of Epimenides, a prophet of their own — called by Plato ^etos av-fip (Laws, i. 642 D) — who brands them as 'always liars, beasts, and idle gluttons ' (Tit 1"). For this indisci'iminate condemnation, uttered with prophetic indignation and scorn, there Avas much excuse. The Greeks coined a special word [KprjTi^eiv) for a kind of talk and conduct which was characteristic of Crete, and to out-Cretan a Cretan (irphs Kpijra TS.py)Tl^iLv) was to outwit a knave (Plut. ^mil. 23, Lysand. 20).
LiTBKATPRE. — ^T. A. B. Spratt, Travels and Researches in Crete, 2 vols., London, 1865 ; A. J. Evans, Scripta Minoa, i. Oxford [1909] ; C. H. and H. B. Hawes, Crete the Forerunner of Greece, London, 1909. JAMES StRAHAN.
CRISPDS.— Crispus (Kplairos) was the ruler of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth (Ac 18") who ac- companied St. Paul when he abandoned the syna- gogiie for an adjoining house, and who became a Christian. Crispus was one of the few persons whom St. Paul himself baptized in Corinth (1 Co V*), the Apostle usually leaving the baptizing to others ; but Crispus was one of the first converts, and one of uncommon importance, whose conversion cost him dear, whilst it was a notable encouragement to St. Paul. The example set by a man of such eminence had considerable influence. His own household became Christians with him ; and their conversion seems to have inaugurated a large in- gathering.
Literature. — Artt. in HDB, vol. i., on ' Crispus,' ' Corinth,' p. 481a, and ' L Corinthians,' p. 4S5a ; C. v. Weizsacker, Apostolic Age, i.2 [London, 1897] 305-310 ; R. J. Knowling, EGT, 'Acts,' 1900 ; and G. G. Findlay, EGT, ' 1 Cor.,' 1900, ad. locc.