A theory is presented for the creep behavior and buckling of a circular cylindrical shell under axisymmetrical loads. Elastic deformations and secondary creep are included and the multimembrane model is utilized. The set of differential equations is solved by means of finite difference methods with respect to the axial coordinate and with respect to time. A number of numerical examples are presented which demonstrate the nature of the solution. The deflection pattern due to creep deformations is similar to that given by the elastic solution, and the deflections increase with time in the same way as the elastic deflections do when the load is increased. The deflections approach infinite values within a finite time. The double membrane model was found to yield a very good estimate of the creep rate in comparison with more accurate multimembrane models, and the difference in the critical time did not exceed 5 % in the cases investigated. An approximate buckling criterion was conjectured and used for comparison with available experimental results. A fairly good agreement was noted.