Cyrus and John

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Saint Cyrus" redirects here. For the village in Aberdeenshire, see St Cyrus.
Roman Catholic Church
Major shrineSaint Barbara Church in Coptic Cairo
Feast31 January [O.S. February 13]
28 June [
monastic habit, John is wearing court robes. They may be shown holding martyrs' crosses or medicine boxes and medicine spoons which terminate in crosses
PatronageVico Equense

Saints Cyrus and John (

Unmercenaries
(thaumatourgoi anargyroi) because they healed the sick free of charge.

Their

relics on 28 June.[3]

Life and historicity

The principal source of information regarding the life, passion and miracles of Sts. John and Cyrus is the

Edessa.[3]

Cyrus

Cyrus practised the art of

monastic habit, he abandoned medicine and began a life of asceticism.[3]

John

John belonged to the army, in which he held a high rank; the "Synaxarium" cited above adds that he was one of the familiars of the emperor. Hearing of the virtues and wonders of Cyrus, he went to Jerusalem in fulfillment of a vow, and thence passed to Alexandria and then to Arabia where he became the companion of St. Cyrus in the ascetic life.[4]

Martyrdom of Cyrus and John

Miniature from the Menologion of Basil II

During the

persecution of Diocletian three holy virgins, fifteen-year-old Theoctista (Theopista), Theodota (Theodora), thirteen years old, and Theodossia (Theodoxia), eleven years old, together with their mother Athanasia, were arrested at Canopus and brought to Alexandria. Cyrus and John, fearing lest these girls, on account of their youth, might, in the midst of torments, deny the Faith, resolved to go into the city to comfort them and encourage them in undergoing martyrdom.[4] This fact becoming known they too were arrested and after dire torments they were all beheaded on 31 January.[3]

Veneration

The bodies of the two martyrs were placed in the church of St. Mark the Evangelist in Alexandria.

At the time of

relics (28 June, 414) and placed them in the church built by his predecessor, Theophilus, in honour of the Four Evangelists
.

Before the finding and transfer of the relics by St. Cyril it seems that the names of the two saints were unknown; it is certain that no written records of them were known prior to then.[5] In the fifth century, during the pontificate of Pope Innocent I, their relics were brought to Rome by two monks, Grimaldus and Arnulfus—this according to a manuscript in the archives of the deaconry of Santa Maria in Via Lata, cited by Antonio Bosio.[6]

Cardinal

Via Portuense. In the time of Bosio the pictures of the two saints were still visible in this church.[6] Upon the door of the hypogeum
, which still remains, is the following inscription in marble:

Corpora sancta Cyri renitent hic atque Joannis
Quæ quondam Romæ dedit Alexandria magna[3]

Their tomb became a shrine and place of pilgrimage. In Coptic Cyrus' name became Difnar, Apakiri, Apakyri, Apakyr; in Arabic, 'Abaqir, 'Abuqir. The city of Abu Qir, now a suburb of Alexandria, was named after him.

At Rome three churches were dedicated to these martyrs, Abbas Cyrus de Militiis, Abbas Cyrus de Valeriis, and Abbas Cyrus ad Elephantum — all of which were transformed afterwards by the vulgar pronunciation into S. Passera, a corruption of Abbas Cyrus.[3]

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, Cyrus and John are among the saints who are commemorated during the Liturgy of Preparation in the Divine Liturgy.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Orthodox Holiness :: Around the Church Year With St John". Orthodox England. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  2. ^ a b William Taylor Hosteter Jr. "St. Cyrus". Institut za onkologiju Vojvodine. Archived from the original on 2010-04-25. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  3. ^
    The Catholic Encyclopedia
    , Volume IV (Robert Appleton Company, New York)
  4. ^ a b c "Wonderworker and Unmercenary Cyrus", Orthodox Church in America
  5. Patrologia Graecae
    , LXXXVII, 3508 sq.
  6. ^ a b Antonio Bosio, Roma Sotterranea, Rome, 1634, p. 123

External links

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