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THE THIRD MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day died the great Saint Cyriacus.
This holy man was born in the city of Corinth, and his parents were
Orthodox Christians, and they taught him the doctrine of the Orthodox
Church. They brought him to
Abba Peter, Bishop of the city of Corinth, and they prayed over him and
appointed him a reader; now he was the son of this father’s brother.
And he used to read the Scriptures continually, and enquire into
the meaning of phrases, and ordinances of the Law of the Church, and he
was superior to many in his learning and wisdom.
And the bishop commanded him not to abandon the reading of the
Scriptures, and Cyriacus used to read continually to the people in church
and in the bishop’s house; and the bishop rejoiced in his reading of the
Scriptures. When the days of
Cyriacus were eighteen years, his parents asked him to take unto himself a
wife, but he did not want to do this.
After this he begged his parents to allow him to depart to a
monastery, and they permitted him, and he was always going to the
monasteries and returning to his parents.
And having visited the monasteries very often [at length he wished]
to assume to holy garb of the monk. And
he departed to holy Jerusalem, and he visited Saint Abba Cyril, Bishop of
Jerusalem, and he told him his mind in respect of the life of the monk.
And Cyril said unto him, “Thou hast wrought a good work, and thou
hast loved [it]”; and he prophesied of him that he would become a great
father, and that he would fight a great fight, and that the souls of many
would shine through him. And
Abba Cyril the bishop blessed him and sent him away to the honorable
father Abba Romanus, father of the monks of Palestine.
And this father accepted him, and rejoiced in him, and he arrayed
him in the garb of the monk, and he gave him one of the old men of that
monastery to admonish him, and to teach him the Rule of the monks, and to
make him to know the artifices and crafts of Satan.
And this saint gave himself wholly to fasting, and prayer, and
bowings to the ground, and vigils, and severe labors both by night and by
day, in patient endurance, and the deepest abasement, and humility.
And God bestowed upon him the gift of healing, and he used to heal
all the sick people who came unto him; and the report of him, and of his
virtues and of his holiness was noised everywhere.
When the holy father Abba Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, went to the
holy Council of One Hundred and Fifty Bishops who were gathered together
in the city of Constantine because of Macedonius, the enemy of the Holy
Ghost, he took this holy man with him.
And Cyriacus opposed the arguments of Macedonius, the infidel, and
he vanquished him by the word (or voice) of the Holy Spirit, which dwelt
in him. And having grown old
and attained to a good age, and pleased God, he died in peace; and after
his death God made manifest great signs and miracles through his body, one
of which was the following. Now his body hath remained in one of the monasteries of the
city of Jerusalem from the time of his death until the present day, and it
hath not suffered any corruption. All
those who go to the city of Jerusalem and look upon his body, think that
he died only a few days ago, whereas he has been dead for a period of six
hundred years. Now, he lived
in the days of Theodosius the Great, and father of Arcadius and Honorius.
Salutation to Cyriacus. Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen. |
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