TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS OF SAINTS CYRUS AND JOHN - Dr Augustin Sokolovski

On July 11, the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Saints Cyrus and John. This celebration of the saints is associated with the transfer of their relics, which took place in the summer of 412.

Cyrus and John are among the few holy martyrs venerated as miracle-working unmercenaries. In the terminology of the Orthodox Church, literally borrowed from the Greek language, they are also called the Holy Anargyroi. Today, they would probably be called volunteer doctors. These saints are invoked during the Orthodox sacrament of anointing, during the blessing of water, and in prayers for healing.

The saints suffered for Christ at the beginning of the 4th century, most likely in 311, during the persecution of Diocletian, which was also cruelly continued by his successors. According to one version of their biography, Cyrus was a high-ranking physician in Alexandria who led an ascetic life, and John, a former Roman soldier, was his medical assistant.

Their martyrdom was not motivated by medicine, but by compassion. Learning that four Christian women, whom they knew personally, had been arrested in Alexandria, Cyrus and John went to Alexandria to strengthen them in the faith. There they were detained, tortured, and executed. This is an exceptional case of physicians dying for their patients.

The beginning of the widespread veneration of Saints Cyrus and John was the decision of Saint Cyril of Alexandria to recover their relics. Cyril is one of the greatest and most important Fathers of the Church. He was Archbishop of Alexandria from 412 to 444. Like his predecessors, Cyril fought with great zeal against paganism, which was still exceptionally strong in Egypt.

The relics of the saints were transferred from Canopus, today the Egyptian Aboukir in honor of Saint Cyrus to Menouthis, whose ruins now lie at the bottom of the sea. It was an Egyptian sacred city where pagans fanatically worshipped the deity Isis, seeking healings and miracles. The transfer of the relics of Cyr and John was intended to put an end to this cult, which finally occurred later.

Cyril of Alexandria dedicated three of his sermons to them. Another Church Father, Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem (560-638), was cured of an eye disease through their prayers. In gratitude, he collected accounts of seventy major healings he knew of that had occurred at the shrine of their relics.

This chronicle of Saint Sophronius became a sort of farewell apotheosis. The Arab conquest of Egypt was fast approaching, dashing the global significance of the Alexandrian sanctuary of the Holy Anargyroi. As was the case with other great saints, Saint Nicholas, Saint Augustine, and Saint Cyril himself, their relics were transferred to Christian countries, where their veneration acquired new renown.