Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Religious figures biography for destination: "CANOPUS Ancient city EGYPT".
Sts. Cyrus and John. Celebrated martyrs of the Coptic Church, surnamed thaumatourgoi
anargyroi because they healed the sick gratis (Nilles, Kallendarium utriusque
Ecclesiae, Innsbruck, 1896, I, 89). Their feast day is celebrated by the Copts
on the sixth day of Emsir, corresponding to 31 January, the day also observed
by the Greeks; on the same day they are commemorated in the Roman Martyrology,
regarding which see the observation of Cardinal Baronio (Martyrologium Romanum,
Venice, 1586). The Greeks celebrate also the finding and translation of the relics
on 28 June (see "Menologium Basil." and "Menaia"). The principal source of information
regarding the life, passion and miracles of Sts. John and Cyrus is the encomium
written by Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 638). Of the birth, parents,
and first years of the saints we know nothing. According to the Arabic "Synaxarium"
(Forget, Synax. Alexandrinum, Beirut, 1906, II, 252), compiled by Michael, Bishop
of Athrib and Malig, Cyrus and John were both Alexandrians; this, however, is
contradicted by other documents in which it is said that Cyrus was a native of
Alexandria and John of Edessa. Cyrus practised the art of medicine, and had a
work-shop (ergasterium) which was afterwards transformed into a temple dedicated
to the three boy-saints, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias. He ministered to the sick
gratis and at the same time laboured with all the ardour of an apostle of the
Faith, and won many from pagan superstition. This took place under the Emperor
Diocletian. Denounced to the prefect of the city he fled to Arabia of Egypt where
he took refuge in a town near the sea called Tzoten. There, having shaved his
head and assumed the monastic habit, he abandoned medicine and began a life of
asceticism.
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 betook himself to Jerusalem in fulfillment of
a vow, and thence passed into Egypt where he became the companion of St. Cyrus
in the ascetic life. During the persecution of Diocletian three holy virgins,
Theoctista (Theopista), fifteen years old, 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 tender age, might, in the midst
of torments, deny the Faith, resolved to go into the city to comfort them and
encourage them in undergoing martyrdom. This fact becoming known they also were
arrested and after dire torments they were all beheaded on the 31st of January.
The bodies of the two martyrs were placed in the church of St. Mark the Evangelist
where they remained up to the time of St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria (412-444).
At Menuthis (Menouthes or Menouthis) near Canopus there existed at that time a
pagan temple reputed for its oracles and cures which attracted even some simple
Christians of the vicinity. St. Cyril thought to extirpate this idolatrous cult
by establishing in that town the cultus of Sts. Cyrus and John. For this purpose
he transferred thither their relics (28 June, 414) and placed them in the church
built by his predecessor, Theophilus, in honour of the Evangelists. Before the
finding and transfer of the relics by St. Cyril it seems that the names of the
two saints were unknown; certain it is that no written records of them existed
(Migne, P.G., LXXXVII, 3508 sq.). In the fifth century, during the pontificate
of 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 the
Via Lata, cited by Antonio Bosio (Roma Sotterranea, Rome, 1634, p. 123). Mai,
however, for historical reasons, justly assigns a later date, namely 634, under
Pope Honorius and the Emperor Heraclius (Spicilegium Rom., III, V). The relics
were placed in the suburban church of St. Passera (Abbas Cyrus) on the Via Portuense.
In the time of Bosio the pictures of the two saints were still visible in this
church (Bosio, op. cit., ib.) Upon the door of the hypogeum, which still remains,
is the following inscription in marble:
Corpora sancta Cyri renitent hic atque Joannis
Quae quondam Romae dedit Alexandria magna
(Bosio, ib.; Mai, Spic. Rom., loc. cit.). 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; in the Coptic Difnar, Apakiri, Apakyri,
Apakyr; in Arabic, 'Abaqir, 'Abuqir (see Armellini, Le Chiese di Roma, Rome, 1891,
179 sq., 563 sq., 681, 945 sq.).
P.J. Balestri, ed.
Transcribed by: Paul Streby
This text is cited Oct 2005 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
Ammonius, the monk, flourished A. D. 372. He was one of the Four Great Brothers (so called from their height), disciples of Pambo, the monk of Mt. Nitria (Vitae Patrum, ii. 23). He knew the Bible by heart, and carefully studied Didymus, Origen, and the other ecclesiastical authors. In A. D. 339-341 he accompanied St. Athanasius to Rome. In A. D. 371-3, Peter II. succeeded the latter, and when he fled to Rome from his Arian persecutors, Ammonius retired from Canopus into Palestine. He witnessed the cruelties of the Saracens against the monks of Mount Sinai A. D. 377, and received intelligence of the sufferings of others near the Red Sea. On his return to Egypt, he took up his abode at Memphis, and described these distresses in a book which he wrote in Egyptian. This being found at Naucratis by a priest, named John, was by him translated into Greek, and in that form is extant, in Christi Martyrum Electi triumphi. Ammonius is said to have cut off an ear to avoid promotion to the episcopate (Socr. iv. 23; Pallad. Hist. Laus. c. 12).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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