We have recorded ten groups of miracles; and the first three decads, which occur after their martyrdom, burial, and translation, as well as half of the fourth, reveal the power of the deeds done by Cyrus and John in Alexandria. The remainder of the fourth and the fifth decad proclaim the deeds performed in Egypt and Libya; the sixth and seventh make known the kindnesses granted to foreigners. For the entire number of the accounts of the miracles is divided into three parts: in the Alexandrians, in the Egyptians and Libyans, and in those who obtained healing from abroad. We shall speak of the cause of this division when we reach that place. We are not unaware that a soft and relaxed style is more appropriate for sacred narrations of miracles, but we, leaving this aside, have chosen an intense one, so that through it the fervent and active zeal of the saints, and their urgency in bringing cures to the sick, might be indicated. A
PRAISE OF THE HOLY CYRUS AND JOHN.
7. Let others honor the saints in other ways, celebrating their gifts in many ways, and proclaiming their kindnesses by various methods: some by the erection of high temples, some by the adornment of variegated marbles, others by the arrangement of gold-shining tesserae, others by the cheerful arts of painters, some by gifts of gold and silver, others by fabrics of silk and linen. And to speak simultaneously and absolutely, let all strive to show honor to the martyrs, as each has the means and the will; and let them desire to surpass one another in these things, demonstrating the affection they have for the saints, and receiving in return for corruptible things those that are imperishable, and for temporal things those that have no end: for such are the gifts with which inspired lovers are accustomed to reward their own. But as for us, whose discourse is more precious than earthly materials, inasmuch as it is poured out not from a material tongue alone, but also from the spirit—yet even this, because it flows away and dissolves, is often neglected—let us honor the saints with this: with which I am certain the martyrs most of all rejoice, as they who served as preachers of the Word of God, though it has nothing worthy of their festival, and is very much lacking in the grace of these; asking that this [grace] also be given to us in the opening of our mouth, and that it be kindly received as appropriate, offered to them by us, who have nothing worthy of their solemnity, being as we are entirely destitute of the gifts of their grace. B C D
A Praise is a debt; and for its payment we make yet another loan, invoking their own assistance, so that they themselves may be both the givers and the receivers, and may sanctify us who speak. Praise is therefore truly a debt, and an admirable debt: a debt paid, yet one that does not free the debtor from the obligation; a debt completed, and yet one that is always still owed; a debt rendered, which nonetheless takes on the increment of addition; a debt that is always offered, yet does not diminish the substance of the one who offers it; a debt always provided, which multiplies the goods of those who give with a willing mind; a debt always presented, which makes the one who presents it worthy of blessing. Nor is this debt so old that it engenders interest for the martyrs—though they refuse to exact interest, having become guardians of the divine commandments, and wishing these B not to pass away after this present life. But if they do not wish to exact interest from their debtors, imitating their own King, they both receive the grateful and rebuke the ungrateful. For so it was that He Himself, having granted purification to those ten lepers, welcomed and praised the one who returned and confessed grace, even though he was a foreigner, and testified that gratitude is fitting for those who receive benefits. But the others, as ungrateful—for they were Jews—He rightly rebuked; for they had just then weakened their eyes, which the Savior called the lamp of the whole body; for he who is deprived of these truly endures the deprivation of light.
9. And hearing from the physicians that this infirmity brings about blindness—some calling this malady an effusion, others platycoria, that is, a wide pupil, though the end of both is blindness and the loss of the eyes—we hastened to these holy benefactors, Cyrus and John, C suspending all our hope of sight upon the grace divinely given to them, and rejecting human aid as weak and powerless against the affliction. But they, accepting our faith (for, according to the divine Apostle, he who approaches must first believe), quickly provided a healing of the disease; and concerning future things, they assured us that we would suffer nothing of what the Asclepiads said we would suffer, banishing our Homeric blindness through visions and enigmas, as was pleasing to them, and manifesting clearly that all things are possible to the one who believes, and that things impossible to men are possible to the Lord.
10. Let the martyrs, therefore, be celebrated by our humility, and let them become an occasion of joy to those who listen; for the ranks of the faithful D exult, seeing Cyrus being praised, and the multitude of those who live piously rejoices, having learned the eulogy of John. The beginning of our discourse is from the evangelical and Dominical words, which were spoken previously to the apostles, but are appropriate to be offered to the martyrs Cyrus and John, and to those who have been like them since. "You are truly the light of the world, and the salt of the earth," O thrice-blessed: a light that does not fail, and salt that does not
lose its savor, a light that is not extinguished and salt that is not cast out, an unsleeping light and untrodden salt, a light always beheld and salt always consumed, a light most sweet to all and salt desirable to all; without which even the word of grace is barren and bread becomes inedible; a light bestowing the knowledge of God and salt working the love of godliness, a light set for the dissolution of darkness and salt as a seasoning for things that have lost their savor, a light illuminating things unillumined and salt giving flavor to things lacking savor, a light reproving things out of place and salt binding together things that are lax. B O pair of saints, through whom the Divinity is wondered at! For God is truly wonderful in His saints. O pair of martyrs, through whom the world is brightened! O pair of righteous ones, through whom life is renewed! O pair of holy ones, through whom the faith is strengthened! O pair of blessed ones, through whom the pious are magnified! O pair of zealots, through whom error is mown down! O pair of potentates, through whom the devil is broken! O pair of soldiers, through whom demons are chastised! O pair of pious ones, through whom idols are drowned! Hail, O truly sacred pair, who are present with the Lord and grant to mortals better things; hail, O honorable pair, who remain in heaven and do not desert the earth; hail, O holy pair, who lead the choir with angels and watch over men. Truly you do worthily hear the Savior praising you and proclaiming with a loud voice and saying: "You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth,"—a light illumined by the true Light, and salt seasoned by Him who is truly the salt, C illuminating those who believe with pureness, and seasoning abundantly those who praise you.
11. But how should we not wonder at the connection of this indissoluble duality? Or how should we not glorify the glorious union of this strange conjugation? For we see things mingled that had been unmingled, and things mutually agreeable that had been incompatible with one another, and things tempered that had been intemperate, and things complex that had been uncomplex, and things pacified that had been warring, and things made friendly that had been contrary; they became one by composition, though they could with difficulty become one. For the one, namely Cyrus, was a monk; but the other, John, happened to be a soldier. D The one sought the desert, but the other pursued the cities. The one strove to keep peace with all, according to Him who said: "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men"; but the other embraced the war which is fought against men; the one scattered his own goods to the poor, but the other plundered not his own goods by tyranny; the one led a philosophical life, but the other followed a judicial order; the one had a heavenly conversation, but the other held a terrestrial constitution; the one stretched forth his hands in entreaties, but the other for bows and arrows and spear and sword; the one healed men who had suffered, but the other wounded the strong; and, to express it in a word, the one was being ordered toward the heavenly King, but the other was armed toward the earthly king. What then is the work of this wonderful pair
A union? Or who is it that removed the difference and gathered them into harmony? Who is it that framed their true conjunction? Is it not clearly Christ our God, Who does great and wonderful things, glorious and unsearchable, Who broke down the middle wall of partition and bound both into one, Who joined the things below to the things above, and brought the earthly into contact with the heavenly? Who led back the wandering sheep and joined them to those who had not wandered, and fashioned one fold out of all? He who made the earth accessible to angels and the heaven to men.
12. Let us also, having tuned the lyre along with the Psalmist prophet, seeing the divine conjunction of Cyrus and John, say: truly "This is the change of the right hand of the Most High," B by which the foolish become wise, and the most wise are made foolish; by which fishermen are fished for, and tax collectors are collected, and robbers suffer robbery and persecution. "This is the change of the right hand of the Most High," by which the blind receive their sight, and those who see become blind; by which blasphemers bless, and the unlearned teach; by which the uneducated are held in admiration, and those who boast in words are deservedly mocked; by which the illiterate speak with eloquence, and the rhetoricians speak like rustics. "This is the change of the right hand of the Most High," by which the rich become poor and the needy become rich; by which the strong have become weak, and the weak are girded with strength C (by which satiety hungers, and hunger is satisfied). "This is the change of the right hand of the Most High," by which the barren becomes a mother of many children, and the mother of many becomes childless; by which the powerful are cast down from their thrones, and the poor and needy are raised up from the dung-hill; by which mountains and hills are humbled, and deep valleys are filled; by which crooked things are made straight, and rough ways are smoothed. "This is therefore the change of the right hand of the Most High," by which the wolf feeds with the lamb, and the leopard and the bull and the calf graze together with the lion and are pastured by a small child; by which the bear and the cow and the lion eat straw, and with them children D gather in peace; by which little children put their hands without fear over the hole of asps and the den of their brood; for the serpents have no power to destroy or harm them. "This, then, truly stands as the change of the right hand of the Most High," which led both Cyrus and John into harmony, and settled them in one dwelling, and adorned them with one contest before the end, and glorified them with one glory after the end, and honored the victors with one crown; for having completed the course apostolically and kept the faith, He deemed them worthy of the crowns that are laid up for such as these.
A 43. But neither did these blessed men previously struggle against one another in their ways of life, nor did they have opposing manners of living, even if Cyrus were clothed in the habit of a monk and John in the garb of a soldier; and the one was clad in sheep’s clothing, while the other was clad in a wolf’s skin. For both were holy, both good, both truthful, both without blemish, both just, both worshippers of God, both full of simplicity, law, and discipline or instruction, just as their end and the graces given to them by God bore and testified. For their habit did not distinguish them as much as their unity of faith brought them together, nor did their calling separate them as much as their piety united them; nor did their trades provide as much distance between them as their hope bestowed communion upon them. For those who hold to the same faith will also become similar in their ways; and those who practice one piety always perform good deeds; and those who look to the same hope employ the same endeavors.
B 44. Whence Christ, the God of all and Lord and Ruler of the universe, who knows all things before they come into being, who searches hearts and reins, and with unsleeping eyes observes the hidden things of men, brought these martyrs to one glory and bestowed one honor upon both. For He is a judge without respect of persons, and He has just weights, and He knows how to weigh justice in the balance, awarding to each one his own reward according to his own labor. Whence, knowing the equal honor of Cyrus and John in virtue, He also granted them one tomb in the venerable temple of the divine Mark; and from there, through the evangelical man Cyril—that champion of piety and herald—He transferred these martyrs, who were equal in character to the evangelists, from the temples of the evangelists and established them as neighbors to the apostles. For He did not deem it right to separate them from the evangelists or the apostles, because difference in virtue did not introduce any separation among them.
C 45. But these things were done many years later, when Theodosius the Younger was emperor and the great Cyril was governing the see of Alexandria; for previously, God and Father had already taken pity on the human race, which was perishing through the seduction of demons and was miserably wallowing in the mud of the earth and walking in the darkness of the mind, and serving the creature more than the Creator. D And having given through the Son a law for their aid, the law thus provided—through the commandment, or rather, having been weakened by human inclination toward the passions, and being unable to save those for whose sake it had been given even through angels and brought by the hand of a mediator, namely Moses—He once again, after the law and the Lawgiver Christ who was made of a woman, made under the law, sent Him who had sprung forth by nature from His paternal essence, and through whom He made all things, who sits forever with Him and rules over the non-eternal creature along with Him. And when now the Lord Christ Himself had completed the dispensation toward us, and against the enemy...
and had safely brought back the sheep that was formerly lost, and had carried it on His own shoulders and offered it to the Father, rejoicing over it more than over the ninety-nine that had not suffered loss; and when now He had renewed for us the ascent into heaven, and had opened the entrance into paradise, and had granted the resurrection from the tomb; and when now He had dispensed salvation in the midst of the earth, and had made firm the sea which was tossed, and had crushed the heads of the dragons B that were in it, and had drawn out that multi-headed dragon with a hook; and when now He had uncovered the deceptive artifice of the devil and his face, and had driven into the folds the hidden things of the breastplate, and had granted us to tread upon serpents and scorpions and all their power; and when now again Christ had placed a muzzle upon the nose of the dragon, and had fastened a ring to his nostrils, and had pierced his lips with a ring, and had taken him—the apostate and fugitive—and had made him a servant, and had handed him over to us, bound like a sparrow for the people who are as little children in Christ; C and when now he who was the light-bringer that rose in the morning had fallen, and had been cast out of his dwelling in the heavens, and had been ordered to dwell in the abyss; and when now at last the preaching of the apostles had illuminated the inhabited world, and the net of the fishermen had caught the world, and with the shoemaker’s awl He had cut away the senseless error, and was announcing the holy Gospel everywhere, and all flesh was seeing the salvation of God; and when now the kingdom of God had been taken D from the Jews and given to the nations—which offer to God who gave it the fruit in its proper time—and He had as guards and laborers in the Lord's vineyard those who came at the eleventh hour; and the seed that had fallen into good ground was growing with good increase, and was yielding the fruit of an hundred, sixty, or thirty fold, to God who sowed it; and all men were selling all their possessions, and in exchange for all things were receiving the precious pearl; and the birds of the air were dwelling upon the branches of the tiny mustard seed.
16. Again the dragon, the crooked one, having had his head crushed by the cross, was shaking his tail; and by this he thought to terrify those who live piously. Again the nocturnal sower, having become darkness from a light-bearer, desired to sow his own tares in the darkness. Again the celestial birds wished to devour the seed which, from the good sower, had fallen by the wayside. Again he who tempts those who are Christ’s, who was himself tempted and conquered, was longing to tempt; again the dragon who seduced Eve with his hissing, and made Adam contrary to God, who killed Abel as a righteous one, and made Cain a fratricide, who made the ancient people lovers of the flesh and brought it about that they should perish through water, who brought about the curse upon Ham, and among those in Canaan established the division of tongues, who increased idolatry among men, and from God—
A the creator—separated them. He who showed Israel to be ungrateful and Pharaoh to be hard-hearted and untamable, causing the one to perish in the wilderness, the other in the merciless waves of the sea. He who made the Jews disobedient to the Law and the prophets, and subjected them to the abominations of the nations. He who persuaded the Hebrews to envy Christ, and to crucify him who had come to save them. He who incited them to denounce his resurrection, and to persecute and kill the heralds of this reality.
17. B Not content with all this, he later warred against Cyrus and John, the martyrs who shone brightly in the time of persecutions and were soldiers of Christ. But the wretch was overcome, kicking against the goads, and engaging in battle with the invincible. For although he brandished a flashing sword, these noble men fixed it into his own heart; and he stretched a soul-destroying bow, but they, swifter than the discharge of arrows, shattered it together with the arms that had bent it. He dug a pit, but he dug it for himself and not for his opponents—that is, for the martyrs. Finally, worn out by these encounters and unable to fight any longer, he handed them over to those who were then seen to honor his commands, so that, being scourged by their bloodthirsty hands and unable to bear the violence of the torments, they might offer sacrifices and libations to him, and proclaim him god along with the other demons; or, if they would not do these things, they should suffer the loss of the present life. C But the wretch, in doing this, was ignorant that while he was procuring for the saints a better life and crowns that have no end, he was securing for himself death, a greater defeat, and a blow filled with confusion.
18. For those who were of God were being seized by the ungodly—Diocletian reigning over the Roman empire, Syrianus governing the city of the Alexandrians, and Cassius performing the priesthood of the pagan madness at Canopus. After the noble struggle of Peter, the divine and pious shepherd in Alexandria (for a double war broke out from them: one against the cruel men who used whips cruelly, and another against the dragon who incited them—for they were caught not only by the killers, for such a struggle would have been lighter for them and would not have had much concern, but D a choir of holy virgins was also held with them; for they were three, and the mother who had piously and modestly brought them forth, having purified souls and bodies, and betrothed both to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom. The names of these, as they say, were as follows: Theoctiste was the first-born, being in her fifteenth year of age; the one after her was called Theodote, passing her thirteenth year; and the one born after both of them was named Eudoxia, for she was in her eleventh year. And they called Athanasia the very root who brought forth this maidenly three-branch tree and nourished these most pure ears of corn). These, in Canopus—
A prior to this, had dwelt while yet conversing on the earth and running the stadium of virginity together; but now they inhabit heaven itself together with the martyrs, since they also struggled together with the martyrs who contended for piety.
19. Moreover, it came about by the providence of Christ the Bridegroom that, by the persevering resistance of the athletes, the weaker women might be sharpened, and that together with the groomsmen, the brides might likewise enter into the heavenly bridal chamber. The will of the Bridegroom is fulfilled, and together with the groomsmen, he admits the brides also into the heavenly chambers. B Observe here, I pray you, the concern of the martyrs, and contemplate their solicitude for others at such a time. For the saints were not agonizing only for themselves, but were fearing no less for those women than for themselves, lest by their own pusillanimity they should also become causes of impiety for them. For I ask you, to how many things do you suppose their mind was divided at that time? Against how many unseen thoughts do you think they were struggling then? Or to how many suggestions of the envious and good-hating demon do you believe they were then being entangled? For the devil was perhaps suggesting to them the present life, and describing the C God-created shape of the world as if it were his own—that is, to see the sweet sun rising, and to see the moon beautifying the sky with the stars, and to have the breath of mild breezes, and to tread upon the highly variegated earth, to sail the wide sea, and to delight in springs and rivers, to rejoice in the flowers and meadows of the earth, and to pluck and enjoy the fruits from these; to delight in the products of the sea, and to be sated with fruits produced from the rivers; to be nourished by birds running through the air, and to partake of edible living things.
20. And these things indeed the devil was perhaps suggesting, and frequently, even before the present struggles, he was strong in them—for the shameless one keeps watch for the departure from life, for perhaps the divine oracle hinted at this through the heel D—as long as we live here, he does not cease from his own temptations, and always, upon approaching, he is put to shame. But the champions of this one and the servants of his malice were Syrianus, that god-cursed man, and those who with him were serving the imperial commands in a wickedly Hellenizing manner. They were advocating a respite from torments and a soul-destroying release from the threatened deaths, and were promising wealth, and swearing to bestow dignities, and announcing that they would enroll them among the leaders of cities, and affirming that they would make them known to Caesar Diocletian, if they would be persuaded by their commands and would worship with them—or rather, by acting impiously, would pay worship to the forms of shameless idols and demons, and rather, would offer adoration to wretched men, and call senseless and inanimate wood gods, which are only useful for the sustenance of fire; for with fire they...
A are surrendered, and they drag their makers along with them. And these things indeed, and more than these, they said.
21. But the martyrs, always mindful of the words of the Savior, and always meditating on the words of his disciples, repelled the assaults of their adversaries with these. For we, they said, O judge, reject your promises and gifts, and those of him who speaks and commands through you, as harmful and not beneficial. B "For what shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Or what will possessions profit in the day of wrath? Or what shall one give as his propitiation, or the price of the redemption of his soul? For the foolish and the stupid will perish together; and they will leave their wealth to others; for their glory will not descend with them into Hades, but their grave shall become their eternal house. And the heaven, as something created, shall pass away, and it shall be changed like a garment waxing old; for as it has a temporal composition, it will also receive a temporal dissolution, when God, who stretched it out like a skin, shall command; and the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, when he who set him over the powers of the day, and her over the powers of the night, shall so decree. But the stars shall fall from the ethereal vault like leaves from a fig tree, when God, who set them for signs and seasons, shall will it. And the earth and all things in it, which received its constitution from water and through water by the word of God, will cease when God wills it—who did not make it in vain, but for the habitation of men. "For the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with heat, and the earth and the works C therein shall be burned up: but we wait for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises." "For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." Always pondering these things, and having them in our mind, and believing that we shall have our own lot, we strive to be found unspotted and blameless before God; for which reason we do not fear your tortures, and we do not dread your threats; for we have learned not to fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; and we loathe your promises as separating us from God and joining us to demons; for Christ, the Lord of all, has bestowed upon us better promises, having kept for us an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven, and "which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for them that love him." We do not wish to become friends of a D terrestrial king, being a chosen race, and a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for a possession. We do not deem it worthy to be honored by the high offices among you, being children of God, and
A having dignities according to the measure of faith. We do not aspire to be enrolled among the princes of your cities, for we are citizens of heaven, and we believe that we are inscribed in the book of life; whence we also dare to say, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ," who has brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light; who for our sake became poor, that we might be enriched by His divinity; who died for us, that we might avoid death and corruption? Is there tribulation [for Him] who liberated human nature from tribulation? Is there distress [for Him] who guides us through a narrow path into His uncircumscribed kingdom? Is there persecution [for Him] who suffered persecution for our sake, and conquered those who persecute, and granted to us, who endure persecution for His sake, the kingdom of heaven? Is there famine [for Him] who hungered for our salvation, and who, when we were starving and not even possessing the food of swine to be filled with, satisfied us with immortal food? Is there danger [for Him] who snatched us out of dangers? Is there a sword [for Him] who was sacrificed for us and delivered us from the soul-destroying sword? B "We are persuaded, therefore, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," because of the excellence of His knowledge and the overflowing wealth of His merciful goodness; and because "The sufferings of the present time," and the fleeting relief of the present, "are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us."
22. C The judges, having perceived this purpose of the saints, and admiring their disposition, and thinking it altogether impossible to persuade them with words unless they also tested them with unbearable punishments—judging that they had virtue in their speeches but not fortitude in their deeds—inflicted more cruel torments upon them, seeking to accomplish two things: for they thought to bring the holy ones thus to their chosen worship of idols, and to drag along the women who had struggled and contended with them by the fears of what had been done. But the deceitful one did not achieve the capture, according to what is written; for as Christ clothed both with power from on high, the various nets of the judges were torn D and the souls of the saints were delivered like a sparrow from the snare; for just as the ocean waves breaking against rocks are dissolved and appear as nothing more than light foam, so also the executioners, attacking Cyrus and John savagely and cruelly, and bringing against them every kind of torture, as if not attacking
with any conflict, remained ineffectual, repulsed by their stability which was in Christ; or as enemies bringing siege engines against towers that cannot be devastated only wear themselves out and devastate themselves, and returning, having gained nothing from the undertaking; so too the executioners, applying lashes, wore themselves out with the labor, while they made those who received them stronger, and were frustrated in the intention of what they desired. A Whence those brides of the Savior, clothed with insuperable constancy, and armed against every assault of the enemy, and having wrestled courageously in the theater of faith against their opponents, remained unyielding and unconquerable to those inflicting punishments, not so much concerned about the whips as those who were scourging were suffering, fatigued by their toils. For the hope of heavenly things, and the immovable and strong perseverance of those who had suffered before, showed them to be stronger (nay, it even extinguished the pains of the blows).
B 23. But for a long time when the judges had contended C against the martyrs, they were overcome, and ceased from the torments, and let go the whips, and cast away the strigils, and became the authors of the victorious crowns for them, bringing death upon them by the sword, when the day was the sixth of the month which is called Mechir among the Egyptians, and the thirty-first of that which is called January among the Romans: when also the martyrs, friends of Christ, having suffered martyrdom for Christ, underwent the beheading of their heads. Thus, the faithful people, taking up the holy martyrs having so suffered, and having attained the triumphal diadems and the prizes of the heavenly and divine calling, singing a triumphal song, conveyed them to the basilica of Mark, who both rooted the faith in them, and through this opened the stadium of contests, and became the beginning of the imperishable crowns they had received: rightly joining the disciples to the master, and presenting those who had contended to the judge of the contest, and leading the sheep to the shepherd, and bringing to the husbandman the ear of corn full of fruit, and to the general the invincible phalanx of combatants. And he, rejoicing, received the saints as his own children, and glad as if at diligent imitators, he took them into his arms (and exulting offered them to God), saying in a clear voice: "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me." D Among whom the crowd of the faithful placed the bodies of the martyrs, not burying the lambs and the ewe-lambs together, nor hiding the brides of Christ and the paranymphs in the earth at the same time, but storing both in separate tombs; for they had been instructed to separate tribe by tribe and the women apart from them; wherefore here too they hastened to observe the precept. And the contests, and the courses, and the contests [of wrestling], and the victories of the saints, and, in addition to these, the imperishable crowns, and their deposit in the most holy temple of Mark, were in such a way, to speak briefly, finished and had an illustrious end.
A 24. Let us also speak of the translation from thence to here, and the reason for which the translation took place. After many days had passed, that we might also do something in the Mosaic manner, and grant this to the martyrs—for they will receive us in their own eulogies as "Mosaicizers" rather than "Platonizers"—after the destruction of those tyrants and the perishing of those who punished the saints, and the abolition of the detestable worship of idols, and the ruin of the temples and altars established for them; after the passing of the blessed Constantine, who first as a Christian strengthened the scepters of the Romans, and of his sons; after the migration of Jovian, Valentinian, and Gratian to a better life; after the departure of Theodosius the Great and his descendants to their rest on high; while Theodosius the Younger was administering the empire, and divine Cyril was shepherding the rational sheep of Christ here, and with a loud-sounding trumpet was preaching the wisdom of piety, a certain dark demon, an Egyptian named Menuthis, appeared, inhabiting the castle named after him, feigning a female form, and by this displaying his own weakness and, compared to those who are male in spirit, B not in virtue, his feebleness. He did not flee the abyss’s chain, but was left for a time by the permission of God for our security, that we might always remember, by observing his wicked works, from what tribulations Christ God has freed us. This dark demon, being Egyptian, was of female mind and form, after the deafness of Loxias and the tripod, and the ineffable silence of the oak at Dodona, and the unending silence of the Castalian spring, and the voiceless fall—if one may call it that—of the Rhodian bull, and the extinction of all the Hellenic oracles, and the unending burning of Asclepius, and the complete and incurable disaster of the physicians associated with him. He made an effort to demonstrate his ability to prophesy and to heal diseases, or rather, to speak falsely and to cause diseases through phantasms. For how could he who is a liar from the beginning, who speaks a lie from his own, and in the truth does not stand at all, assert the truth? Or how could he who did not preserve his own principate which he once had, but was cast out as if a dead and abominable thing, and swarms with worms and has corruption as his bed, who has fallen every fall, C and is sick with a great infirmity, "for as we may say prophetically, they grew weak and fell" (Ps. XXVII, 2), and is surrounded by the incurable necrosis of every good, offer vigor to others? Or how could he provide remedies to certain languishing people, he who is not able to help himself? For what someone has, whether obtained by nature or received from another and kept undiminished, perhaps he could extend the sharing of it to others; but he who has nothing, how will he be able to give to others?
25. And these things being so, this demon that had been received led many astray with his deceptions, and invited them to his altar in the hope of health or
the receiving of prophecy, persuading not only the unbelieving and all those obedient to his commands, but A even the faithful and those who bear the marks of Christ. For great is the evil that draws the guileless towards itself, and perhaps even him who fixedly inclines toward better things, if he should not acquire God as the guardian of his own inclination. Moreover, the children of this city, having much simplicity and being known rather for this simplicity, are easily moved from better things to worse, and are lightly corrupted by harmful things, and are with difficulty raised up again from their lapses, not having a many-eyed mind B or one that is well-sighted. Whence also Paul, seeing such Galatians, says, "I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him who called you into the grace of Christ." And after much teaching and most wise exhortation, he rightly testified to their senselessness. Seeing the Hebrews also still in need of milk, and having the senses of the soul untrained for the discernment of good and evil, he rightly called them weak and infants. But to the Corinthians, who had been caught putting their wisdom to the test, he said, "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and chastity that is in Christ." Wisdom also says that the mind which is without malice is easily transformed, and for this reason it promises to give subtilty to the simple, and to young men and children, wisdom, perception, and understanding.
26. But that illustrious Cyril, the good shepherd and disciple and follower of Christ the good shepherd, always burning with the heat of the day, and being congealed by the frost of the night, and C warding off and turning away sleep from his eyes, that with wakeful vision and a vigilant mind he might guard the sheep, so that they might not be stolen, sacrificed, and lost, nor become victims of beasts; for in this way he perceived the destroyer and wild beast Nestorius, both thief and wolf at once, and pursued him from the fold, and drove him from the flock ineffectually, guarding the sheep unharmed. Cyril, I say, who was the successor to his uncle Theophilus both in his prelacy and in his zeal, gazing upon the deception of the demon and beholding the injury to the faithful, became a servant to the Savior, and supplicated that the evil might cease, and that the demon's phantasms be destroyed, and a perfect knowledge of the truth be offered to the people, and D the love of divine knowledge itself. And God, having more quickly accepted the prayers of His servant, both granted the desire of his heart and fulfilled the petitions poured out for His faithful ones. "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer; for He will indeed fulfill the desire of them that fear Him, and will hear their supplication; for He is near to all who call upon Him in truth." And He broke the activity of the demon, but cured the infirmity of the people; for for the sake of one righteous man God grants a thousand sinners, and often to a people on account of one who prays piously; for thus He also granted the city to Lot in its entirety, having wondered at him and his face upon his petition; and to Moses Israel.
A sinning many times did He grant; thus also to Cyril, being a just man, and a servant of God like Lot and Moses, He granted the whole city and the whole people.
27. And indeed, as he was sleeping by night after prayer, He made known to him through an angel what was to be done, commanding Cyril to transfer the memorable martyr Cyrus from the temple of the illustrious Mark to the shrine of the Holy Evangelists, which Theophilus, who had previously held the episcopate there, had built in that very village of Menouthis, in which the idol had also been set up and the demon was frequenting. Cyril the marvelous, having received this oracle through an angel, ran to the holy Mark; and having uncovered the venerable casket of Cyrus, he found within, along with him, the thrice-blessed John; and wisely reasoning that the God-spoken command had indicated both of them by the mention of one, on account of the concord of both and their unanimity, and that it was not fitting to separate in death those whom neither custom, nor place, nor tomb, nor time, nor passion had dissolved, he took both of them and transferred them to the aforementioned sacred temple of the Evangelists, leaping together and exulting, imitating the blessed David B who danced before the ark of the Lord similarly. Whence also, in accordance with the Melodist himself, having attuned his spiritual and divinely inspired lyre with melodies, he praised the two martyrs, publishing the delight that was in him, and becoming an image and example to the pious of the joy concerning the saints; in such a way that those who now read these things, both recognize his love, and pass over to his own disposition; for they rejoice immediately and exult like Cyril, and celebrate Christ with hymns, and crown the martyrs with praises.
28. For it is truly to be wondered at, the all-powerful nature of the Savior C and the all-resourceful nature of His providence, how He did not rain down brimstone and fire from heaven and strike that pestilential demon with lightning, as of old Sodom and Gomorrah, who disparaged nature and insulted the Creator as if He had not arranged the things concerning us well; nor did He judge that the earth should open and swallow up the unclean one, as once the proud gathering of Dathan and Abiron; nor did He hail down stones like rain upon the unholy one, as [against] a nation that once withstood Israel; nor did He command the abominable statue of the foul one to fall and be crushed into pieces, as D of old He pulverized Bel and Dagon; but He quelled his boldness through bodies dead and resting in a tomb, and put to shame the arrogance of those boasting in him—wishing, as I suppose, to show to those who are wise and of sound understanding, how great is the power of His own martyrs even after death, and how great is the weakness of the gods of the Gentiles, and how easily they who boast of being called gods are overcome by the immovable, dead, and non-breathing bodies of the saints.
A When the saints arrived here and became fellow-dwellers with the evangelists, first, by the very act of their arrival into this sacred shrine, they immediately put the demon to flight, driving it from the land into Tartarus, and, exulting in triumph over its flight, they showed the house to be deserted by its inhabitant. The second work performed by them was the despoiling, that is to say, the devastation, of the properties that belonged to the demon; for his properties were men, along with women who sat at the altar, deceived by vain hopes and deluded by a bitter phantasy. These, the martyrs, having first bound the strong man in flight according to the divine word, as one dead, despoiled them as if they were some kind of booty. B Afterward, they mercifully bestowed life upon them, leading them to the fount of life and granting them the knowledge of God, Whom they did not know and thus were dead; and they granted them the true light, for which, not seeing it, they were in darkness. For in this way they save and capture what is snatched away from them by the enemy, just as their Lord and Master, having seized the world, captured it. Third, the martyrs performed no less than the deeds we have already mentioned; for that abominable temple of the demon, in which the deceiver worked his false phantasies, and in which there was an altar ever sodden with blood, and where that small statue of female form stood, they buried under the maritime sand, and just like the patriarch Jacob, they hid it under the earth, so as to bring about oblivion and a beneficial ignorance among those who came after, concerning its detestable and soul-destroying structure. C Fourth, joined to the preceding was the destruction of the profane construction itself, which was the namesake of the demon and an execrable dwelling for its abominable sacrifices; for the sand and the sea, by the nod of the martyrs, divided it, and one part of it is buried under the sands, while the other fluctuates amid the marine currents. Fifth, there was performed by the martyrs what is even now most gloriously performed, and by the grace of God must be performed perpetually, and shall not be completed before the consummation of all things; which all men know who know the martyrs and enjoy their grace, as many as have seen the temple and have greeted their much-longed-for tomb. D There is also a wonder in the temple of the saints, standing miraculously and striking everyone with admiration: for it is not built upon a high or firm bank, and it occupies the middle space between the sand and the waves, receiving the onset of both, and as a mediator, it calms the conflict. To the east, indeed, it has the roaring sea and the sand raging to lay it waste; and to the west, that ridge of sand which like an enemy attacks the waves and presses into the moist earth. But neither does it allow the water to mingle with the sand, nor the sand to be mixed with the waters, but standing as a limit to both, it stretches out its own foundation as a curb to them. It rises to a great height and connects its roof to the ether; whence it is desirable for those who sail; for appearing from many stadia away, it receives those sailing to Alexandria, and when they appear from the open sea, it brings them delight.
signaling that what is desired is near; and for those sailing away from it, it sends them forth, remaining visible for a great distance and provisioning them with saving gifts.
A 30. Furthermore, who is capable of numbering the wonders wrought from this time forward by the saints, or of recounting them with an audacious tongue, or uttering them with a loquacious mouth? No man is, nor would he be even if anyone had ten tongues and as many mouths, and possessed a bronze soul and a voice of iron; but God alone, who both bestowed upon them such strength and from eternity predestined what things were to be performed by them for his glory; who numbers the multitudes of the stars and calls them all by name; who measures the water with his hand, the heavens with his span, and all the earth with his fist; by whom even the drops of rain are numbered, the particles of dew measured, and the grains of sand known beforehand. Through Him they cleanse lepers, make the lame walk with sound feet, heal the infirm, grant sight to the blind, cast out demons, and raise the dead—especially those who suffer the death of the soul—and they offer to all men freely the gifts that were freely given to them. These, being many and infinite, increasing with each passing day and hour, and not admitting the balance of number, cannot be told; for those that come before are always covered by those that follow, and these in turn are veiled by those that succeed them, buried in oblivion, overshadowed by silence, and suffering a certain maritime and envious fate. For just as waves here, when they rise and grow, are seen and beheld and provide delight to those who see and behold them, but then, having advanced and yielding to those that follow, are immediately delivered to the stream of oblivion, and flow into oblivion before they flow into the waters, and are hidden in silence before they are hidden by the subsequent waves; so too the miracles of the holy martyrs Cyrus and John, successively welling up and overflowing in abundance, cover with silence what came before, and are themselves veiled by the arrival of the subsequent visions.
C 31. But even if these things are so many and so great, let us attempt to relate a few of them; for even these will contribute to the tribute of praise, having a truth that shines forth beforehand. For the things about to be told are indeed few, seventy in number, when compared to an immeasurable multitude, just as a few countable drops are when compared to an incomprehensible sea. In this we do not limit the grace of the saints—heaven forbid—nor do we abbreviate the benefits wrought upon us ourselves (may we not be so maddened as to depart from what is proper), but we set these forth as proof of their praises and as an immovable foundation of their commendation. Therefore, we also place them as a portion of our praises, providing them as a solid roof for our discourse, so that it may not drip from the unbridled darts of the infidels, and so that we might through these same things stop the mouths of those who are obsessed with idols. For this reason, we shall neither mention the miracles of the ancients, nor...
the narrative of things that happened long ago, lest by providing the aid of time, we block the path and allow the God-hating to set them aside. Rather, let us write of the things that have happened in our own times, some of which we have seen ourselves, and some of which we have heard from others who saw them. Moreover, most of those who suffered—or rather, who were healed—are still left in this life of ours; they see this sun, make use of the things present, and bear witness to the truth for us, recounting these things with their own mouths for the glory of God and the honor of the saints. Some have indeed set out to the Lord and been released from the affairs of this world, yet they too, having announced to many what had happened concerning them, left behind for us truthful witnesses of what shall be said, namely those who had seen and heard them. B 52. But even if we had wished to apply ourselves to an investigation of the ancients and to recount some things about them in writing, the pagans would not have been able to accuse us of telling falsehoods, for they themselves are clearly refuted by these very things and by what is always being done by the saints. For the sight of what is done at all times, and the narrative of what has happened recently, would lend unshakable faith to the ancients as well, and they would fence in the truth for us and exclude, for the abominable idolaters, any disbelief in what is said. Therefore, leaving the veneration of the old to the ancients—which shone forth in their own times and gladdened and honored those who were then present—let us speak of things recently done and those that have poured down upon our own times like rain, and let us grace those things that are eternal and older in time with our own words. For Christ, who effects both these and those through the saints, and who will again bestow future things upon us, is not divided. And our own are these marvelous martyrs who performed them, and they are also the faithful who were honored by the miracles of the martyrs at that time, so that the cursed might not again say that we, through a lack of new miracles, go about recounting old ones. For the unholy and shameless are fierce in their intent to overshadow the truth and, in its place, to put forward falsehood, and to work to make falsehood seem true among the senseless, and to make the truth seem to be lying, even though they themselves are caught and destroyed by the downpours of the miracles that are always occurring. For no one of mankind is unacquainted, as I believe, with the sacred power of Cyrus and John, which God and Savior of all, Jesus Christ, granted them against every disease whatsoever, for the boasting and security of the faithful, and for the edification and stability of the [catholic] Church. 53. But all those who were not present in the body know, as if they were present and seeing, all who inhabit this earthly region; for the sound concerning them has indeed gone out into all the earth, and the words concerning them have reached the ends of the inhabited world. For we are not to understand this exclamation of the Psalmist as applying only to the apostles, but also to all
those who have emulated their immortal imitation. A Whence also we, before this, just like all those who dwell at a great distance from their temple, were mere listeners to the grace of them; but now we have become witnesses of the truth of what we heard, having approached them on account of an ailment of the eyes, as has been said before. And we ourselves received health, and we watched others harvesting these healings. But just as the holy prophet, having tuned the sacred lyre, as we have heard—so we have also seen—cries out to the old Jerusalem in his songs, let us say to the martyrs: "We heard a few things about you with our ears, those whom we now have seen with our eyes; and previously we were sprinkled with small drops of dew, by which the clouds, imitating the tongues, rained down from the sea of your healings." And having become eyewitnesses of this sea, and having swum in its very streams, we shall cry out to you, who are the fountains of this sea, with Job: "By the hearing of the ear we heard of you before, but now we have seen you with our eyes." Therefore, what we have seen with our eyes while present, and what we have heard with our ears, these things we shall also write, and we shall pass them on to those who are distant in body, and to those who are to be after us. "Come and see the works of the Lord, what wonders he has set upon the earth," as we say together with the prophet David; and let us stir up the faithful people and gather them for the hearing of the wonders performed divinely through Cyrus and John. Come therefore, come, let us again, having clothed ourselves with the prayers of the saints as an aid, set our hand to the narrative of the miracles, making truth in all things our ally and the witness of what is said. B C
*Explicit praise of the holy martyrs Cyrus and John; and after the praise, the beginning of the Miracles.*
*Of the Author.*
Who composed these? Sophronius. Say from where he was created? From Phoenicia. From which part? From Libanostephanus. And what city? Damascus was his home. Do his parents still live? Death snatched them away. Tell me the name of both. Myro was the name of the mother, and Plynthas was heard to be the father. Did he obtain a dear marriage and offspring? He was without either marriage or children, living a celibate life. Where on earth did he live, and in whose house was he a monk? In the land that nurtured God, and in the mountains of Jerusalem, in the great monastery of the great Theodosius. And to whom did he dedicate this wondrous hymn he composed? To Cyrus and John, D the most noble martyrs. And why did he undertake such a great labor for his mind? Because they were indeed the remedy for his ailing eyes.
*Of Sophronius the Iatrosophist.* To Cyrus, who excels all in the medical art,