Cyrus and John

Saints Cyrus and John (Italian: Ciro e Giovanni, Arabic: اباكير ويوحنا‎) (d. ca. 304 AD, or 311) are venerated as martyrs. They are especially venerated by the Coptic Church and surnamed Wonderworking Unmercenaries (thaumatourgoi anargyroi) because they are supposed to have healed the sick free of charge.

Their feast day is celebrated by the Copts on the sixth day of Tobi, corresponding to 31 January, the day also observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church (see January 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)); on the same day they are commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrate also the finding and translation of their relics on 28 June.

Life and historicity

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", 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.