Sophronius of Jerusalem, in his Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John (54), recounts how *Kyros and Ioannes/Cyrus and John (physician and soldier, martyrs of Egypt, S00406) delivered a young boy from Damascus, Isidoros, from demonic possession, at their sanctuary at Menouthis (near Alexandria, Lower Egypt). Written in Greek in Alexandria, 610/615.
E07762
Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles
Sophronius of Jerusalem, The Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John, 54
Summary:
In Damascus lived a noble man Dionysios from a famous family. Among his ancestors was Nikolaos, teacher of Herod, as well as of the children of Antony and Cleopatra.
Dionysios had a son Isidoros. Once a malicious demon entered the boy when he was still very little and was having his bath. Isidoros fell to the ground. Those who were taking care of the boy took him outside, because it is indoors which is most subject to demonic aggression. They thought that what happened to the boy was only a minor disease which often occurs in the baths, and not that it was a demonic attack. But the boy was not well also outside of the bath, so they realised at last that the true cause of his misery was of demonic origin.
When Isidoros’ parents learnt what happened, they were despondent. They endeavoured to cure him in every possible way by taking him to various reputed physicians. None of them, however, was able to cure the child, so the parents too realised that their son was possessed by a demon and not just sick. So they went to visit the sanctuary of the martyrs Cyrus and John.
The martyrs appeared to the mother in a dream and ordered that she anoint her son’s entire body with pig’s fat, because they also intended to heal the soul of this woman. Since she, whose name was Ioulia, inclined towards pagan beliefs and refrained from eating pork because of the death of Adonis, although nobody knew why she did so and actually nobody was sure that she truly did it. Nevertheless, the disease of her son made her execute the saints’ order. The demon could not bear the ointment and immediately fled, since casting out demons was a customary practice for Cyrus and John. From this moment onward, Isidoros was untouchable by demons, and his mother, she probably benefited from the miracle too, if she was indeed of erroneous belief.
Text: Fernández Marcos 1976, lightly modified in the light of Gascou 2007
Summary: J. Doroszewska
Martyr shrine (martyrion, bet sāhedwātā, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityIncubation
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Children
Demons
Source
Sophronius (c. 560-c. 637) was born to a Chalcedonian family in Damascus, and was probably familiar with both Greek and Syriac culture. He was educated as a teacher of rhetoric, but in c. 580 became an ascetic while in Egypt, and entered the monastery of St. Theodosios near Bethlehem. He travelled widely to monastic centres in Egypt, the Near East, Aegean, and North Africa, accompanying his friend, the monk and writer John Moschus, who dedicated to him his treatise on the religious life, the Spiritual Meadow (Leimon pneumatikos). In 633-634, Sophronius travelled to Alexandria and to Constantinople in order to persuade the patriarchs to renounce Monoenergism. In 634, he was elected patriarch of Jerusalem. He is venerated as a saint in the catholic and orthodox churches; in the Byzantine rite he shares with John Moschus a feast day on 11 March. He died in Jerusalem in about 637.His extant doctrinal writings include a Letter to Arcadius of Cyprus and the Synodical Letter against Monenergism. Other works have also been preserved, such as an encomium on the Alexandrian martyrs Cyrus and John (in gratitude for healing his vision), The Miracles of the Saints Cyrus and John, a collection of 23 Anacreontic poems, and several patriarchal sermons on such themes as the Muslim siege of Jerusalem and on various liturgical celebrations.
The Miracles of the Saints Cyrus and John comprise 70 stories; this number, as explained by the author in the Preface to the Encomium on the saints Cyrus and John, consists either of 7 decades or 10 heptades, both of which refer to biblical and pagan (Pythagorean) arithmetic, where 7 is a mystic number and 10 is a perfect number. References to the number 7 and its multiple (14) recurs in the work several times (Miracles 5, 15, 23, 39, 43; Gascou 2006: 11 with notes). The significance of other numbers has also been noted: for the number 3, see Fernández Marcos 1975: 42, n. 15; for the number 67 (Miracle 1), see Nissen 1939: 377, n. 2.
All 70 stories concern miraculous healings performed by the two martyrs, considered saints of the first rank by Sophronius (Miracle 29), in their sanctuary at Menouthis, near Alexandria. The first 35 miracles concern Alexandrians, the next 15 Egyptians and Libyans, mostly of the Alexandrian region, and the last 20 foreigners of whom some were settled in Alexandria. Sophronius wanted to flatter in this way the self-esteem of the Alexandrians who were the possessors of the saints' relics. He also argued that the miracles of Alexandria were particularly credible, since they delivered plenty of verifiable facts. For the same reason, the miracles selected by him were limited to those of his own times and concerned persons who were still alive and could testify to the events. Sophronius seems also to have had at his disposal earlier and parallel collections. A powerful feature of the miracle stories is a disdain for secular doctors, but not medicine per se, who are seen as ineffective in comparison to the power of the saintly healing of Cyrus and John. The collection is also notable for Sophronius’ polemic against Miaphysites, who evidently attended the shrine.
The most recent edition of Sophronius' text is Fernandez Marcos 1976, but Gascou in his translation of 2007 includes several textual emendations which we have followed when they occur.
Discussion
Nikolaos, teacher of Herod was a historian of the Augustan age, Nikolaos of Damascus, author of a Universal History (Gascou 2007: 188, n. 1135 with references).Pork fat here played the role of an absorber of demons, as in the famous episode with demons entering the Gadarene swine in the New Testament (Mk 5, 11-17; Mt 8, 30-32; Lk 8, 32-33) (Gascou 2007: 189, n. 147).
According to the Greek myth, Adonis was slain by boars; in the ancient East, the cult of Adonis had a connection with pigs, and its followers (like the boy's mother in this story) presumably did not sacrifice pigs or eat pork, (Simoons 1994: 32 with references). Interestingly, Plutarch (Moralia 671b) provides an explanation of the Jews' abstention from pork by postulating that the Jewish God's name is Adonis and he is identified with the Greek Adonis who was slain by boars.
Bibliography
Text:Fernández Marcos, N., Los thaumata de Sofronio. Contribución al estudio de la "Incubatio" cristiana, Manuales y anejos de "Emérita" 31 (Madrid, 1975), 243-400.
Translation:
Sophrone de Jérusalem, Miracles des saints Cyr et Jean (BHGI 477-479), trans. and comm. J. Gascou (Paris, 2006).
Collections grecques de Miracles, sainte Thècle, saints Côme et Damien, saints Cyr et Jean (extraits), saint Georges, trans. and comm. A.-J. Festugière (Paris, 1971).
Sophrone de Jérusalem, Récit des miracles des saints Cyr et Jean, trans. and comm. D. Peltier (Paris, 1978, unpublished).
Further reading:
Déroche, V., "Représentations de l'Eucharistie dans la haute époque byzantine", Mélanges Gilbert Dagron, Travaux et Mémoires 14 (2002), 167-180.
Duffy, J., “Observations on Sophronius' Miracles of Cyrus and John,” Journal of Theological Studies, 35 (1984), 71-90.
Duffy, J., “The Miracles of Cyrus and John, new old Readings from Manuscript,” Illinois Classical Studies, 12 (1987), 169-177.
Gascou, J., "Recherches de topographie alexandrine: le Grand Tétrapyle," Ktema 27 (2002), 337-343.
Gascou, J., “Religion et identité communautaire à Alexandrie à la fin de l'époque byzantine, d'après les Miracles des saints Cyr et Jean,” in J.-Y. Empereur, C. Décobert (eds.), Alexandrie médiévale, 3 (Cairo, 2008), 69-88.
Gascou, J., Les origines du culte des saints Cyr et Jean, electronic version at https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00009140/document
Le Coz, R., “Les Pères de l'Eglise grecque et la médecine,” Le Bulletin de Littérature Ecclésiastique 98 (1997), 137-154.
Maraval, P., “Fonction pédagogique de la littérature hagiographique d'un lieu de pèlerinage: l'exemple des Miracles de Cyr et Jean,” in Hagiographie, culture et sociétés (IVe-XIIe siècles), Actes du Colloque organisé à Nanterre et à Paris (2-5 mai 1979), Paris 1981, p. 383-397.
Nissen, Th., “Sophronios-Studien III, Medizin und Magie bei Sophronios,” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 39 (1939), 349–81.
Papaconstantinou, A., Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides. L'apport des inscriptions et des papyrus grecs et coptes (Paris, 2001).
Sansterre, J.-M., "Apparitions et miracles à Ménouthis: de l'incubation païenne à l'incubation chrétienne," in E. Dierkens (ed.), Apparitions et miracles (Bruxelles: Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 1991), 69-83.
Schönborn, Ch., Sophrone de Jérusalem. Vie monastique et confession dogmatique (Paris, 1972).
Simoons, F., Eat not this flesh: Food Avoidances from Prehistory to the Present (Madison, WI 1994).
Wipszycka, E., “Les confréries dans la vie religieuse de l'Egypte chrétienne,” in her Études sur le christianisme dans l'Égypte de l'antiquité tardive (Roma, 1996), 257-278.
Julia Doroszewska
04/09/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00406 | Kyros and Ioannes/Cyrus and John, physician and soldier, martyrs of Egypt | Κῦρος καὶ Ἰωάννης | Certain |
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