Saints Kyprianos and IoustinaThe second of October is the feast day of two more saints of the Antiochian Church, both of them being natives of Antioch who suffered martyrdom at Nikomēdeia in Asia Minor in the opening years of the fourth century, under the persecutions of Diocletian. These martyrs are the convert and former magician, Saint Kyprianos, and the beautiful virgin Saint Ioustina who was responsible for his conversion. Both of them are commemorated throughout the old Roman world, not just in the Orthodox Church but also in the Coptic and the Roman churches. Empress Saint Ailia Eudokia wrote the history of Saints Kyprianos and Ioustina in a beautiful poem in the mid-fifth century, which was referenced with esteem by Saint Photios the Great; however, the poem itself has been lost to history. The Metanoia (or Confession) of Saint Kyprianos still exists, and was used as a primary source by both Empress Eudokia and by Saint Gregory the Theologian, who also wrote about Kyprianos’s life.
Saint Kyprianos [Gk. Κυπριανός, Ar. Qubriyânûs قبريانوس] was born in Antioch to parents who believed in the pagan gods – and possibly in one of the syncretic mystery religions which were rife in the region throughout Late Antiquity. His parents had him dedicated as an infant to Apollo. Kyprianos, brought up thus in idolatry, had a remarkably adept mind – but he bent it upon wicked things. For the purposes of dazzling and defrauding the gullible, he began studies of astrology, fortune-telling and prestidigitation. He spent his youth in such pursuits, and also travelled widely: to the Acropolis, to Mount Olympus, Argos, Elis in Phrygia, the Ægyptian Memphis, Chaldæa and even India – all in order to study the occult arts and the secret knowledge of the magicians. In his Confession Kyprianos admits that he engaged even in orgiastic rites and sacrifices to the wicked powers, and even to the Evil One himself. In this way he accrued to himself power, prestige and reputation. By the time he returned to Antioch, he had made for himself a name as both a philosopher and a magician, and he used his powers accrued in this way in order to seduce young women.
It happened, however, that there was a certain young pagan named Aglaïdas who had been taken with a fleshly desire for a girl named Ioustina [Gk. Ιουστίνα, Ar. Yûstînâ يوستينا], who was well-born, both remarkably beautiful and desirable – and also a Christian. Her parents had been Greek pagans of Antioch as well, but they were converted by their daughter’s zealous faith in Christ. Her pagan suitor Aglaïdas approached her repeatedly, making known his own wealth and virtues and beauty and eligibility – but to no avail, for Ioustina would neither yield herself, nor be yoked unequally with an unbeliever. And so the suitor applied to Kyprianos, and urged him to use his magical arts of seduction upon the girl. Kyprianos, however, upon seeing Ioustina, was likewise smitten with her and decided he would get her for himself instead. But no matter how many incantations and oaths Kyprianos made to the powers he served, they were of no avail against one girl, who had only her faith for her armour and only the sign of the Cross as her weapon. Yet these served her well, because even the powers of the Devil melted and fled before her when she professed her faith in Christ, and made the sign of the Cross. Saint Gregory the Theologian adds to this that Ioustina practised fasting and prayer, and was given the gift of tears, and asked for the Blessed Mother of God’s protection for a virgin in the throes of danger.
Kyprianos was stunned and appalled at how ineffective were all his charms and potions and divinations and sacrifices – the fruits, so he imagined, of a lifetime of broad travel and education – against this mere girl’s simple prayers. Not being unintelligent or without a certain grace, Kyprianos began to consider that the power of Christ was greater than that of the demons and the pagan gods. But the Evil One, seeing that he stood to lose an instrument by which he had already misled many souls into their perdition, began to work upon Kyprianos’s soul, and tried to destroy him. Kyprianos called upon the God of Ioustina for aid, and the Devil could not lift a finger against him. But then the Evil One tried subtler means to work upon him, and tried to convince him that those already sworn to him, even Christ would not be able to save. And Kyprianos began to despair.
He went among the people of Antioch and began to ask about Christ. For three days he wandered the streets, going without food or sleep. But none who were Christians would answer him, because they knew his reputation for devilry, and they believed that it must be some trick of his. One priest, however, was bold enough to receive Kyprianos, having been given to know by God that the sorcerer was beginning to repent. This priest, in fact, was a fellow-pupil of Kyprianos from childhood, named Eusebios. First Eusebios, seeing Kyprianos’s hunger and weariness, bade him into his house to eat and rest. Then he put Kyprianos’s fears to rest, assuring him that – as he had already discerned – the Devil was a liar, and that it was by Christ’s grace that he had already sought him out in order to repent. Christ came to save sinners, and he would not turn away even a servant of the Devil who sincerely repented!
The following Sunday, Eusebios took Kyprianos and led him into the assembly of the Christians in Antioch, and instructed him to stand with the catechumens – to watch when they watched, to listen when they listened, and to depart when they departed. The Liturgy was held in the early hours of the morning before the dawn, for Christians then were not free to hold the Liturgy in the daylight hours. The effect upon the former wizard was dramatic, seeing the devotion of these people to a God who had died upon the Cross. He recounts that he heard a choir of angels singing to God, with voices singing their ‘Alleluia’ more sweetly than those of men. The Christians were surprised, to say the least, to see such a notorious sorcerer among them, but upon seeing Eusebios introducing him. The bishop, however was not impressed, and would not believe that Kyprianos was sincere.
The next day, Kyprianos brought his grimoires and astrological calendars and other unholy books before the bishop, and burned them. He then gave all his money and property to the poor. Once the bishop was convinced of Kyprianos’s sincerity, the former wizard joined the catechumenate formally. He went through the catechumenate, and was baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity in the fullness of time. During this time, too, Aglaïdas too was converted to Christianity, and gave all his wealth to the poor. Inspired by these two conversions, Ioustina offered herself up to be tonsured, and consecrated to perpetual virginity. Saint Gregory recounts in touching detail, the personal change that was wrought in Kyprianos’s character: he became meek, modest, serious, God-loving, and contemptuous of the same worldly pleasures and riches he had chased in his early life. He begged to be allowed, and was given leave, to become a verger in the Church, responsible for cleaning the floors and the altars, an office which he served humbly and unstintingly in for seven years. According to Saint Eudokia, Kyprianos was made a porter, and subsequently a priest. He may have been appointed a bishop in Damascus or another city in Syria. During his bishopric, so many pagans converted to Christ that their temples fell into disrepair by the time of Diocletian’s reign.
Whatever the case, Saint Kyprianos was arrested and brought before the governor at Tyre, during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. Ioustina, having joined and been made abbess of a community of virgins in Damascus, was also seized and brought before the same governor. The agent of Diocletian had both of them brutally tortured, tearing apart their flesh with scourges and iron hooks. After this they were sent to Nikomēdeia (now İzmit in Turkey), which was where the Emperor was then residing. After reading the letter that accompanied them from Tyre, Diocletian ordered that the martyrs at once be beheaded, and the sentence was carried out outside the city on the banks of the Gallus River. In this way the former wizard, and the pure-hearted young girl whose prayers to Christ saved him, together with a guard named Theoktistos who was seen talking to them en route and was sentenced to death with them, attained the glorious and incorruptible crown of martyrdom. Their relics were attained later, by Christian pilgrims from Rome who brought them back; a pious woman named Rufina had them translated into a church built in their memory. Saints Kyprianos and Ioustina now lie beneath the Basilica of Saint John in the Lateran in Rome.
In the Orthodox Church, Saint Kyprianos is still taken as a symbol of the power of repentance, even to one who willingly placed himself for so long in the clutches of the Evil One. The proud, well-educated son of Antioch, by the grace of Christ, by the prayers of Ioustina and by the belief of his friend Eusebios, made himself the lowliest servant of Christ’s Church for seven years, and thus attained to mastery of himself. Holy martyrs Kyprianos, Ioustina and Theoktistos, witnesses to the power of Christ over all the devils, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
Apolytikion to Martyrs Kyprianos and Ioustina, Tone 4:
By sharing in the ways of the Apostles,
You became a successor to their throne.
Through the practice of virtue,
You found the way to divine contemplation, O inspired one of God;
By teaching the word of truth without error,
You defended the Faith, even to the shedding of your blood.
Hieromartyr Kyprianos, entreat Christ God to save our souls.
Basilica of St John of the Lateran, Rome
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