Cyricus (, , Mar Quriaqos Sahada; also Cyriacus, Quiriac, Quiricus, Cyr), and his mother, Julitta (, , Yulitha; also Julietta) are venerated as early Christian martyrs. According to tradition, they were put to death at Tarsus in AD 304.
Cyricus
Some evidence exists for an otherwise unknown child-martyr named Cyricus at Antioch. It is believed that the legends about Cyricus and Julitta refer to him. There are places named after Cyricus in Europe and the Middle East, but without the name Julitta attached. Cyricus is the Saint-Cyr found in many French toponyms, as well as in several named San Quirico in Italy. The cult of these saints was strong in France after Amator, Bishop of Auxerre, brought relics back from Antioch in the 4th century. It is said that Constantine I discovered their relics originally and built a monastery near Constantinople, and a church not far off from Jerusalem. In the 6th century the Acts of Cyricus and Julitta were rejected in a list of apocryphal documents by the Decretum Gelasianum, called as such since the list was erroneously attributed to Pope Gelasius I.
History
According to one version of their martyrdom, Julitta and her three-year-old son Cyricus had fled to Tarsus and were identified as Christians. Julitta was tortured and Cyricus, being held by the governor of Tarsus, scratched the governor's face and was killed by being thrown down some stairs. Julitta did not weep but celebrated the fact that her son had earned the crown of martyrdom. In anger, the governor then decreed that Julitta's sides should be ripped apart with hooks, and then she was beheaded. Her body, along with that of Cyricus, was flung outside the city, on the heap of bodies belonging to criminals, but two maids rescued the corpses of the mother and child and buried them in a nearby field. This version is recorded in a letter from Theodore of Mopsuestia to Pope Zosimus and in the Acta Graece Sincera.
An alternative version of the story is found in Latin, Syriac, and Arabic. In this version, Julitta is captured without Cyricus and brought before the governor. She refuses to sacrifice to idols and tells him to find a child, so that they can ask him if he thinks it is right to worship one god or many. Cyricus is found and he declares himself to be a Christian. The governor inflicts many tortures on them, all of which they miraculously survive. Satan enters Julitta's heart, causing her to be afraid of death, but Cyricus emboldens her with encouragement and prayers. The mother and child are finally decapitated.
Cyricus and Charlemagne
A story from Nevers states that one night Charlemagne dreamed he was saved from being killed by a wild boar during a hunt. He was saved by the appearance of a nude child, who had promised to save the Emperor from death if he would give him clothes to cover his nakedness.
The bishop of Nevers interpreted this dream to mean that he wanted the Emperor to repair the roof of the Cathédrale Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte de Nevers.
Veneration
Croatia
In Croatia, in the Town of Visnjan, there is a 17th-century loggia and the church of Saint Cyricus (Kirik) and Julitta (Julita).
Georgia
Cyricus (Kvirike) and Julitta (Ivlita) are venerated as patron saints of the Kala community in the highland province of Svaneti. While the saints were relatively unknown in the rest of Georgia, the Svan mountaineers held them in high esteem. The 11th-century Lagurka church, located at 2200 metres above sea and known for its wall paintings, is the scene of an all-Svan festival and pilgrimage, kvirikoba ("the day of Cyricus"), held annually on July 28. In the words of the historian Ekvtime Taqaishvili, for the Svans Lagurka is what for the ancient Greeks was Delphi—the symbol of their unity.