Cyriacus of Zigana

Holy Martyr Cyriacus of Zigana was one of seven brothers, Orentius, Pharnacius, Eros, Firmus, Firminus, Cyriacus and Longinus, Roman soldiers and Christians. The Azbyka page honours them all together.

In the reign of the emperor Maximian (284-305) the Scythians fell upon the Greeks. For a single combat with the Scythian leader Marof, a man of unusual bodily strength, Saint Orentius, also a strong and brave soldier, was commanded to go out. Orentius was a Christian, like his six brothers, who also served in the imperial army. Calling the Lord to his aid, Orentius overcame Marof and so halted the Scythian invasion. The emperor intended to offer a sacrifice to the pagan gods for this victory and invited the victor, Saint Orentius, to take part. The saint refused, declared himself a Christian and said that he had defeated the enemy by the power of the true God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither the promise of honours and wealth nor threats could move him to renounce Christ. The cruel and ungrateful emperor commanded that the saint and his six brothers, Pharnacius, Eros, Firmus, Firminus, Cyriacus and Longinus, be exiled to the Caucasus.

On the way all seven brothers died. Eros died first, on 22 June, at Paremvola. Orentius then suffered, thrown into the sea with a stone tied round his neck; the archangel Raphael carried him out of the water onto dry land at Riza, on the southern shore of the Black Sea, where the martyr gave up his soul. Pharnacius died on 3 July at Cordyla; Firmus and Firminus on 7 July at Aspara, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea; Cyriacus at Zigania on 14 July; and Longinus died on board ship on 28 July. A storm drove the ship ashore at Pityus (Pitsunda), where the martyr's body was buried.

Saint Cyriacus is commemorated, together with his brothers, on 7 July, in the new style.