Cyriacus the Executioner

Holy Martyr Cyriacus the Executioner was the executioner who beheaded Saint Antiochus of Sebaste and, brought to faith by what he saw, himself died for Christ.

Antiochus, the brother of Saint Plato, came from Sebaste in Cappadocia and was a physician: he went from city to city and village to village, healing the sick not only in body but also in soul. Arrested by the governor Hadrian, he was put through a series of torments: hung on a tree with his ribs torn, left in the fire, thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil and given to wild beasts. By God's grace he came out unharmed from all of them, and by his prayer the idols were shattered. In the end he was beheaded.

Cyriacus the executioner then saw milk, not blood, flowing from the saint's neck. Moved, he boldly confessed Christ and was beheaded on the spot. The two are commemorated together on 16 July (new style).