Cyricus

Holy Martyr Cyricus was a child of Tarsus in Cilicia, the son of the holy martyr Julitta, put to death for Christ in the year 304 in the persecution of Diocletian. He is commemorated on 15 July (new style), with his mother.

His mother, Julitta of Iconium, left the city with him, then three years old, to escape the persecution, and hid at Seleucia, then at Tarsus. There she was seized and brought before the governor Alexander. While Julitta was beaten with rods, the little one wept for his mother and cried: “Let me go to my mother, I am a Christian.” According to tradition, the governor threw him down the stairs and the child gave up his soul, while his mother died by beheading. Cyricus is one of the youngest martyrs of the Church.