Cyril of Rome

Holy Martyr Cyril of Rome was one of the clergy of Pope Stephen of Rome, put to death in the persecution of Valerian, in the year 257. The Azbyka page mentions Cyril only in the list of the clergy.

Pope Stephen, who held the throne of the primate of Rome from 253 to 257, struggled zealously against the heresy of Novatus, who taught that those who turned from heretics should not be received. Hiding during the persecution, he baptized many pagans, among them the military tribune Nemesius, converted after the saint healed his daughter Lucilla. Nemesius, ordained deacon, and his daughter were put to the sword. Their steward Symphronius, brought by the tribune Olympius to the temple of Mars for torture, melted a golden idol by prayer, after which the tribune, with his wife Exuperia and son Theodulus, believed and were baptized. All were burned, and their remains were buried by the holy Pope Stephen.

Then his clergy were beheaded as well: Bonus, Faustus, Maurus, Primitivus, Calumniosus, John, Exuperantius, Cyril, Theodore, Basil, Castellus, Honoratus and Tertullinus, who had been converted by Saint Stephen. At last Saint Stephen himself was brought before the emperor Valerian, who condemned him to be beheaded in the temple of Mars. But at the saint's prayers most of the temple collapsed and the soldiers fled. The hierarch hid in the catacombs, in the burial place of Saint Lucina, where he was killed by soldiers who came while he was teaching the Christians.

Saint Cyril is commemorated on 15 August, in the new style. His name is not in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.