Theoctista of Canopus

Holy Martyr Theoctista of Canopus was one of the three daughters of Athanasia, remembered together with the holy unmercenaries Cyrus and John, who suffered in the year 311, in the persecution of Diocletian.

Saint Cyrus was a famous physician in Alexandria, where he had been born and brought up. A Christian, he healed the sick without payment, not only of bodily ills but also of the ills of the soul that cause the bodily ones. Preaching the Gospel, he brought many pagans to Christ. In the persecution of Diocletian (284-305) he withdrew into the Arabian desert, where he became a monk and went on healing people by prayer, having received from God the gift of curing every disease.

In Edessa there lived at that time the soldier John, a devout Christian. When the persecution began he came to Jerusalem and, hearing there of Saint Cyrus, sought him, going to Alexandria and then to Arabia. Finding him, he attached himself to him with all his soul and became his faithful follower. Learning that in Egypt, in the city of Canopus, the Christian woman Athanasia had been seized with her three young daughters, Theoctista aged fifteen, Theodotia thirteen and Eudoxia eleven, Cyrus and John hastened to help them, fearing that fear of torments might make them deny Christ. They visited them in prison and strengthened them for the struggle awaiting them. Learning of this, the governor of the city seized Cyrus and John and, seeing their firm and fearless confession, put them to terrible tortures before the eyes of Athanasia and her daughters. The confessors bore all the torments just as steadfastly and were beheaded with the sword. After them, in the same place, the holy unmercenaries Cyrus and John were put to death (311). Their bodies were buried by Christians in the church of the holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark.

In the fifth century the relics of Saints Cyrus and John were moved from Canopus to Menouthis. Later they were taken to Rome, and from there to Munich. The holy women are commemorated on 13 February.