E07070: Sophronius of Jerusalem, in his Miracles of the Saints Cyrus and John, recounts how *Kyros and Ioannes/Cyrus and John (physician and soldier, martyrs of Egypt, S00406) healed a certain Martyria from a stomach disease at their shrine at Menouthis (near Alexandria, Lower Egypt). Written in Greek in Alexandria, 610/615.
Creators: name: Julia
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2018
Subjects: History

description: Sophronius of Jerusalem, The Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John, 21<br><br>There was a certain Martyria who was very seriously ill. Her illness, however, was not natural, but it was caused by malicious powers and malignant persons; yet it is unknown precisely, if there were some poisons, or demonic operations in action. The woman terribly suffered in her intestines and used to say with moans that she felt as if they were devoured and torn apart. She did not say anything else to those who asked her about the cause of her pains. The physicians could not find neither the cause, nor the remedy for the disease. <br><br>Ὃ μαθόντες οἱ τῷ γυναίῳ προσήκοντες, θᾶττον αὐτὴν πρὸς Κῦρον καὶ Ἰωάννην τοὺς μάρτυρας ἄγουσιν, οὐκ ἀγνοηταὶ τῆς θείας αὐτῶν ὄντες δυνάμεως, δι’ ἧς τὰς ἰάσεις τοῖς προσιοῦσιν ὀρέγουσιν καὶ δρῶσιν ἔργα θαυμάσια, ἃ μηδὲ λόγος δύναται διηγήσασθαι μηδὲ νοῆσαι σαφῶς ἀνθρώπων ἰσχύει διάνοια, πάντας εὐεργετοῦντες καὶ σώζοντες, καὶ κινδύνων ἀλλεπαλλήλων λυτρούμενοι· ὡς διὰ τοῦτο δωρηθέντες τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οἱ ἅγιοι, καὶ δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ δώρημα τέλειον Θεοῦ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ὑπάρχοντες, καὶ μιμούμενοι τὸ τοῦ δωρησαμένου φιλάνθρωπον, καὶ σπεύδοντες ἄξιον μᾶλλον τοῦ δεδωκότος χαρίζεσθαι, ἤπερ ποιεῖν αὐτοῦ τὸ δῶρον ἀνόνητον.<br><br>'The woman's relatives, having realised this, quickly take her to the martyrs Cyrus and John, being aware of their divine power, through which they give healing to those who approach them and perform miraculous deeds which neither can be recounted by words, nor aptly understood by the human mind; they are benefactors to all, they heal all and relieve them from multiform dangers. Since this is what the saints were given for to humans. They are a gift of good and a perfect present from the merciful God for the human kind; they imitate the mercy of the one who sent them and care to give their grace in the manner worth of the one who gives [=God].'<br><br>The martyrs thus made the woman fall asleep and prepared her to see a vision. Those who appeared to her in the vision were the same who sent it. So she saw men of radiant appearance, in monastic garments, who looked at her gently. They asked her why she cried so loudly and disturb those who, being ill as well, were sleeping around her. She responded that she suffered from pain in her intestines. <br><br>Καὶ τοῦτο φήσαντες, τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ γυναίου κρατοῦσιν ἀμφότεροι· καὶ τὸ στόμα διανοίξαντες, ὁ τῶν δύο πρεσβύτερος (Κῦρος οὗτος ἦν ὁ θεσπέσιος) τούτῳ τρὶς ἐνεφύσησεν· καὶ τοῦτο ποιήσαντες, αὐτοὶ μέν, φησίν, ἀνεχώρησαν.<br><br>'Having said this, they both caught the woman's head and opened her mouth. The elder one (that is the divine Kyros) blew in it thrice. When they did it, they withdraw.'<br><br>The woman woke up from the dream and from the vision. She was somewhat better but felt an urgent need to go the latrine. She sat there and released from her stomach a very long worm (skolex) which was devouring her intestines from inside. Thus the martyrs commanded the worm to exit in the form of excrement. Maria was entirely delivered from the pains and sang hymns for the martyrs.<br><br>Text: Fernández Marcos 1976, lightly modified in the light of Gascou 2007. Summary: J. Doroszewska.