ON SS. CYRIAENA AND JULIANA, MARTYRS AT TARSUS AND RHOSUS,
PERHAPS UNDER GALERIUS, IN THE YEAR 305.
CommentaryCyriaena, martyr at Tarsus. (S.)
Juliana, martyr at Tarsus. (S.)
FROM MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINTED BOOKS.
Two heroines meet us today, whose crown the Roman Martyrology announces in these words: At Tarsus, of Saints Cyrena and Juliana, under the emperor Maximian. Mention of the same is made by Arthur in his Gynaeceum, and by Galesini and Castellano in their martyrologies. The same are celebrated by the Menologion of Sirleto, by the metrical ephemerides of the Greeks, and by the Menologion of the emperor Basil. She whom others call Cyrena or Cyrænia, the Menologion of Basil names Cyriaena, and by that name we shall henceforth indicate the blessed woman. In the notes of our predecessors I find it written against these women that it was once doubted whether they were truly martyrs, though no reason for the doubt is added. Was it because the title of martyr is passed over in silence in the Roman Martyrology? But they are set forth in the form of announcement customary for martyrs, with the emperor's name added, which is usual in the notices of martyrs. Moreover the Greeks, from whom the knowledge of these saints has come to us, celebrate the martyrdom of both; and therefore there is no reason why we should disturb the sacred laurel of the blessed women.
[2] We cannot fix the time of the martyrdom very exactly, since apart from the emperor's name we have nothing that could lead those investigating to the year of the triumph. Perhaps it will not be out of place, with Baronius Eccl. Annals, at the year 305, no. 15., to assign the glorious contest of Cyriaena and Juliana to the year 305, so that they may be judged to have won the palm under the most savage governor Alexander, in the persecution of Galerius Maximian, in the fourth year of the persecution: at that time Galerius Maximian held the quindecennial celebrations of his rule as Caesar, and on that occasion harassed the Christians most grievously. See Pagi, annotation at the year 305, no. 15.
[3] We shall give a brief history of the martyrdom of both from the Basilian Menologion, of whose text we use two copies, one the printed one, the other the Milan one from the manuscript codex D. 74. sup. of the Ambrosian Library, which we copied there in the year 1880, the most distinguished Ceriani, doctor of the Ambrosiana and prefect of the library, having pointed it out. Cyriaena and Juliana, sprung from different cities, at length consummated their martyrdom together in one city. Of these, Cyriaena is read to have been born at Tarsus in Cilicia, and Juliana at Rhædestus, or Rhosus, where at length both were given over to the flames. Here a great difference comes between the printed text of the Basilian Menologion and the Milan one. For the latter calls the city that was the martyrs' arena Rhosus, the former Rhædestus. Of each city Baudrand writes thus in his Geographical Lexicon: Redestum, which is also Bisanthe in Ptolemy, and Rædestum (but in Selden's manuscript Ῥέδεστον), Rodosto in Sophianus and others, a city of Thrace on the Propontis, episcopal under the archbishop of Heraclea, between Myriophitum, 35 miles away, and Heraclea, 30 miles. But Rhosus, Rhosium in Polyaenus, Rhosos in Pliny, Rhossos in Ptolemy, commonly El Ros, is a maritime city of Syria on the Gulf of Issus on the border of Cilicia, between Myriandrus to the north and Seleucia to the south, more than 20 miles, not far from Mount Casius, formerly episcopal under the patriarchate of Antioch. We therefore believe that Cyriaena and Juliana suffered not at Rhædestus, as the printed text writes, but at Rhosus, as the Milan text has it. For Rhædestus is in Thrace, Rhosus in Cilicia. And it can by no means be believed that Cyriaena was taken from Tarsus in Cilicia by a long journey to the Thracian city of Rhædestus. It could indeed happen that one and the same city is named by a double name, but I have nowhere found this written. It therefore seems we should hold that Cyriaena began the course of her martyrdom at Tarsus in Cilicia, but completed it at Rhosus, together with Juliana, a citizen of that city. These things said, we append each text of the Menologion, on which we shall set as a finishing crown the verses of the Metrical Martyrology.
4. Menologion of Basil At 1 Nov.:
Ἄθλησις τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων γυναικῶν Κυριαίνης καὶ Ἰουλιανῆς. Κυριαίνη ἡ μάρτυς ὑπῆρχεν ἐπὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐκ πόλεως Ταρσοῦ τῆς Κιλικίας· ἥτις ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡγεμόνος τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως κρατηθεῖσα καὶ πολλὰ ἀναγκασθεῖσα ἀρνήσασθαι τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ θῦσαι τοῖς εἰδώλοις καὶ μὴ πεισθεῖσα, ξυρίζεται τὴν κεφαλὴν σὺν ταῖς ὀφρύσι, καὶ πιττάκιον ὕβρεων γέμον περιτίθεται ἐν τῷ μετώπῳ· ὄνῳ τε ἐπιβιβασθεῖσα μετὰ ναρθηκίων ὑπὸ σχολητῶν * παίδων ἐτύπτετο· καὶ ὑπὸ μίμων καὶ ἀτάκτων στρατιωτῶν τὴν Ταρσὸν πόλιν γυμνὴ περιήγετο. Εὐξαμένη δὲ μὴ ὁρᾶσθαι γυμνὴ, ὑπὸ θείας χάριτος ἐσκεπάσθη, καὶ οὐκ ἐβλέπετο τοῖς εἰδωλολάτραις. Μετὰ δὲ τὸ οὕτως τιμωρηθῆναι, ἀχθεῖσα ἐν πόλει Ῥαιδεστῷ, μετὰ ἑτέρας γυναικὸς χριστιανῆς, Ἰουλιανῆς καλουμένης καὶ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως ὑπαρχούσης, πυρὶ παρεδόθη. Καὶ ἀμφότεραι ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ δοξάζουσαι τὸν Θεὸν καὶ εὐχαριστοῦσαι αὐτῷ τὰς μακαρίας αὐτῶν ἀφῆκαν ψυχάς.
Cyriaena the martyr lived under the emperor Maximian, a native of the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. When she had been seized by the governor of that same city and was being compelled in various ways to deny Christ and to offer incense to the idols, and could not be swayed, her head was shaved together with her eyebrows, a placard full of insults was fastened on her face, and, set on an ass, she was struck with rods by schoolboys; then mimes and insolent soldiers led her around the city of Tarsus naked. But she prayed that she might not be seen naked, and she was covered by divine grace and was not seen by the idolaters. After these torments she was taken away to the city of Rhædestus, and together with another Christian woman, Juliana by name, a native of the same city, she was given over to the fires. Both of them, praising God in the furnace and giving him thanks, breathed out their blessed souls.
Milan codex D. 74. sup. Page 40 verso:
Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἁγίας μάρτυρος Κυριαίνης. Αὕτη ἦν ἐπὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκ πόλεως Ταρσοῦ τῆς Κιλικίας. Ἥτις ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐκεῖσε ἡγεμόνος κρατηθεῖσα καὶ πολλὰ ἀναγκασθεῖσα τὸν Χριστὸν ἀρνήσασθαι καὶ εἰδώλοις προσκυνῆσαι, οὐκ ἐπείσθη· διὸ ξυρίζεται τὴν κεφαλὴν σὺν ταῖς ὀφρύαις· καὶ πιττάκιον ὑβρέογραφον μετὰ μηλῶν ἑπτὰ προσδεσμοῦσιν αὐτῆς τῷ μενόπῳ · ὄνῳ τε ἐπικαθίσαντες * καὶ ναρθηκι ὑπὸ σχολιτῶν παίδων τύπτοντες, οὕτως ὑπὸ μίμων καὶ ἀτάκτων στρατιωτῶν τὴν Ταρσὸν πόλιν γυμνὴν· περιῆγον τετράκις. Εὐξαμένης δὲ αὐτῆς ὥστε μὴ ὁρᾶσθαι γυμνὴν, ὑπὸ θείας χάριτος ἐσκεπάσθη τὸ σῶμα· καὶ οὐχ ὁρᾶτο γυμνὴ τοῖς εἰδωλολάτραις. Ὅθεν ἀπαχθεῖσα ἐν τῇ πόλει Ῥοσῷ μετὰ γυναικὸς χριστιανῆς Ἰουλιανῆς λεγομένης, ἐκ τῆς πόλεωσ Ῥοσοῦ, πυρὶ παραδίδοται.
On the same day, of the holy martyr Cyriaena. She was a native of Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, in the reign of the emperor Maximian. Seized by the one who governed there, and much constrained to deny Christ and to venerate idols, she did not obey. Therefore her head is shaved with her eyebrows, and they bind to her forehead a placard inscribed with insults, with seven apples; and having set her on an ass, beating her with a rod at the hands of schoolboys, with mimes and insolent soldiers acting thus, they led her around the city of Tarsus naked four times. But she prayed that she might not be seen naked, and by divine grace she was covered in her body and was not seen naked by the idolaters. Thence she was taken away, and in the city of Rhosus, with a Christian woman, Juliana by name, a native of the city of Rhosus, she was given over to fire.
GREEK METRICAL MARTYROLOGY:
Καὶ Κυρίαινα πρὸς τὸ πῦρ ἀποπνέει, Πάσης πνοῆς τιμῶσα Κύριον μέγαν. Τῷ πρός σε φίλτρῳ, Σῶτερ, ἐκκεκαυμένη Ἰουλιανὴ καῦσιν ἐκ πυρὸς φέρει.
Cyriaena breathes her last in the fire, worshipping the supreme God of all things that breathe.
Burned with the love-philtre of you, Redeemer, Juliana in noble fashion endures the flames of the pyre.
[5] Having read these things, I shall share with the reader a suspicion that has risen in my mind. Is this Cyriaena of ours the same as Barbara, the most celebrated virgin and martyr, who is venerated on 4 December? The ground for suspecting is this: each is read to have suffered martyrdom under the emperor Maximian; the same punishment and the same miracle are narrated of both. Namely, Cyriaena, after being beaten and stripped of her garments, is led around the city naked, and by her prayers obtains from God that she not be seen naked. The same things are narrated of the virgin Barbara in her Acts in Metaphrastes. Juliana is joined to Cyriaena as companion of her martyrdom. Juliana too is associated with Barbara. This matter can be inquired into more fully when the martyrdom of St. Barbara comes to be treated at 4 December. Here let it suffice to have raised the doubt.
Annotations* for σχολιτῶν.
* codex ἐπικαθησαντες.