Judas Cyriacus
Encyclopedia
Judas Cyriacus (d. ca. AD 360) is the patron saint
of Ancona
, Italy
. His feast day is celebrated in the Catholic Church on May 4.
. He is also (mis)identified with Bishop Judas Cyriacus of Jerusalem (Saint Cyriacus of Jerusalem), who was killed during a riot
there in 133 AD. His feast is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church
on April 14
. (The 2nd century Bishop Judah Kyriakos of Jerusalem is said to the last in the desposyni
c line for that post, his predecessors also being descendents from the Family of Jesus. This meant that '2nd century' Judah Kyriakos was the last Christian Bishop of Jerusalem who happened to still have Jewish origins.)
According to legend, the Jew Judas Kyriakos aided the Empress Helena
in finding the deeply-buried True Cross
. It is said that Judas suggested that three centuries of debris
had accumulated over Golgotha and that the caves be removed. The oldest extant Syriac text of the legend of the discovery of the True Cross by Judas Kyriakos dates from ca. 500 AD. Its recent editor and translator says that the manuscript is "of great value for the history of the legend of the inventio crucis".
Sozomen
(died c. 450 AD), in his Ecclesiastical History http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-02/Npnf2-02-20.htm#P3156_1288060, states that it was said (by whom he does not say) that the location of the Holy Sepulchre was "disclosed by a Hebrew who dwelt in the East, and who derived his information from some documents which had come to him by paternal inheritance" (although Sozomen himself disputes this account) and that a dead person was also revived by the touch of the Cross. Later, popular versions of this story state that the Jew who assisted Helena was named Jude or Judas, but later converted to Christianity and took the name Kyriakos (kyriakos means "lordly" or "lord-like" in Greek).
Among the three accounts about the discovery of the True Cross of the Crucifixion
that circulated throughout the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the two most widely repeated both credited Helena, the aged mother of Constantine the Great, who travelled to Jerusalem at some time after the Council of Nicaea
(325) and her death (probably in 330) with the discovery. To recover it, it was necessary to demolish a temple, perhaps dedicated to Venus, that occupied the site. In one, the Jew Judas knew of the location of the Cross, and revealed it under torture. As J. W. Drijvers, the editor of the text, has noted,
After assisting Helena with the finding of the True Cross, Judas Cyriacus was baptized, consecrated as bishop of Jerusalem, and martyr
ed during the persecutions of Julian the Apostate
, which would place his death in the 4th century. Another saint, named Saint Cyriacus
, died during this century, and there may have been confusion between the two saints.
In the legendary Acts of his martyrdom, he engages in a dialogue with the emperor Julian, and is described as suffering horrible torments, along with his mother Anna.
The Empress Galla Placidia
is said to have presented Ancona with the relics of Judas Cyriacus. However, the saint's head was situated at Provins
, which was brought over from Jerusalem by Henry I of Champagne
, who built a church in this town to contain it. This still stands as the Saint Quiriace Collegiate Church, although construction work during the 12th century was never completed due to financial difficulties during the reign of Philippe le Bel. A dome
was added in the 17th century, and the old families of Provins who lived in the upper town were called "Children of the Dome." http://www.provins.net/anglais/_private/cadrehistoriq.htm
Monte Guasco, in Ancona, is the location of the Duomo
, and is dedicated to Saint Judas Cyriacus. It is said to occupy the site of a temple of Venus, who is mentioned by Catullus
and Juvenal as the tutelary deity of the place.
It was consecrated in 1128 and completed in 1189. Some writers suppose that the original church was in the form of a Latin cross and belonged to the 8th century. An early restoration was completed in 1234. It is a fine Romanesque
building in grey stone, built in the form of a Greek cross, with a dodecagonal dome over the center slightly altered by Margaritone d'Arezzo in 1270.
The body purported to be Cyriacus' lies prostrate and visible in his tomb.
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. His feast day is celebrated in the Catholic Church on May 4.
Judas Cyriacus, Bishop of Ancona
He is said to have been the bishop of Ancona who died or was killed during a pilgrimage to the Holy LandHoly Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
. He is also (mis)identified with Bishop Judas Cyriacus of Jerusalem (Saint Cyriacus of Jerusalem), who was killed during a riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
there in 133 AD. His feast is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
on April 14
April 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Apr. 13 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - Apr. 15All fixed commemorations below celebrated on Apr. 27 by Old Calendarists-Saints:*St Martin the Confessor the Pope of Rome*Martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustace of Vilna in Lithuania*Martyr Ardalion the Actor...
. (The 2nd century Bishop Judah Kyriakos of Jerusalem is said to the last in the desposyni
Desposyni
The term Desposyni refers to alleged blood relatives of Jesus. The term was coined by Sextus Julius Africanus, a writer of the early 3rd century. Some scholars argue that Jesus' relatives held positions of special honor in the Early Christian Church...
c line for that post, his predecessors also being descendents from the Family of Jesus. This meant that '2nd century' Judah Kyriakos was the last Christian Bishop of Jerusalem who happened to still have Jewish origins.)
Judas Cyriacus and the True Cross
The local tradition of Ancona has identified this saint with the Jew named Judas Quiriacus or Kyriakos.According to legend, the Jew Judas Kyriakos aided the Empress Helena
Helena of Constantinople
Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I...
in finding the deeply-buried True Cross
True Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
. It is said that Judas suggested that three centuries of debris
Debris
Debris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...
had accumulated over Golgotha and that the caves be removed. The oldest extant Syriac text of the legend of the discovery of the True Cross by Judas Kyriakos dates from ca. 500 AD. Its recent editor and translator says that the manuscript is "of great value for the history of the legend of the inventio crucis".
Sozomen
Sozomen
Salminius Hermias Sozomenus was a historian of the Christian church.-Family and Home:He was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christian family of Palestine....
(died c. 450 AD), in his Ecclesiastical History http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-02/Npnf2-02-20.htm#P3156_1288060, states that it was said (by whom he does not say) that the location of the Holy Sepulchre was "disclosed by a Hebrew who dwelt in the East, and who derived his information from some documents which had come to him by paternal inheritance" (although Sozomen himself disputes this account) and that a dead person was also revived by the touch of the Cross. Later, popular versions of this story state that the Jew who assisted Helena was named Jude or Judas, but later converted to Christianity and took the name Kyriakos (kyriakos means "lordly" or "lord-like" in Greek).
Among the three accounts about the discovery of the True Cross of the Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
that circulated throughout the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the two most widely repeated both credited Helena, the aged mother of Constantine the Great, who travelled to Jerusalem at some time after the Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
(325) and her death (probably in 330) with the discovery. To recover it, it was necessary to demolish a temple, perhaps dedicated to Venus, that occupied the site. In one, the Jew Judas knew of the location of the Cross, and revealed it under torture. As J. W. Drijvers, the editor of the text, has noted,
- The Judas Kyriakos legend originated in Greek, but became also known in Latin and Syriac and later on in many vernacular languages. This version relates how Helena discovered the Cross with the help of the Jew Judas, who later converted and received the name Kyriakos. It became the most popular version of the three.
The martyrdom of Judas Cyriacus
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed during the persecutions of Julian the Apostate
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
, which would place his death in the 4th century. Another saint, named Saint Cyriacus
Saint Cyriacus
Cyriacus, or Cyriac, is a Christian martyr who was killed in the persecution of Diocletian. He is one of twenty-seven saints, most of them martyrs, who bear this name, of whom only seven are honoured by a specific mention of their names in the Roman Martyrology.-Life:Of the Saint Cyriacus who,...
, died during this century, and there may have been confusion between the two saints.
In the legendary Acts of his martyrdom, he engages in a dialogue with the emperor Julian, and is described as suffering horrible torments, along with his mother Anna.
The Empress Galla Placidia
Galla Placidia
Aelia Galla Placidia , daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, was the Regent for Emperor Valentinian III from 423 until his majority in 437, and a major force in Roman politics for most of her life...
is said to have presented Ancona with the relics of Judas Cyriacus. However, the saint's head was situated at Provins
Provins
Provins is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.Provins, a town of medieval fairs, became a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in 2001.-Administration:...
, which was brought over from Jerusalem by Henry I of Champagne
Henry I of Champagne
Henry I of Champagne , known as "the Liberal", was count of Champagne from 1152 to 1181. He was the eldest son of Count Thibaut II of Champagne and his wife, Matilda of Carinthia....
, who built a church in this town to contain it. This still stands as the Saint Quiriace Collegiate Church, although construction work during the 12th century was never completed due to financial difficulties during the reign of Philippe le Bel. A dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
was added in the 17th century, and the old families of Provins who lived in the upper town were called "Children of the Dome." http://www.provins.net/anglais/_private/cadrehistoriq.htm
Cathedral of San Ciriaco
Duomo
Duomo is a term for a cathedral church. The formal word for a church that is presently a cathedral is cattedrale; a Duomo may be either a present or a former cathedral . Some, like the Duomo of Monza, have never been cathedrals, although old and important...
, and is dedicated to Saint Judas Cyriacus. It is said to occupy the site of a temple of Venus, who is mentioned by Catullus
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
and Juvenal as the tutelary deity of the place.
It was consecrated in 1128 and completed in 1189. Some writers suppose that the original church was in the form of a Latin cross and belonged to the 8th century. An early restoration was completed in 1234. It is a fine Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
building in grey stone, built in the form of a Greek cross, with a dodecagonal dome over the center slightly altered by Margaritone d'Arezzo in 1270.
The body purported to be Cyriacus' lies prostrate and visible in his tomb.