CYEIACUS

CYR1CUS

759

lamed for Cyriac, but ia his reply he warnedhim against the sin of causing divisions in thechurch, clearly alluding to the use of the termoecumenical bishop (Gregorii Epistol. lib. vii.4, Pat. Lat. Ixxvii. 853). But the personalfeelings of Gregory towards Cyriac appear tohave been most friendly. There is a letterextant written in most affectionate terms, inwhich he recommends to his protection John,a presbyter of Chalcedon and Athanasius ofLycaonia, into whose faith he had examined, notnecessarily in a judicial or official capacity, andfound them correct and orthodox in their con-fessions (ibid. Epist. 4). In two letters also to theemperor Maurice he speaks as rejoicing in theappointment which had been made (ibid. Epist.6. 7). In the latter of these, however, he men-tions that at the ordination of Cyriac a versehad been chanted from the 117th Psalm, “Thisis the day which the Lord hath made.” Gregory,although expressing the utmost sympathy withthe fervour of their rejoicing, greatly blamesthis use of the text, as being too sacred to beapplied to any man.

The legates sent by Cyriac to Rome with hissynodal letters had declared that they held theopinion that at the descent of our Lord intoHades all spirits who would believe in Him astheir Lord were at once released from prison.Gregory wrote to Constantinople to rebuke themfor so doing, though in gentle terms, remindingthem that such opinions had been held to be here-tical by Philaster and St. Augustine (ibid. Ep. 15).Cyriac, however, does not appear to have beeninvolved with his legates in this controversy.It appears that Cyriac did not attend to theentreaties of Gregory that he would abstainfrom using the title of Oecumenical Bishop,for Gregory wrote afterwards both to him andto the emperor Maurice, declaring that hecould not allow his legates to remain in com-munion with Cyriac as long as he retained thetitle. In the latter of these letters he comparesthe assumption of the title to the sin of Auti-ehrist, since they both exhibit a spirit of lawlesspride. “ Quisquis se universalem sacerdotemvocat, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione sua Anti-chri.stum praecurrit, quia superbiendo se ceterispraeponit ” (ibid. Epist. 28, 30). In a letter toAnastasius of Antioch, who had written to himto remonstrate against disturbing the peace ofthe church, Gregory defends his conduct on theground of the injury which Cyriac had done to allother patriarchs by the assumption of the title,and reminds Anastasius that not only hereticsbut heresiarchs had before this been patriarchsof Constantinople. He also deprecates the useof the term on more general grounds—“ si unusepiscopus vocatur universalis universa ecclesiacorruit, si unus universus, cadit ” (ibid. Epist.24). In spite of all this Cyriac was firm in hisretention of the title, and appears to have sum-moned, or to have meditated summoning, acouncil to authorise its use. For in a.d. 599Gregory wrote to Eusebius of Thessalonica andsome other bishops, stating that he had heardthey were about to be summoned to a council atConstantinople, and most urgently entreatingthem to yield neither to force nor to persuasion,but to be steadfast in their refusal to recognisethe offensive title (ibid. lib. ix. G8 in Patrol. Lat.).Cyriac appears to have shared in that unpopu-

larity pf the emperor Maurice which caused hisdeposition and his diath (Theophan. Chron. p. 242,A.M. 6094; Niceph. Callis. H. E. xviii. 40 ; Theo-phylact. Hist. viii. 9). He still, However, hadinfluence enough to exact from Phocas at hiscoronation a confession of the orthodox faithand a pledge that he would in no way disturbthe church (Theoph. Chron. p. 243, a.m. 6094).He also nobly resisted the attempt of Phocas todrag the empress Constantia and her daughtersfrom their sanctuary in a church of Constanti-nople (ibid., p. 246, a.m. 6098). Perhaps someresentment at this opposition to his will mayhave induced Phocas to accede more readily to theclaims of Boniface III. that Rome should be con-sidered to be the head of all the church, inexclusion of the claims of Constantinople tothe oecumenical bishopric (Vita Bonifacii TIT.apud Labbe, Acta Concil. t. v. 1615). Cyriacdied A.D. 606, and was interred in the church ofthe Holy Apostles (Chronicon Paschale, p. 381).

Cyriac appears to have been a man of re-markable piety and earnestness, and able tcconciliate the esteem of all parties. It is re-corded of him that he built a church dedicatedto the OeoTtbeos in a street of Constantinoplecalled Diaconissa (Theoph. Chron. 233, A.M.6090; Niceph. Callis. H. E ., xviii. 42).

[P. O. and C. H.]

CYRICIUS, or Quiricius (Cave erroneouslycalls him Syricius) bishop of Barcino (Barcelona)in Spain, c. 662. He was the author of twfletters to Ildefonsus of Toledo, first published,together with Ildefonsus’s replies, by D’Achery(Spicileg. i. 308-311) and also by Migne (Patrolog.xevi. 1 sq.). In the former of these letters hethanks Ildefonsus in language almost blasphemousin the extravagance of its praise, for haying senthim his work on the Virginity of the BlessedVirgin Mary, which had greatly comforted himon his return to Ms cell from a journey, sothoroughly fatigued that he was unable even toattend the divine offices. In the second heentreats Ildefonsus to devote his time to theelucidation of the obscurities of Holy Scripture.Taio of Saragossa dedicated his five books otSententiae to him. Taio’s letter and Cyricius’sreply are given in Migne (Patrolog. lxxx. 729-731). [E. V.]

CYRICTJS, ipartyr, commemorated June 16.At Ecclesgreig, in the parish of St. Cyrus, Kin-cardineshire, and at St. Ceres, Fifeshire, we findtraces of St. Cyricus, whose veneration appearsto have been introduced into Scotland at an earlyperiod. There seems to be little reason for doubtthat this is the martyr Cyriacus who, with hismother Julitta, suffered in the Diocletian persecu-tion ; but we have no account of how the dedicationcame to the east of Scotland. He is to be dis-tinguished from the Pictish king Cyric, Grig,or Gregorius, who had his chief residence atDunottar in that neighbourhood in the 9thcentury (Bp. Forbes, Kal. Scott. Saints , 319—20;Jervise, Epitaphs , 36, 52; Skene, Cht'on. Pietsand Scots , p. cxxxvii. sq.). [J. G.]

Other spellings of this infant martyr are Cyr,Quiricus, Cericus, Ourig. The place of mar-tyrdom was Tarsus in Cilicia, and further accountsmay be seen in Acta SS. June, iii. 17; Butler,Lives of the Saints, June 16; Rees, Welsh Saints,307. Butler’s date is a.d. 304. [C, HJ