Judah Kyriak

According to the Golden Legend , Judas was one of the Jewish sages, among whose ancestors (his father’s brothers) were the first martyr Stephen and Nicodemus , a secret disciple of Christ. Learning from his father where the Cross is, Judas at the council of elders stated that the discovery of the Cross would destroy their religion and deprive the Jews of superiority over Christians . Then the Jews forbade him to inform the empress about the location of the relics, but after Helena threatened to burn them alive, Judas was given to her. Elena threw him into a dry well and kept him there for seven days, after which “he, having come to one place, raised his voice and prayed that a sign be sent to him. Immediately in that place the earth moved, and the smoke emanated from such an amazing sweetness that, sensing it, Judas clapped his hands in joy and exclaimed: “Verily, Jesus Christ, you are the savior of the world!” ^[1] .

This story about Judas is based on a report by Sozomen about a knowledgeable Jew living in the East ^[2] , and can be part of the official legend about finding the Cross, only in a new perspective created by Jacob Voraginsky. Rufin , Pauline Nolansky ^[3] and Sulpicius Sever ^[4] also wrote about attracting local residents to the search for the Cross. However, later, in the 7th century , John of Nika reported that the Cross for Helen was found by a certain Ablavius, “a zealous Christian, one of the most eminent people [of the empire]” ^[5] .

Also in the “ Golden Legend ” it is indicated that Judas, after gaining the Cross, was baptized under the name Quiriac ( Quiriacus is the Latinized form used in the book named after Kyriac , other Greek Κυριακός , which means “belonging to the Lord”). Having soon become the bishop of Jerusalem, he suffered a martyrdom during the time of Emperor Julian the Apostate ^[6] (the same story is given by church historians Sozomen and Gregory of Tours ^[7] ). However, information about him as a bishop of Jerusalem is not confirmed by historians ^[8] . According to the assumption of the Bollandist Daniel Paperboch, Kyriak can be identified with Bishop Judas (II century), mentioned in the “Church History” and “Chronicle” of Eusebius of Caesarea ^[9] .

Judas Kyriakus is revered as a holy martyr . Memory in the Orthodox Church takes place on October 28 (according to the Julian calendar ) ^[10] in the Catholic Church on May 1 and 4 ^[9] .

The center of veneration of St. Cyriac in the West is the city of Ancona , where his relics are located and whose patron he is considered to be. According to legend, they were brought from Jerusalem for the temple built in Ancona by Galla Placidia ^[9] . Since the 17th century, Italian scholars have tried to prove that the Kyriakos whose relics are in Ancona was not the bishop of Jerusalem, but the first bishop of Ancona (however, the first famous bishop of the city of St. Marcellinus lived in the 5th-6th centuries) ^[9] .

Initially, the relics of Kyriak were in the crypt in a marble sarcophagus. In 1755, it was opened, and relics wrapped in silk fabric of the 10th century, and coins of the 11th-12th centuries were discovered in it. The relics were examined and placed in a tomb with a removable panel for their opening to believers on holidays. In 1979, the relics were re-examined with the help of experts who established that they belong to a man of average height, about 65 years old, who died from a strong blow to the right side of his face ^[9] . Damage was also found in the form of a cut in the neck and traces of lead on the palate and in the trachea . This was taken as evidence in favor of the Kyriak martyrdom described in the life ^[11] .

• Kyriak // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2014. - T. XXXIV. - S. 140-145. - 752 s. - 33,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-039-4 .