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| St. Kyros of Constantinople (Feast Day - January 8) |
Verses
You O Kyros who cut into pieces the flesh of my Christ,
Who stands apart in the flesh as you stand before His throne.
Who stands apart in the flesh as you stand before His throne.
Saint Kyros was a recluse at Amastris of Paphlagonia and prophesied that the deposed Emperor Justinian II would return to his imperial throne from which he was deposed. When word of this came to the ears of the emperor, and his prophecy was fulfilled, the emperor had him made Ecumenical Patriarch.
Kyros was placed on the patriarchal throne in 705 by Emperor Justinian II, as a replacement for the deposed Patriarch Kallinikos I, who was blinded by the emperor and exiled to Rome. During his time Pope Constantine I visited Constantinople by order of Justinian II, and Kyros is mentioned as among those who received him; this was the last time a Pope of Rome visited Constantinople.
During his time the Church was attacked by the heresies of the Monophysites and Monothelites, despite their condemnation by the Fourth and Sixth Ecumenical Synods. The followers of these heresies were primarily in Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Armenia and Persia, and they helped the Arabs acquire their lands to break with Byzantium. Soon after Justinian's fall in December 711, Patriarch Kyros was replaced by the new Emperor Philippikos with Patriarch John VI, who shared Philippikos' Monothelite sympathies.
Kyros was imprisoned at the Monastery of Chora, where he later reposed in peace. His Synaxis was celebrated both in the Monastery of Chora and the Church of Hagia Sophia if it fell on a Sunday.
