Saint of the Day – 22 July – Saint Cyril of Antioch (Died c306) Bishop Martyr. Unknown birth date and location but we believe that he was a local of Antioch. He died most probably of ill-treatment and starvation, in the mines in Pannopia which is in tbe modern eastern European regions of Hungary, Sovalie etc. (He is not to be confused with St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) the Doctor of the Church).
The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Antioch, the holy Bishop Cyril. who was distinguished for learning and holiness.”
In the Episcopal lists of Antioch, our Saint appears after Timaeus, that is, he would have been elected around 279-80.
Nothing is known about Cyril’s Episcopate, except that he may have admitted to Ecclesiastical communion, the Priest Lucian, previously condemned for his relations with Paul of Samosata, who had been the Bishop of Antioch until 268 when he was deposted and excommunicated for the heresy of monarchianism (rejection of the Holy Trinity), of which he was the originator.
Most likely, upon the publication of the second edict of Diocletian in spring 303 which prescribed the arrest of all Church leaders, Cyril was arrested and sent to the minas in Pannonia. A passage from the Acts of the Four Crowned Saints can be interpreted in this sense.
His death occurred in exile around 306.
Together with Cyril, a Martyr named Andrew is commemorated in the Martyrology of Hieronymia. This is an authentic Martyr who is remembered, always together with Cyril, in the list of Martyrs of Antioch, found in the sermon attributed to St Eusebius of Caesarea.
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