St. Cyprian the Magician / Martyr/ (Bishop of Carthage?)

[Athanasius Abdullah]

+irini nem ehmot,

As I was reading the Coptic Synaxarium today, I noticed that it equated St. Cyprian, the Saint who before his conversion was a heathen magician who attempted to spell-bind St. Justina--the one with whom he was ultimately martyred, with St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage.

The online Catholic Encyclopedia affirms the antiquity of this tradition yet denies its authenticity. I was curious to know what the case is according to any relevant traditions still held by the Eastern Orthodox Church?

In IC XC
-Athanasius

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

+irini nem ehmot,

As I was reading the Coptic Synaxarium today, I noticed that it equated St. Cyprian, the Saint who before his conversion was a heathen magician who attempted to spell-bind St. Justina--the one with whom he was ultimately martyred, with St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage.

The online Catholic Encyclopedia affirms the antiquity of this tradition yet denies its authenticity. I was curious to know what the case is according to any relevant traditions still held by the Eastern Orthodox Church?

In IC XC
-Athanasius



Dear Athansius,

In Le Synaxaire from Simonos Petras Monastery on Mt Athos ( one of the best modern redacted versions which is still very pious) there is a footnote at the bottom of the page for Oct 2 for Hieromartyr Cyprian & Virgin Justina which says:

Since the panegyric written by St Gregory the Theologian & St Symeon Metaphrastes, Cyprian the Magician has been confused with St Cyprian of Carthage the celebrated martyr and great father of the Latin Church from which we possess the authentic acts of his martyrdom. Due to this fact St Cyprian of Carhtage is not commemorated elsewhere on the Orthodox calendar. See the notice of the date of his martyrdom and of his commemoration in the Latin church: Sept 16.

[Athanasius Abdullah]

Dear Fr. Raphael,

+irini nem ehmot

Thank you for the response. So essentially, whilst recognising this to be an error, the EO Church has not done anything to rectify it?

In IC XC
-Athanasius

[Anthony]

I always thought St Cyprian of Carthage was celebrated on 31st August (new calendar). I think this is confirmed by the goarch site, though I can't find it at the moment.

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Dear Fr. Raphael,

+irini nem ehmot

Thank you for the response. So essentially, whilst recognising this to be an error, the EO Church has not done anything to rectify it?

In IC XC
-Athanasius

As Anthony says St Cyprian of Carthage is found on our calendars for August 31.

Often though for us actual commemoration is connected to the service or services as found in the different Menaia. Under August 31 at least in the Slavonic Menaia or those translated from it the service is for the Deposition of the Belt of the Theotokos. However on this day in the very popular Lives of Saints in Russian from 1911 there does appear a life for St Cyprian. Probably it was compiled in relatively recent times.

St Cyprian & Julia appear as the main service in the Menaion for Oct 2. The same ancient confusion surrounding these saints seems to appear in the service itself since the wording of the service refers both to the magician and to the bishop who composed canon law. This is just my theory but it could be that first veneration arose for the martyrs Cyprian & Julia and then later on St Cyprian the bishop was confused with these two.

A last thing to keep in mind about, "the EO Church has not done anything to rectify it?" is that we do not have an overall authority to control how services are composed for saints. Each national church has Menaia and service books blessed by their synod of bishops. But it is also common for example to find services for more local saints within each church.

Liturgical practice as to which saints have a service being served for them on any given day thus can vary widely (as opposed to actual commemoration which is more uniform) from church to church, diocese to diocese or even parish to parish. For example in our church (rocor) two Sundays ago there was a choice between serving for Ven. Theodora of Alexandria, Ven Fr Silouan of Mt Athos or Ven Frs Sergei & Herman of Valaam. Many of our English parishes may have chosen from the first two saints while many of our Russian parishes may have chosen from the last two.

Over time this gradually leads to the different Menaia printed for each church although again the saints on the calendar would in general be the same for all.

In Christ- Fr Raphael