Saint of the Week: Cyriacus the Anchorite

This week the Eastern Church will be remembering Cyriacus the Anchorite. For those of you who don’t know what an Anchorite lets take a little break to go over it.

Anchorites are a subset within that tradition of Monasticism. Unlike Monks and Nuns who live within communities of faith (e.g. Monasteries, convents) Anchorites live in solotude. There have been many Anchorites in the history of the church some of which include:

• Saint Anthony the Great
• Julian of Norwich
• Nazarena
• And of course Cyriacus

What you need to know about Cyriacus:

• Cyriacus spent ten years in total silence
• Mary, the Mother of our Lord, is said to have appeared to him
• He fought against Origenism 
• He lived in the desert and fed on bitter herbs called ‘squills’, which God is said to have made sweet
• One of his spiritual practices was to read the Psalter every night
• He is purported to have laid hands on the sick and the sick were healed

“The Mother of God appeared to him with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Theologian; however, she refused to enter his cell, because at the end of one of the books on his shelf there were two writings by the heretic Nestorios.” 

From the “Spiritual Meadow” by John Moschus