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29March

Saint Kyrillos from Baalback, Lebanon, a martyr (+362)

Kyrillos was a deacon in the Church of Heliopolis [1], who profited the support of King Constantine the Great and managed to destroy some pagan idols in Baalback. This enraged the pagans’ hate for Kyrillos, and they were waiting for the appropriate occasion to revenge from him and the Christians. They finally got their revenge under King Julian the anathema who led terrible persecutions against Christians, especially in Phoenicia and Palestine. Deacon Kyrillos was hit from the back and killed in Baalback. His death was not enough for his enemies; indeed they cut his body into peaces and took out his liver. But God took revenge for his deacon Kyrillos, as the historian Theodoritos mentions (Cf. K3Q3) writing about the martyrdom of this saint: “Who can call to mind the brutal death of Kyrillos of Baalback and not cry over him… but all those who participated in his barbaric torture, were tortured back. Their teeth were broken, and worms ate their tongues and they were blinded.” Kyrillos martyrdom was in the year 362. May his prayer be with us. Amen.


[1] Heliopolis means the Sun’s City in Greek, and its today’s Baalbak in Bekaa Lebanon. It used to be a big busy Roman city, and a hub for the pagan cults and rituals.