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Venerable Kyriakos the Anchorite: A Life of Prayer and Solitude · Saints and Scripture

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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Saints and Scripture Podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today is Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today we remember venerable Kyriakos the Anchorite.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was born in the Greek city of Corinth to a priest named John and his wife Eudokia.
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  SPEAKER_00: From a young age, Kyriakos was quiet and sensible.
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  SPEAKER_00: A family relative, Bishop Peter of Corinth, made him a reader in the church.
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  SPEAKER_00: Reading the holy scriptures often, Kyriakos developed a deep love for the Lord and a desire for a pure and holy life.
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  SPEAKER_00: Before he was eighteen, during a church service, Kiriakos was deeply moved by the words of the gospel.
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  SPEAKER_00: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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  SPEAKER_00: Believing these words were meant for him, he left immediately for Jerusalem without going home first.
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  SPEAKER_00: After visiting the holy places, Kiriakos stayed for several months at a monastery near Sion under the guidance of Aba Eustorgios.
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  SPEAKER_00: With his blessing, Kyriakos then went to the wilderness Lavra of Saint Euthymos the Great.
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  SPEAKER_00: There, Saint Euthymos tonsured him into the monastic schema and placed him under Saint Gurasimos, who trained him in asceticism at the monastery of Saint Theoctistos by the Jordan River.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because Kiriakos was young, Saint Girosimos had him live in a Cenobitic monastery with other monks.
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  SPEAKER_00: Kiriakos prayed fervently, slept little, and ate only every other day, sustaining himself with bread and water.
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  SPEAKER_00: During Great Lent, monks would go into the Ruva wilderness and return on Palm Sunday.
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  SPEAKER_00: Seeing Kiriakos' strict fasting, Saint Girosimos took him along.
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  SPEAKER_00: In solitude, they increased their efforts in prayer and fasting.
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  SPEAKER_00: Every Sunday, Saint Gorosamos gave Kiriakos holy communion.
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  SPEAKER_00: After Saint Girosimos passed away, Kiriakos returned to the Lavra of Saint Euthemios, who had also died.
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  SPEAKER_00: He asked for a solitary cell and lived in silence, speaking only to a monk named Thomas.
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  SPEAKER_00: When Thomas was sent to Alexandria as a bishop, Kyriakos spent ten more years in silence.
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  SPEAKER_00: At thirty-seven, he was ordained a deacon.
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  SPEAKER_00: When a disagreement arose between the monasteries of Saint Euthymos and Saint Theoctistos, Kyriakos moved to the Suca monastery of Saint Caritan.
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  SPEAKER_00: There, even tonsured monks were received as novices.
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  SPEAKER_00: Kyriakos worked humbly in various duties.
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  SPEAKER_00: After some years he was ordained a priest and chosen as the canonarch, or Lyd Chanter, serving in this role for eighteen years.
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  SPEAKER_00: In total, he spent thirty years at this monastery.
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  SPEAKER_00: Kiriakos was known for strict fasting and a life free from evil, even among older ascetics.
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  SPEAKER_00: Each night he read the Psalter in his cell, only stopping to attend midnight church services.
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  SPEAKER_00: He slept very little.
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  SPEAKER_00: At seventy, Kiriakos went to the Natufa wilderness with his disciple John.
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  SPEAKER_00: There, the hermits ate only bitter herbs, which Kyriakos made edible through prayer.
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  SPEAKER_00: After five years a man brought his demon-possessed son to Kyriakos, who healed him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Many others then came for help, but Kyriakos desired solitude and moved to the Ruva wilderness for five more years.
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  SPEAKER_00: Even there, he healed the sick, and those afflicted by demons with the sign of the cross and anointing with oil.
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  SPEAKER_00: At eighty, Kiriakos moved to the remote Susakim wilderness near two dried-up streams.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tradition says the prophet David mentioned this place in the Psalms.
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  SPEAKER_00: After seven years, monks from the Sukka monastery came to him for help during a time of hunger and illness.
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  SPEAKER_00: They asked him to return, and he settled in the cave where Saint Caritan had lived.
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  SPEAKER_00: Cariachos helped the church fight the heresy of originism by prayer and teaching.
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  SPEAKER_00: He brought those who had gone astray back to the true faith and strengthened others.
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  SPEAKER_00: A monk named Cyril, who wrote Cariachos' life, witnessed Cariachos foretell the deaths of the chief heretics and the end of the heresies spread.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Most Holy Theoticos appeared to Cariachos in a dream with Saints John the Baptist and John the Theologian.
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  SPEAKER_00: They told him to preserve Orthodox doctrine.
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  SPEAKER_00: She refused to enter his cell because it contained a book by the heretic Nestorius.
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  SPEAKER_00: She said, My enemy is in your cell.
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  SPEAKER_00: At ninety-nine, Kyriakos returned to Suzakim with his disciple John.
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  SPEAKER_00: There a large lion protected him from robbers.
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  SPEAKER_00: The lion did not harm the monks and ate from Kyriakos' hand.
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  SPEAKER_00: During a dry summer, the monks stored water dried up.
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  SPEAKER_00: Kiriakos prayed, and rain filled the hollow rock where they kept water.
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  SPEAKER_00: Two years before his death, Kiriakos returned to the monastery and lived again in Saint Kyriaton's cave.
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  SPEAKER_00: Until the end he prayed fervently and worked without ceasing.
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  SPEAKER_00: Before he died, he blessed the brethren.
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  SPEAKER_00: Saint Kiriakos fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 109.
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  SPEAKER_00: His name means one who belongs to the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: His life is a witness to prayer, humility, and steadfast faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lord help us to follow the example of Saint Kiriakos in prayer and humility.
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  SPEAKER_00: Strengthen our faith and guide us in times of trial.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God.
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  SPEAKER_00: Amen.