The oldest document narrating the martyrdom of St. Kuriakose and St. Yulithi is the 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘢 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘢 which presents the three year old St. Kuriakose as a militantly loquacious evangelizer and his mother St. Yulithi as an avid disciple.
St. Kuriakose took birth in 302/305 C.E. in Iconium, Turkey as the sole child of St. Yulithi, a descendent of Asia Kings in Asia Minor. After the demise of St. Yulithi’s husband who was an army officer, the mother and child were left all alone to face the gruesome persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Owing to this, St. Yulithi along with her son fled to Seleucia, Syria and then later to Tarsus.
On arriving Tarsus, the Tetrarch Alexandros, seized and coerced them to renounce the Lord and offer sacrifices to his idols. St. Kuriakose’s response to the Tetrarch’s injunction is very well recorded in the Sedro of Vespers;
“𝘛𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴? 𝘛𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘴? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘧? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.”
This infuriated the Tetrarch and both St. Kuriakose and St. Yulithi were subjected to ghastly tortures. The Sedro further mentions;
“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩 𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵! 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯, 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘪𝘭!”
One of the chief characteristics we decipher of the martyrs is that they really aspired to die for Christ. We thus sing in the Qolo of Thursday Vespers (𝘚𝘩’𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘰);
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥: 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘴 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦. 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴.”
Therefore, the greatest wisdom imparted by the martyrs is how to creatively instrumentalize our death – a common and inevitable phenomenon. Just as the Immortal Son of God entered His immortality through His death on the Cross so must we enter our immortality by wholeheartedly embracing our mortality. Cross then becomes the way to dignify our mortality.
Moving ahead, St. Yulithi unveils a motherhood completely antithetical to the conventional conceptions. Her response on the death of her child is contrary to the response not only of the mothers of the Holy Innocents – who are traditionally depicted as archetypes of inconsolable grief (Jer. 31:5) – but also the Virgin Mary Herself. They all grieved over the death of their children unlike St. Yulithi who rejoiced at her son’s martyrdom because she subordinated biology to Christology.
If you think about it, the separation of a child from its mother through death is only one link in a chain of separations that begins in the womb. From the moment the embryo is formed in the mother, the mother and child begin to drift apart. The painful and somewhat dangerous act of birth tears one body from another, shattering the concept of unity thereby creating a growing distance.
The infant thereafter develops motor skills and articulates its own voice, learning to walk and eventually to separate. Death in this sense is partly a more accentuated form of the natural sequence of separation inherent in earlier stages of the life cycle but also a process that is fundamentally different in terms of its finality.
St. Yulithi was able to make subservient the life-giving possibilities of her womb by attributing the breath and life of her son to the Creator of the Universe thereby affirming God as the true Father of humanity (Ps 104:29-30).
St. Yulithi encouraged and rejoiced in the martyrdom of her only son, St. Kuriakose because she knew that albeit she had given birth to him, his birth was imperfect and that it would be complete only if he were born from the womb of eternal life i.e. Death just as exemplified by Christ who is no wonder known as the “𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥” (𝘊𝘰𝘭 1:18). This is the great mystery of life which the Church visually represents through Holy Baptism.
Being inspired by St. Yulithi may we also display a versatile motherhood one which leads our kids to the foot of the Cross of Christ where they encounter God their true Father.
~ 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐨 𝐅𝐫. 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥
Urho, The Way 