Martyrs Cyriacus Faustus the Priest, Abibus the Deacon & Companions

Cyriacus, Faustus the Presbyter, Abibus the Deacon, and a company of further martyrs are commemorated together as Christians who suffered at Alexandria in Egypt during the persecution under the emperor Decius (249-251). Among the group, Faustus is identified as a priest and Abibus (also rendered Habib) as a deacon, so the commemoration is reckoned by the Church as a hieromartyric one. They are observed on September 6.

By the account preserved in the synaxarion, the martyrs were brought before the governor Valerius and steadfastly confessed themselves to be Christians. For this confession they were condemned and beheaded by the sword, about the year 250. The tradition relates that their bodies were afterward buried by fellow Christians at Alexandria.

The Orthodox commemoration of September 6 numbers the company as a priest, a deacon, and eleven others, fourteen in all. A related Western and Coptic tradition surrounding Faustus, Abibus, and a lector named Dionysius names a wider circle of companions said to have suffered with them, including a soldier, an acolyte, a sea captain, and several others; the lists differ between recensions, and the synaxarion that anchors this commemoration enumerates the priest, deacon, and eleven companions without naming each.