Agia Kiriaki was born to Christian parents. She was the daughter of Dorotheus and Eusebia. They were childless and begged God to give them a child. Indeed, God was pleased, and this Christian couple had a child. She was born on a Sunday, which is why they gave her the name Kiriaki which means Sunday. He was brought up as Christian and nurtured in the threads of our faith. During the terrible and merciless persecution of Diocletian, the parents were arrested and after interrogation tortured and beheaded. Kiriaki was referred to Caesar Maximian and from there to the lord of Bithynia Hilarian, who reminded her that her beauty is for pleasure and not for torture. Then Kiriaki replied: “Neither in my youth nor in my beauty do I pay the slightest attention. And the brightest of earthly things are temporary, like flowers, and hollow, like shadows. Today, I am beautiful, tomorrow an ugly old woman. So, should I make my beauty the center of my life? … That is why I say it again: I am and will be a Christian in life and in death.” Enraged, Hilarian tortured her cruelly.

He ordered her to be subjected to one of the most horrible and painful torments: She was hung by her head hair, stripped naked, and burned her body with lit candles! The great martyr Kiriaki, having mind and soul elevated to heaven, endured the pain with endurance, without murmuring, praying, and asking for the help of the Lord, who both heard her prayer and strengthened her in various ways and even healed her wounds.

Then Hilarian imprisoned Agia Kiriaki and the next day with the accompaniment of other dignitaries, Hilarian, the great martyr Kiriaki and a crowd of people went to the pagan temple. When they entered the temple, Sunday, leaving everyone speechless, prayed aloud to her Lord and God, Jesus Christ. He asked him that the truth should shine forth and that the darkness of idolatry should be dispelled. And, oh of wonder! Suddenly, the idols of the deities inside the temple were shattered into rubble, while “a great earthquake with a terrible tornado” scattered them over a long distance. All those present were horrified to see with astonishment the power of the Christian Faith, and several of them admitted that the God of Christians is true. Lightning from heaven struck Hilarian in the face, “and he fell to the earth and died,” writes the Synaxaristes.

The new governor of the province of Bithynia, named Apollonius, upon learning that Kiriaki was spreading the Christian faith after the death of Hilarian, ordered her to be arrested. Apollonius ordered a great fire to be lit and the great martyr Sunday to be thrown into its flames. That is what happened. Instead of burning the young Christian girl, God heard her brief fervent prayer and protected her. With no clouds in the sky, heavy rain fell “and extinguished the flame immediately”, with the result that the Great Martyr suffered absolutely nothing. He immediately threw it at hungry lions and they left them to devour on Sunday. Still, the mighty God covered the great martyr with his almighty grace. The beasts became lambs and sat near her and licked her feet. Then several of the Gentiles present professed faith in Jesus Christ and renounced national idols. At this point the patience of the prefect of Bithynia was exhausted, he ordered the beheading of the Saint. But before the sword fell, she prayed and surrendered her spirit to the Lord. The memory of Saint Kiriaki the Great Martyr is honored by our Church on July 7th.