Saints Cyprian and Justina

Hieromartyr Cyprian and Martyr Justina are saints whose life became an image of spiritual transformation and of the victory of faith over fear and evil. According to Church tradition, Cyprian had formerly practised magic, but on seeing his actions powerless before the faith and prayer of Justina he turned to Christ. He later became a servant of the Church, and Cyprian and Justina accepted a martyr’s death together. People pray to them for the strengthening of faith and for deliverance from fears, temptations and spiritual evil.

Veneration of Cyprian and Justina is bound to the early Christian tradition of their martyrdom at the turn of the third and fourth centuries. Their joint iconography took shape later within the Byzantine tradition. No historically reliable information about the author or the date of the first image has survived.