Cyriacus, before turning 18, attended a church service on Matthew 16:24 ("Whosoever would to come after Me, let him deny himself and raise up his cross and follow Me") that so deeply moved him he immediately he went to the harbour, got onto a ship, and set off to Jerusalem instead of going home.

Gerasimus became something of a mentor to the young man and each Sunday imparted the Holy Mysteries of his faith to his disciple.

The young monk took to monastic obediences: he prayed fervently, he slept little, he ate food only every other day, and nourished himself with bread and water.

When the monk reached seventy years of age, he went to the Natoufa wilderness taking with him his disciple John.

From that time many people began to approach the monk with their needs, but he sought complete solitude and fled to the Rouva wilderness, where he dwelt five years more.

At his 80th year of life Kyriakos fled to the hidden Sousakim wilderness, where two dried up streams passed by.

The brethren of the Souka monastery came to him seven years after his arrival, beseeching his spiritual help during the time of debilitating hunger and illness.

This period is full of several legends involving him saving people from lions or his prayers causing rain to fall.

In Serbia, the feast of Saint Cyriacus marks the end of the grape harvest and is celebrated with a Slava.