St Menas

St Menas, an Egyptian by birth, was a brave and admired officer in the Roman army in Phrygia under Diocletian and Maximian. When the persecution of Christians began, he renounced his rank and withdrew to the mountains to live in fasting and prayer. Filled with zeal, he came down in the midst of a pagan festival at Cotyaeum and openly proclaimed himself a Christian. He endured cruel tortures without wavering and was beheaded about 304. His friends secretly took his relics to Egypt, where a great shrine southwest of Alexandria drew pilgrims from across the Christian world, and flasks from his shrine have been found as far away as Ireland. He is the patron of Heraklion on Crete. Orthodox Christians pray to St Menas for help in finding lost things, for justice against thieves, for healing, and for soldiers in war.

Invoking St Menas to find lost things is a strong Greek (and Romanian) Orthodox tradition, noted in the Holy Transfiguration Monastery Great Horologion; Greeks also commonly turn to St Phanourios for lost items, and Catholics to St Anthony of Padua. In Russia he is less prominent. He is a great saint of the Coptic Church as well. Do not confuse him with other saints named Menas (e.g. Menas Kallikelados, 10 Dec).