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E07445: The late 4th to 6th century collection of Miracles of *Menas (soldier martyr of Egypt, S00073), ascribed to Timothy of Alexandria, recounts the story of the miraculous healing of a crippled man and a mute woman. The saint instructed the former to attempt to rape the latter. Written in Greek in Alexandria.

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posted on 2019-03-10, 00:00 authored by erizos
Timothy of Alexandria, Miracles of Menas (CPG 2527, BHG 1256-1269)

Miracle 5. The crippled man and the mute woman (BHG 1261)

Summary:

A crippled man seeks healing at Menas’ shrine and, after a long period of unsuccessful incubation, he has a vision of the saint advising him to go and sleep with a dumb woman who is also staying at the shrine. The man is incredulous about the saint’s advice for him to commit fornication, but has the same dream three times and is convinced. His attempt to lie with her proves effective: the hitherto dumb woman wakes up and starts screaming, while the hitherto crippled man, in his panic, runs away like a young lad. He reveals his dream and everyone is amazed at the saint’s miraculous intervention.

Text: Pomialovskii 1900.
Summary: E. Rizos.

History

Evidence ID

E07445

Saint Name

Menas, soldier and martyr buried at Abu Mena : S00073

Saint Name in Source

Μηνᾶς

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles

Language

  • Greek

Evidence not before

380

Evidence not after

700

Activity not before

380

Activity not after

700

Place of Evidence - Region

Egypt and Cyrenaica Egypt and Cyrenaica

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Abu Mina Alexandria

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Abu Mina Hermopolis ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Ashmunein Hermopolis Alexandria Hermopolis ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Ashmunein Hermopolis

Cult activities - Places

Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Visiting graves and shrines

Cult Activities - Miracles

Miracle after death Healing diseases and disabilities Apparition, vision, dream, revelation

Source

The collection is preserved, not always intact, in 69 manuscripts, on which see: https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/9359/

Discussion

For the context of this story, see E07440. This story can also be found in the Miracles of Kosmas and Damianos (BHG 388, Miracle 24).

Bibliography

Text: Pomialovskii, I., Житие преподобного Паисия Великого и Тимофея патриарха Александрийского повествование о чудесах св. великомученика Мины (St Petersburg, 1900), 61-89. Further reading: Delehaye, H., "Les recueils antiques de miracles des saints," Analecta Bollandiana 43 (1925), 5-85, 305-325. Efthymiadis, S., "Collections of Miracles (Fifth-Fifteenth Centuries)," in: S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography II: Genres and Contexts (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014), 106.

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    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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