University of Oxford
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

E07452: The late 4th to 6th century collection of Miracles of *Menas (soldier martyr of Egypt, S00073), ascribed to Timothy of Alexandria, recounts the miraculous healing of a young man possessed by a demon. Written in Greek in Alexandria.

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

Miracle 12. The demoniac (BHG 1268)

Summary:

A man who had been possessed by a demon since childhood is brought to the shrine by his parents, in order to be healed. After spending a long time there, they see no difference and leave. During their journey, the saint appears to them in the form of a man and advises them to return to the shrine, but they claim that they are unable to control and force the demoniac. The saint grabs him by the hair, takes him to the shrine, and disappears. The demoniac is lifted up in the air, shouting, and soon falls down as if dead. The people place him by the saint’s sarcophagus (theke) and he is anointed with oil from the lamp of the tomb. A voice is heard from the tomb ordering the demon to leave the man; the saint wished to humiliate the demon in front of the whole crowd. The demon leaves the man in the form of fire coming out of his mouth. The demoniac’s parents dedicate the portion of their fortune destined to be inherited by their son, and have him tonsured as a monk at the shrine. Some time later, he dies there.

Text: Pomialovskii 1900.
Summary: E. Rizos.

History

Evidence ID

E07452

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

Alexandria Abu Mina

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

Alexandria Hermopolis ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Ashmunein Hermopolis Abu Mina Hermopolis ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ Ashmunein Hermopolis

Cult activities - Places

Burial site of a saint - sarcophagus/coffin

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Consecrating a child, or oneself, to a saint

Cult Activities - Miracles

Miracle after death Exorcism

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.

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.

Usage metrics

    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC