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E07442: 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 rescue of the servant of a man who had promised to dedicate a silver plate to the shrine. 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 2. The man who promised to dedicate a plate (BHG 1258)

Summary:

A certain Eutropios from Alexandria has two silver plates produced, intending to dedicate one of them to Menas. When the vessels are produced, the one with the saint’s name turns out to be more precious. The man decides to keep it for his own use and dedicate the less precious one to the shrine. He embarks on a vessel to cross the lake, but during the journey his slave falls into the water with the plate. Eutropios is distressed and prays the martyr to save his slave. Two days later, the servant comes out of the sea with the plate in his hand, and says that he has been saved by the martyr and two handsome men who took hold of him for three days and brought him back to the land. They visit the shrine and Eutropios dedicates there the two plates and his slave.

Text: Pomialovskii 1900.
Summary: E. Rizos.

History

Evidence ID

E07442

Saint Name

Menas, soldier and martyr buried at Abu Mena : S00073

Saint Name in Source

Μηνᾶς

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Monastic collections (apophthegmata, etc.)

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 - tomb/grave

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Vow

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Slaves/ servants

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.

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    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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