E07443: The late 4th to 6th c. collection of Miracles of *Menas (soldier martyr of Egypt, S00073), ascribed to Timothy of Alexandria, recounts the story of the miraculous rescue of a woman from rape. She was travelling alone to the shrine, and visited a shrine of *Thekla (follower of Paul the Apostle, S00092) in the same area. Written in Greek in Alexandria.
online resource
posted on 2019-03-10, 00:00authored byerizos
Timothy of Alexandria, Miracles of Menas (CPG 2527, BHG 1256-1269)
Miracle 3. The sterile woman (BHG 1259)
Summary:
A rich woman from the region of Phekozea, called Sophia, who was married to a pious man, decides to visit the shrine and pray. Having no children to inherit her fortune, she intends to bequeath it to the shrine, for the forgiveness of her soul. She sets off alone in the desert, without disclosing it to her household or husband, and arrives at the shrine of Thekla. She is assaulted by a passing soldier and, while he attempts to rape her, she invokes the saint’s help. Menas appears on horseback, places the woman on the soldier’s horse and leads it to his shrine, while the rapist is dragged behind them, with his leg tied onto the horse. The soldier dedicates his horse to the shrine, and spends the rest of his life there, praying for his forgiveness.
Text: Pomialovskii 1900. Summary: E. Rizos.
History
Evidence ID
E07443
Saint Name
Menas, soldier and martyr buried at Abu Mena : S00073
Thekla, follower of the Apostle Paul : S00092
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 - tomb/grave
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Consecrating a child, or oneself, to a saint
Cult Activities - Miracles
Miracle after death
Punishing miracle
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Miraculous protection - of people and their property
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Women
Soldiers
Aristocrats
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.
A detail of special interest here is the reference to a shrine of Thekla in the region of Menas' shrine, which apparently was on the way of the pilgrims. This may provide an explanation for the frequent appearance of the figure of Thekla on ampullae of Menas.
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.