E07451: The late 4th to 6th century collection of Miracles of *Menas (soldier martyr of Egypt, S00073), ascribed to Timothy of Alexandria, recounts the miraculous punishment of soldier who attempted to seize some timber offered to the shrine by a donor. 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 11. The donor of timber (BHG 1267) Summary: A certain Theophilos offers a quantity of timber to the shrine, but, while it is delivered and transferred, it is requisitioned by a passing soldier who ignores the pleas of the servants of the shrine and even beats them up. Suddenly, the soldier is lifted up in the air by an invisible force which holds him by his hair and transfers him to the shrine. In front of an astonished crowd, the soldier confesses his sin and is safely brought down to the ground. He offers twelve pieces of gold and leaves happily. Text: Pomialovskii 1900. Summary: E. Rizos.

History

Evidence ID

E07451

Saint Name

Menas, a sixth-century hermit of Samnium : S01772

Saint Name in Source

Μηνᾶς

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Menas_a_sixth-century_hermit_of_Samnium/13733932

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 - tomb/grave

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings

Cult Activities - Miracles

Miracle after death Apparition, vision, dream, revelation Punishing miracle

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Soldiers

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.