Saint Menas - Relics

Relics

The soldiers who executed Menas set his body to fire for three days but the body remained unharmed. Menas' sister then bribed the soldiers and managed to carry the body away. She embarked on a ship heading to Alexandria, where she placed the saint's body in a church.

When the time of persecution ended, during the papacy of Pope Athanasius of Alexandria, an angel appeared to the Pope and ordered him to load Menas' body on a camel and head towards the Western Desert. At a certain spot near a water well at the end of Lake Mariout, not far from Alexandria, the camel stopped and wouldn't move. The Christians took this a sign from God and buried Menas' body there.

Berbers of Pentapolis rose against the cities around Alexandria. As the people were getting ready to face the Berbers, the Roman governor decided to secretly take the body of Saint Menas with him to be his deliverer and his strong protector. Through the saint's blessings, the governor overcame the Berbers and returned victorious. However, he decided not to return the body to its original place and wanted to take it to Alexandria. On the way back, as they passed by Lake Mariout at the same spot where the body was originally buried, the camel carrying the body knelt down and would not move. People moved the body to another camel, but the second camel would not move either. The governor finally realized that this was God's command. He made a coffin from decay-resistant wood and placed the silver coffin in it.

During the early fifth century, the body's location was forgotten. Years later, a shepherd was feeding his sheep in that location, and a sick lamb fell on the ground. As it struggled to get on its feet again, its scab was cured. The story spread quickly and the sick who came to this spot recovered from whatever illnesses they had just by lying on the ground. During that time, the legendary daughter of Emperor Zeno was leprous. His advisers suggested that she should try that place, and she did. At night Saint Minas appeared to the girl and informed her that his body was buried in that place. The following morning, Zeno's daughter was cured, and she related her vision about the saint to her servants.

Zeno immediately ordered Menas' body to be dug out, and a cathedral to be built there. A large city was also built there and named after the saint. Sick people from all over the Christian world used to visit that city and were healed through the intercessions of Saint Menas, who became known as the Wonders' Maker. Today, numerous little clay Menas flasks, or bottles for holy water or oil on which the saint's name and picture are stamped, are found by archeologists in diverse countries around the Mediterranean world, such as Heidelberg in Germany, Milan in Italy, Dalmatia in Croatia, Marseille in France, Dongola in Sudan, Meols (Cheshire) in England, and the holy city of Jerusalem, as well as modern Turkey and Eritrea. Pilgrims would buy these bottles and take them back to their relatives.