November/December 2025 - St Menas and St Eleutherius

November/December 2025 - St Menas and St Eleutherius

The Holy Great Martyr Menas (Mēnás), an Egyptian by birth, was a military officer and served in the Kotyaeion region of Phrygia under the centurion Firmilian during the reign of Emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). He was praised and admired for his bravery in battle, his patience, and his self-discipline.
In 298, the Emperors published an edict ordering everyone to worship the idols. Those serving in the Legions were ordered to capture and persecute Christians. As soon as Saint Menas heard this impious decree he threw down his soldier’s belt (a sign of military rank) and withdrew to a mountain above Kotyaeion, where he lived an ascetical life of fasting and prayer. He spent a long time in the wilderness, suffering great privation and laboring in feats of prayer, fasting, and nocturnal vigils. Thus, the Saint purified himself of every passion of soul and body.

When his heart was strengthened with godly zeal, and his soul aflame with love for God, divine grace came upon him and he had a vision. He regarded this as a sign that he was to follow the path of martyrdom. Therefore, he left the mountain and went into the city, where the people were celebrating a pagan festival.
At that time, Saint Menas was approximately fifty years old. Standing in the midst of the crowd, he shouted: "There is only one true God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Your "gods" are demons, and your idols have been fashioned by craftsmen. These inanimate objects are nothing but metal, wood, and stone."
Those who heard his voice left their dancing and their games and went to see who had disrupted their idolatrous festival, marveling at his boldness. They seized and beat him, then brought him before Pyrrhus, the City Prefect. When he saw Menas he asked him who he was, and why he was creating a disturbance. The Saint replied, "I am an Egyptian, a servant of Jesus Christ, the Ruler of all things. I was a soldier, and I served in the Imperial Army for most of my life. But since the Emperor has chosen to follow the path of idolatry, and to persecute Christians, I chose to dwell with the wild animals in the wilderness rather than obey the impious commands of those who do not know God."
When the Prefect heard this he became enraged and had the Saint thrown into prison.
The next morning, Pyrrhus urged Saint Menas to return to the Army, offering to restore his former rank if he would offer sacrifice to the pagan "gods." Menas refused, and so he was subjected to many cruel tortures. The Prefect urged him to submit to the edict and offer sacrifice to the idols, but the Martyr remained firm in his Faith, saying that he would never deny Christ. Pyrrhus ordered further torments, but seeing that he could not persuade Saint Menas, he ordered that he be taken outside the city and beheaded. As he was being led to the place of execution, he asked his friends (who were secret Christians) to take his body back to Egypt for burial when the persecution had ceased. These friends gathered Martyr’s relics at night and hid them until the persecution was over. Later, they were brought to Egypt and placed in a church dedicated to Saint Menas southwest of Alexandria.
Saint Menas received the crown of martyrdom in the year 304. By God's grace he continues to work miracles for those who entreat him with faith and love. He is known for healing various illnesses, delivering people from demonic possessions, and is a protector, especially during times of war.
In 1942, General Erwin Rommel had conquered almost all of North Africa, and was heading toward Alexandria. The Nazis had reached El Alamein,1 where they camped for the night, intending to attack Alexandria in the morning. Saint Menas, however, did not allow this to happen. At midnight (October 23-24), certain people noticed Saint Menas coming out of his ancient church leading camels into the German camp. Overcome by panic, weakness, and confusion, Rommel's troops fled. The battle ended on November 4th with the enemy in full retreat. It is regarded as a turning point in the whole war. Later, Winston Churchill said: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat."
The Allies offered that place to Patriarch Christophoros of Alexandria so that the church of Saint Menas could be rebuilt.
We pray to Saint Menas to ask for his help in finding lost objects. Nov 11.

 

St Eleutherius of Illyricum
From a good tree comes good fruit. This wonderful saint had noble and greatly eminent parents. Eleutherius was born in Rome, where his father was an imperial proconsul. His mother Anthia heard the Gospel from the great Apostle Paul and was baptized by him. Having been left a widow early, she entrusted her only son for study and service to Anicetus the Bishop of Rome. Seeing how Eleutherius was gifted by God and illumined by the grace of God, the bishop ordained him a deacon at the age of fifteen, a priest at the age of eighteen, and a bishop at the age of twenty. Eleutherius’s God-given wisdom made up for what he lacked in years, and this chosen one of God was appointed Bishop of Illyria with his seat in Valona (Avlona), Albania. The good shepherd guarded his flock well and increased their number day by day. Emperor Hadrian, a persecutor of Christians, sent the commander Felix with soldiers to seize Eleutherius and bring him to Rome. When the raging Felix arrived in Valona and entered the church, he saw and heard the holy hierarch of God; suddenly his heart changed, and he became a Christian. Eleutherius baptized Felix and departed for Rome with him, returning joyfully as if he were going to a feast and not to trial and torture. The emperor subjected the noble Eleutherius to harsh torture: flogging, roasting on an iron bed, boiling in pitch, and burning in a fiery furnace. But Eleutherius was delivered from all these deadly tortures by God’s power. Seeing all this, Caribus the Roman eparch declared that he also was a Christian. Caribus was tortured and then beheaded and so was Blessed Felix. Finally, the imperial executioners cut off the honourable head of St. Eleutherius. When his mother, the holy Anthia, came and stood over the dead body of her son, she also was beheaded. Their bodies were translated to Valona, where even today St. Eleutherius glorifies the name of Christ by his many miracles. He suffered during the reign of Hadrian in the year 120. Dec 15.

 

Nativity icon:
The above image is the nativity icon of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is full of beautiful symbolism. In this article, I will explain the meaning of 6 | P a g e
the icon. Several features from it can be found in the extra-biblical book called the Protoevangelium of James, which I highly recommend. The Protoevangelium is a second century document (written in the 100s) that contains some of the oldest verbal tradition that was passed down in the first two or three generations of the Church.
Something to bear in mind is that icons are images of reality – they show us how the world exists through symbol. They are not still life portraits. While they depict historical events, they frequently emphasize theology over literalness, which will become apparent as you read on.
CENTER
In the center is the infant Christ lying in a manger. The Virgin Mary (Theotokos) is beside Him, and an ox and an ass are behind Him. Christ being born in a cave is not in the Bible, but it is an ancient tradition, dating back to the first and second centuries. He is dressed in burial clothes to foreshadow His death. His location in a cave also foreshadows the grave in which He would be buried and where He would resurrect.
When Adam and Even were first created, they were clothed in the glory of God. That was their natural state. But when they fell into sin, they lost this clothing of glory and became aware of their nakedness. Clothed in animals’ skins (which represent death), they went into exile outside of the Garden. Christ likewise condescended from His state of glory to become one of us, which in some sense meant He was exiling Himself from heaven. He wrapped Himself in the mortal flesh’s sin and death, as Scripture states, God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
BOTTOM LEFT
Unlike most icons that feature both Christ and the Virgin Mary, she is not looking at Him. Instead, she is looking at her betrothed, Joseph, interceding for him. The Protoevangelium tells us that after the birth of Jesus, he walked out of the cave, battling doubts. The old man next to him is supposed to be the devil who is, of course, filling his mind with all sorts of doubts and angry thoughts.
We may sing “What Child is This?” but Joseph’s question was “Whose child is this?!” since he knew he was certainly not the father. Yet Joseph has a halo, which indicates his sanctity. 

Sometimes when God shows up in our lives, it raises questions and doubts. God bestows His grace upon us, but then He seems to withdraw a little bit, allowing difficulties to test and deepen our faith. We may wonder why things happen the way they do. But if we persevere, then things will gradually become clear.
TOP & MIDDLE
At the very top is a blue shape sometimes called a mandorla. It signifies the presence and the glory of God. It beams from the heavens, pointing to the Christ child, which shows His descent from heaven to the earth.
On the left, the three kings (magi) are traveling from afar, following the star in the sky.
Angels appear in the heavens above and tell the good news to the shepherds (on the right) in the field so that they can see this divine child born in the little town of Bethlehem.
I sometimes wonder if the shepherds and angelic chorus appeared after Jesus’ birth more for Joseph’s sake than anything else. These divine interventions affirmed the dream that God granted Joseph and helped Him to trust God. Our Church’s hymns mention this struggle and Joseph’s victory over doubt:
Joseph, when he beheld the greatness of this wonder, thought that he saw a mortal wrapped as a babe in swaddling clothes; but from all that came to pass he understood that it was the true God, who grants the world great mercy. (Vespers of the Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ)
May we be comforted by the fact that our Savior has come into this world to heal every messy, doubtful, sinful part of us. There is nothing a repentant heart has done that will permanently push God away from it. And there is nothing that you have done that he has not already helped someone else through, someone else who is considered a saint.
BOTTOM RIGHT
The women at the bottom right are midwives who display that the Son of God was truly born as a human and did not merely appear to be human as some early heretics claimed. There is a fountain that they are about to wash the Christ child in because He had, in some sense, an ordinary, messy birth.

FURTHER DEVELOPING THE SYMBOLISM

THE OX AND ASS
The ox and ass are two of the most ancient symbols that appear in nativity icons and sculptures. To the left is one of many Christmas (Nativity) paintings from the 1200s featuring the ox and ass.
In the ancient Church, the ox symbolized the Jews, for it was a clean, kosher animal that they could eat. It could also be easily trained to pull a plow and assist in various ways. The Jews had the Law of Moses, and it helped keep them (or at least a remnant) clean and obedient to God.
The ass, on the other hand, is a stubborn and wilder animal. It is unclean and not kosher, therefore, it represents the Gentiles who did not have the Law of Moses to guide them away from their pursuit of indecent and immoral behavior.
In Christ, these two seemingly opposed groups came together to form one people. As the Bible says, for he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (Eph. 2:14).
MEETING IN THE CENTER
Above are the angels, below are the shepherds, midwives, and people. To the left are the three wise men, the three kings, the magi who travel a great distance bearing expensive gifts. To the right are simple, poor, uneducated shepherds. In the center is Christ, who brings all of these different people together in Himself. He unites heaven and earth, rich and poor, wise and 9 | P a g e
simple, educated and uneducated, locals and foreigners, obedient and rebellious men, the confident and doubters; all these find their place in Christ.
THE CAVE AND THE HEART
Christ was the mystery hidden throughout all ages – just as his coming in the cave was hidden from most people. But the glory of this mystery is Christ in you (cf. Col. 1:26-27). In this way, the cave became an icon of every heart that opens itself to Christ.
Caves, with all of their mystery and darkness, hidden chambers and secret places, are truly a reflection of the dark, mysterious heart within each one of us. But like the cave Christ entered on Christmas day, our hearts can become the dwelling place of His majestic glory. Like the ox and ass, we have both clean and unclean things in our hearts – the things that are good and not so good. We have the devil whispering doubts or evil things to us. But we also have the Theotokos praying for us.
All the distractions in our lives pull us outside of our hearts. Because of that, we have terrible self-awareness. But when we enter into our hearts, we find that Christ is there. But what does that mean?
Imagine Joseph getting up and walking away from the devil, saying, “I’m tired of listening to you and your lies.” He prays to God to help him; he gets up and walks to the cave where Christ and the Mother of God are. That is the beginning of descending into the heart. Of finding the mystery hidden from all eternity, dwelling within our hearts as He once dwelt in a cave near the little town of Bethlehem.