MIRACLES OF SAINT MINAS
“who is so great a God as our God?” (Pslm. 77,13)
Porphyrius, an ascetic of our days, had said to his spiritual children that
he will be more close to them after his death, because he won’t be amenable
to the natural laws. So, Saint Minas has not stopped after his death helping
and supporting the faithfuls.
We refer some of his many miracles.
A Christian from Constantinople went to St Minas festival and he had enough
money on him. He found accommodation at a hotel. The hotel-owner was seized
with greediness. Therefore, he killed the pilgrim, he quartered him and he
put his limbs in a straw-bag. While he searched for a place to bury the
straw-bag, in order that his crime doesn’t come to light, a mounted soldier
arrived at the hotel and he asked him insistently where the pilgrim was. The
hotel-owner assured him that he didn’t know
anything and then the soldier, who was Saint Minas, got off the horse, he
went into the hotel and he found the straw-bag. He looked black at the
hotel-owner and he asked him who the dead man is. Then the murderer was
horrified and he fell at the unknown to him horseman’s feet. Saint Minas
fitted the limbs of the victim together, he prayed, he resurrected the dead
pilgrim and he ordered him to praise God. The resurrected man looked as
though he roused out of a deep sleep, he understood what had happened, he
praised God and he bowed before Saint Minas. When the murderer rallied from
the shock and he stood up, Saint Minas stung him for the stolen money, he
restored it to the pilgrim and he ordered him to keep on his way. Then, he
gave the hotel-owner a good beating, as he deserved it, he preached at him
and he absolved him from his sin to complete the divine beneficence. After
all these he rode on his horse and he disappeared. Then, the hotel-owner
understood that the soldier was Saint Minas and this fact remind the
experience of two Apostles, when they went to the village called Emmaus with
the Lord Jesus (Luk. 24,13).
According to some publications a similar occurrence, namely a resurrection
of a quartered dead man took place in 2004 and got a lot of publicity. We
refer to the important piece of news which was published in newspapers,
magazines and in the Internet.
According to those publications the Virgin
Mary resurrected a murdered Saudi Arabian Muslim trader who went to the Our
Lady of Saydnaya Monastery in Syria.
(“Greek Orthodox Family” magazine, [108], p. 5-7, 10-11-12/2005, Ed. Foundation For Large Families, Athens, Greece)
A rich Christian vowed to Saint Minas a salver. Therefore he commissioned
the silversmith for two salvers and he asked him on the one to inscribe the
name of Saint Minas and on the other his name. Since the salver of Saint
Minas was made more beautiful, the Christian was seized with greediness and
he misappropriated it without being ashamed. When he traveled by ship, he
had supper and used the salver of Saint Minas as dinner service. After the
supper his servant tried to wash the salver with seawater. As a result of
it, the salver dropped out of his hands and it went at the bottom of the
sea. The servant was seized with fright and he made a desperate effort to
grasp the salver. The upshot of it was to fall overboard. When his master
realized what happened, he was conscious that he was punished according to
his deserts and he was filled with remorse. He begged God to find even the
dead body of his young servant and he vowed to bring to Saint Mina’s church
the other salver and also the equivalent of the lost salver. At last he was
on land. While he looked at the sea in dismay, since he cherished hopes that
his servant’s body would be washed up by the waves, the young man emerged
alive from the sea with the salver in his hands. The rich Christian was
astonished and he gave a shout, which the passengers of the ship heard and
they got all out. When they realized what happened, they asked the servant
to describe his adventure with all details. The young man recounted them the
following: “I fell just overboard, when three people appeared before me. The
eldest of them was a uniformed army officer; he was accompanied by a young
man and a deacon. All three pulled me out of the sea and we walked for two
days, until we arrived here.” His master and the passengers of the ship
praised God and he admired the ways which he used, in order that the truth
burst upon people “…to come to the knowledge of the truth” (Tim. 3,7), after
they heard about the exceptional miracle. The officer was Saint Minas, the
young man was Saint Victor and the deacon was Saint Vincent. In the 2nd
century Saint Victor was flayed alive and in the 3rd century Saint Vincent
was crucified and quartered. All three are honoured on 11th November.
Another miracle of Saint Minas took place in 1826 in Heraclion of Crete,
Greece. After the outbreak of the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman
domination in 1821, the Turks massacred thousands of civilians in many
regions. The inhabitants of Crete were among the first who paid for it with
their lives. The Metropolitan of Crete and at least five bishops were
massacred on 24 June 1821 in the precinct of the cathedral of Heraklion. It
is noteworthy that the priest who officiated at the Mass, was massacred on
the altar. In 1826 Turks planned again to massacre the Christian population.
They would have put their plan into action at Easter, when the Easter
service would have been celebrated, in order that they take the Christians
unawares. They set several remote districts of the city on fire to make a
diversion, while armed hordes crowded outside of the cathedral, the church
of Saint Minas, and they waited for the reading of the Gospel to begin in
order that they invade in the church. But, when the reading began, an
elderly, white-haired rider began to gallop round the cathedral. He
brandished his sword and he dashed the would-be killers, who ran away. So,
the sorely-tried Christians of Heraklion were rescued from the appaling
danger. Turks thought that the rider was a Muslim elder who was sent by the
governor of the city to foil the massacre. When they made representations to
the governor, he warranted them that he didn’t know anything and also it was
ascertained that the elder in question hadn’t left his house. Turks
understood that Saint Minas had worked a miracle. They announced to the
Greeks the fact and since then they venerated Saint Minas and they made
donations to his church. This miracle is remembered in Heraklion on Tuesday
of the Easter Week. The relics of Saint Minas are worshipped during the
Vespers of this day.
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos writes in his biography about Hatzighiorghis
the following: “Father George, the Hatzighiorghis, is a Saint of our time
and a great one at that.” Elder Hatzighiorghis (1809-1886), “the great and
famous ascetic” for a long time led the ascetic’s life on the Mount Athos.
He dwelled in the cell of Saint Demetrius and Saint Minas in Kerasia. At the
beginning he was a spiritual son of Papa-Neophytos and since 1848 he was the
Elder of the brotherhood. “The Elder occupied himself with a needle-work and
he swallowed by mistake a big needle. He prayed the Great Martyr Saint
Minas. Saint Minas appeared before him and he dislodged the needle from his
throat.”
In June 1942, during the North Africa campaign that was the decisive for the
outcome of the Second World War, the German forces under the command of
General Rommel, were on their way to Alexandria, and happened to make a halt
near a place which the Arabs call El-Alamein after Saint Minas. An ancient
ruined church there was dedicated to the Saint; and there some people say he
is buried. Here the weaker Allied forces including some Greeks confronted
the numerically and militarily superior German army, and the result of the
coming battle seemed certain. During the first night of engagement, Saint
Minas appeared in the midst of the German camp at the head of a caravan of
camels, exactly as he was shown on the walls of the ruined church in one of
the frescoes depicting his miracles. This astounding and terrifying
apparition so undermined German morale that it contributed to the brilliant
victory of the Allies. The Church of Saint Minas was restored in
thanksgiving and a monastery was established there.
LITERATURE
1. The Great Synaxarion of the Othodox Church, by Matthew Laggis, bishop of
Oinói, Vol. 11th, Athens5, 1996
2. The New Synaxarion of the Orthodox Church, by Hieromonk Makarios of
Simonos Petras (Translation and Revision by Xeonophon Komnenos), Vol. III,
Indiktos, Athens 2004
3. George Mavromatis, The Great Martyr Saint Minas from Egypt, Vigla, Holy
Monastery of Megisti Lavra, Mount Athos-The Holy Mount, 1998
4. Hieromonk Anthony, The Spiritual Fathers of Mount Athos in 19th Century,
Vol. V, Indiktos, Athens 2005
5. Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, Elder Hadji-Georgis the Athonite, Holy
Hesychasterion of Saint John the Theologian, Thessaloniki6, 2001
The biblical passages were taken from the King James Bible of the Electronic
Text Center,
University
of Virginia Library