Agios Menas Feast Day 2026: The Patron Saint of Heraklion

11 Nov 2026, 00:38 by Stella Mazonakis · Greek City Times

Today, Wednesday 11 November 2026, the Greek Orthodox Church commemorates Agios Menas (Άγιος Μηνάς), the Great Martyr of Egypt. He is the patron saint of Heraklion in Crete, and it is the name day of Minas, Mina, Minakis and several other names.

Who celebrates today

Today is the name day of everyone named Minas (Μηνάς), Mina (Μήνα), Menas, Minos and Minais, as well as the diminutive Minakis, a form often heard in Crete. Because the Church also honours the martyrs Victor, Vincent and Stephanida on this date, it is the name day of Viktoras, Viktor and Viktoria, of Vikentios, Vikentis and Vikentia, and of Stephanida.

If you know a Minas, a Mina or a Viktoras, now is the time to call and say “Χρόνια πολλά!” (“Many happy years!”). You can find the major celebrations of the year in our 2026 Greek Name Days guide.

Icon of Agios Menas, the Great Martyr of Egypt.

The soldier martyr of Egypt

According to the Orthodox synaxarion, Menas was an Egyptian who served as a Roman military officer in the Kotyaeion region of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, during the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. When Christians in the army were ordered to take part in the persecution, he laid down his soldier’s belt, the sign of his rank, and withdrew to the mountains above the city to live in fasting and prayer.

He later came down into Kotyaeion during a pagan festival, stood among the crowd and openly confessed Christ. He was arrested, brought before the prefect Pyrrhus, and offered his old rank back if he would sacrifice to the idols. He refused, was tortured, and was beheaded in the year 304. Friends who were secretly Christian hid his body until the persecution ended, then took his relics to Egypt and placed them in a church dedicated to him south-west of Alexandria.

That shrine, at Abu Mena, became one of the great pilgrimage centres of the late antique Christian world. Pilgrims carried away small clay flasks stamped with the saint standing between two camels, and the ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Patron saint of Heraklion

In Crete, Agios Menas is the patron of Heraklion, and 11 November is a local public holiday in the municipality. The city’s metropolitan cathedral, the largest church on the island, is dedicated to him. Work on the cathedral began in 1862 and it was consecrated in 1895. A smaller, older church of Agios Menas stands nearby.

Each year the people of Heraklion honour him with a procession on his feast. According to a local tradition, his special place in the city goes back to Easter 1826, when a horseman is said to have appeared and dispersed a mob that was preparing to attack Christians gathered for the Resurrection service. The faithful of Heraklion have long believed that the rider was Agios Menas.

A protector in need

The Church honours Agios Menas as a wonderworker. Orthodox Christians pray to him for healing, for protection in time of war, and for help in finding lost things.

The same day also commemorates the martyr Victor, the martyr Stephanida, and Vincent, a deacon of Saragossa in Spain who suffered in the persecution of Diocletian.

Χρόνια Πολλά to everyone celebrating today!

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