Menas was sent to Alexandria as an imperial official but confessed Christ; Hermogenes and Eugraphus joined his witness, and they suffered martyrdom under Maximian.
The Holy Martyrs Menas the Most Eloquent, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus of Alexandria
Menas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus are three martyrs of Alexandria commemorated together in the Orthodox calendar on December 10. According to the synaxarion, they suffered for their faith in Christ under the emperor Maximian (305-313).
Their commemoration is preserved as a single feast of the three together. Menas is given the epithet "the Most Eloquent" for the gift of eloquence with which the sources credit him, while Hermogenes and Eugraphus are remembered for joining his confession of Christ.
Having slain the fiery ragings and fierce movements of the passions through their ascetic labors,
the Martyrs of Christ, Menas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus, received grace to dispel the afflictions of the infirm and to work wonders both while alive and after death.
It is a truly great wonder that bare bones pour forth healing.
Glory to our only God and Creator.
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
The Lord snatched you from the temporal army making you a fellow inheritor of the eternal, O Menas;
together with Hermogenes and Eugraphus with whom you suffered,
you are granted an incorruptible crown.
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
The sources identify three distinct figures commemorated together. Menas, called "the Most Eloquent," was the imperial official sent from Athens to Alexandria. Hermogenes was the pagan official dispatched to put the saints on trial, who converted after witnessing Menas's witness under torture. Eugraphus was the secretary of Menas, and according to the accounts was killed personally by Maximian.
The synaxarion relates that the emperor Justinian built a church in the name of the holy Martyr Menas of Alexandria, and that Saint Joseph the Hymnographer composed a canon in honor of the martyrs.
The three are commemorated together on December 10, with the finding and transfer of their relics associated with February 17.
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