Great Martyr Menas of Egypt (Cotyaeum)

The Great Martyr Menas was of Egyptian origin and served as a Roman soldier in Phrygia. When Emperors Diocletian and Maximian issued edicts of general persecution against Christians, he left military service and withdrew into the desert mountains, where he devoted himself to fasting and prayer. During a pagan festival in the city of Cotyaeum, St. Menas came out into the public square and openly confessed himself a Christian, denouncing the falsehood of idol worship. Brought to trial before the governor Pyrrhus, he was subjected to brutal torture — beaten with ox-sinew whips, his flesh scraped, seared with fire — but remained unshaken in his faith, for which he was beheaded. His body was later translated to Egypt; over the burial site near Alexandria arose a monastic pilgrimage complex known as Abu Mina (from Arabic "Father Mina"), renowned for numerous miracles and healings, as well as the widely known legend of camels that stopped of their own accord, without a driver, at the site of the future burial of his relics and would not move from it. Abu Mina is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. According to one theory, the name of the Egyptian city of El-Alamein itself derives from a corruption of "Saint Mina."

NOTE: the broken template text containing the artifact "Мина 2" (likely a numbering error during generation) has been replaced.