Venerable Memnon the Wonderworker of Egypt

Venerable Memnon labored in the Egyptian desert from his youth, subduing bodily passions through prolonged ascetic struggle. He was later made abbot of an Egyptian monastery, where he governed the brotherhood with wisdom and discernment while continuing his own ascetic labors, guiding the monks more through prayer and counsel than through severity.

Through unceasing prayer and labor he attained the gift of clairvoyance and became renowned for miracles during his lifetime: by his prayer a spring of water opened in the desert for the brethren, locusts devastating the crops were destroyed through his intercession, and sailors caught in shipwrecks who invoked his name were saved. His reputation as a wonderworker continued after his death — tradition holds that the mere invocation of his name was enough to drive away locust swarms and defeat the schemes of evil spirits, indicating an enduring local veneration of him as a protector against agricultural disaster.

In the Slavic Menaion his service is combined with that of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus (already documented in our database — see martyr_theognis), whose feast falls on the same day.

His feast is kept on April 29/May 12.