Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus

Menas was a Christian of Athens or Alexandria — the synaxaria differ — who lived in Alexandria during the persecution of Maximian and his successor at the beginning of the fourth century. The synaxarion records that Maximian sent Menas to Alexandria as an imperial agent to investigate the Christian community and report back; Menas, instead, secretly joined the Christians and worked to support them. He is distinct from the better-known Great-martyr Menas of Egypt (November 11) — though the two are often confused.

When the deception came to light, Maximian sent a senior officer named Hermogenes to Alexandria to deal with the case. Hermogenes set up his tribunal, interrogated Menas at length — and, by the synaxarion's witness, was so impressed by Menas's defense of the faith that he himself confessed Christ during the hearing. Eugraphus, Menas's personal secretary, who had stood at his side through the interrogation, made the same confession.

All three — Menas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus — were beheaded together by the imperial order around 313. Their joint feast falls on December 10.