# Saint Menas of Thmuis

Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/saint-menas-of-thmuis — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-03)

Saint Menas of Thmuis was an eighth-century Coptic bishop from Samannud whose monastic life took him to the monasteries of Saint Antony and Saint Macarius. He became the spiritual father of four patriarchs of Alexandria and participated in their consecrations. His commemoration is on 7 Hatur.

## Overview

Saint Menas of Thmuis, called Anba Menas in his biographical notice, was a bishop whose life connected the monasteries of Saint Antony and Saint Macarius with the patriarchal leadership of Alexandria. The *Coptic Encyclopedia* describes him as an eighth-century bishop, while placing his appointment under Patriarch Simon I, whose patriarchate it dates to 689–701. His commemoration is on 7 Hatur.[^1][^3]

His principal distinction in the surviving account is his relationship with four successive patriarchs: Alexander II, Cosmas I, Theodorus, and Kha’il I. He was their spiritual father and laid his hands on them at their consecrations. The account therefore remembers him not simply as the bishop of a particular city, but as a monastic spiritual guide who also participated in the succession of Alexandrian patriarchs.[^2]

## Sources for his life

René-Georges Coquin’s encyclopedia notice identifies two sources for Menas’s life: the Coptic Synaxarion, whose notice is read on 7 Hatur, and the *History of the Patriarchs*, specifically its account of Kha’il I. These place his memory in both the calendar of saints and the historical narrative of the Alexandrian patriarchate.[^1]

The encyclopedia’s separate article on Tmuis supplies additional chronological and geographical context. It identifies Menas as the only bishop of that city from the Arabic period whose chronological position can be ascertained, and records his attendance at the synod that selected Kha’il I in 744. It also attributes his Samannud origin, Macarian monastic affiliation, and spiritual fatherhood of four patriarchs to the Synaxarion.[^4]

The encyclopedia index provides two further pointers: it associates Menas with Damru and identifies him as a monk at Dayr Anba Antuniyus. The supplied index does not explain the Damru connection, so it establishes a reference to pursue rather than an additional episode that can be narrated in detail.[^5]

## History and origins

### Samannud and married ascetic life

Menas was born in Samannud in the Delta and was an only son. According to his biographical notice, he was married against his will, but he and his wife maintained a chaste marriage. Both wore haircloth belts beneath their garments and spent the night in prayer.[^6]

The account thus presents his ascetic life as beginning before his departure for a monastery. His wife appears as a participant in the practices of continence, concealed haircloth, and nighttime prayer, rather than merely as a figure preceding his monastic vocation.[^6]

### The monasteries of Saint Antony and Saint Macarius

Menas subsequently left his wife and went to Dayr Anba Antuniyus, the monastery of Saint Antony. There he met Kha’il, the future patriarch of Alexandria. The two then went to the monastery of Saint Macarius in Scetis, where Abraham and George had become famous.[^3]

This sequence is important for understanding the different summaries of his monastic identity. The biographical notice names both monasteries and describes movement from one to the other; the Tmuis article emphasizes that he had been a monk at the monastery of Saint Macarius in Wadi al-Natrun. These accounts are complementary rather than competing identifications of a single monastic residence.[^3][^4]

The meeting with Kha’il also gives a personal background to Menas’s later place in patriarchal history. In the biography, their relationship began in a monastery before Kha’il’s patriarchate, and Menas subsequently became both his spiritual father and a participant in his consecration.[^2][^3]

## Bishop of Thmuis

### The episcopal city

The encyclopedia calls Menas’s see Tmuis. It locates the city at Tall ‘Abd al-Salam in the eastern Delta, southwest of the village of Timay in Daqahliyyah, approximately 12 miles or 19 kilometres southeast of al-Mansurah. It describes Tmuis as one of Egypt’s earliest Christian cities, with a bishop named Ammonius already serving before the middle of the third century.[^7]

Menas therefore belonged to an episcopal tradition considerably older than his own lifetime. Nevertheless, the Tmuis article emphasizes the unevenness of the historical record: attestations are few between the Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Arab conquest in the seventh century, and even the more plentiful sources for the Arabic period allow it to establish a chronological position for only Menas among the city’s bishops.[^4][^7]

### Appointment and chronology

The biographical notice states that Patriarch Simon I appointed Menas bishop of Tmuis, giving Simon’s dates as 689–701. The separate account of the city places Menas among the contemporaries of Patriarch Isaac, dated there to 686–689, and states that Menas was still in office in 744.[^3][^4]

These notices supply a broad chronological framework, but the biographical passage does not give an exact year for his episcopal appointment. Its description of Menas as an eighth-century bishop should consequently be read alongside, rather than substituted for, its placement of his appointment within Simon I’s patriarchate.[^1][^3]

In 744 Menas attended the synod in Cairo that chose Kha’il I as the forty-sixth patriarch. The Tmuis article gives Kha’il’s patriarchate as 744–767. Coquin’s biographical notice places Menas’s own death probably in 768; its qualification should be retained, since the date is not presented as certain.[^4][^8]

## Spiritual father of four patriarchs

The four patriarchs connected with Menas are listed in his biography as follows:[^2]

- **Alexander II**, patriarch in 705–730.[^2]
- **Cosmas I**, patriarch in 730–731.[^2]
- **Theodorus**, patriarch in 731–743; the Tmuis article uses the English form **Theodore**.[^2][^4]
- **Kha’il I**, patriarch in 744–767.[^2]

The source makes two distinct statements about these relationships: Menas was their spiritual father, and he laid his hands on them at their consecrations. Spiritual guidance and participation in ecclesiastical consecration are therefore both part of his recorded significance; the account does not reduce his connection with these patriarchs to friendship or contemporaneity alone.[^2]

Kha’il receives particular prominence because the biography records their earlier meeting at Saint Antony’s monastery, while the *History of the Patriarchs* preserves information about Menas within Kha’il’s notice. The Tmuis article adds the specific event of Menas’s participation in the patriarchal election synod of 744.[^1][^3][^4]

## Theology and meaning

The biography presents Menas’s religious life through ascetic practice and spiritual fatherhood. Its concrete features are chastity within marriage, haircloth worn beneath ordinary clothing, nighttime prayer, entry into monastic life, and eventual episcopal service. Taken together, these details give the account a progression from personal and shared ascetic discipline to responsibility for others.[^2][^3][^6]

His spiritual influence is expressed most explicitly through the four patriarchs he guided. The sources record that relationship and his participation in their consecrations, rather than supplying a theological treatise or a series of teachings attributed to him. The grounded emphasis is consequently on his life and ecclesiastical relationships.[^1][^2]

## Liturgical commemoration

Menas’s feast day is **7 Hatur**. The biographical notice explicitly states that his Synaxarion account is read on that date, and both the encyclopedia’s list of saints and its article on Tmuis confirm the same commemoration.[^1][^4][^9]

The supplied evidence supports a specific calendar observance and associated reading. It does not furnish a distinctive hymn, prayer text, or additional rubric for his feast; those details cannot be reconstructed from the notice alone.[^1]

## Names and distinction from other saints

The supplied encyclopedia uses **Tmuis** for the episcopal city and identifies the saint as **Menas, Saint** or **Menas, Saint and Bishop of Tmuis**. His biography also uses **Anba Menas**. These forms anchor the identification of the bishop discussed here.[^1][^5]

He should be distinguished from **Menas the Miracle Maker**, whose commemoration is on 15 Hatur and whose account describes a soldier who withdrew into the wilderness and suffered martyrdom. That saint’s relics and burial at Mareotis belong to a separate narrative, not to the recorded biography of the bishop of Thmuis.[^9][^10]

He is also distinguished in the encyclopedia from Menas of Pshati, bishop of Nikiou following John. The latter is identified as an inspector of the monasteries of Wadi al-Natrun and as the author of a *Life of Anba Isaac* and a eulogy of Saint Macrobius. These literary and administrative activities are assigned to Menas of Pshati, not to Menas of Thmuis.[^11]

The distinguishing features of Menas of Thmuis are therefore his Samannud origin, his successive association with the monasteries of Saint Antony and Saint Macarius, his episcopate under the chronological framework supplied for Simon I and Kha’il I, his spiritual fatherhood of four patriarchs, and his commemoration on 7 Hatur.[^1][^2][^3][^6]

## Frequently asked questions

**Who was Saint Menas of Thmuis?**
Saint Menas was a native of Samannud who became a monk and then bishop of Thmuis. He was the spiritual father of four patriarchs of Alexandria.

**When is Saint Menas of Thmuis commemorated?**
His commemoration is on 7 Hatur. The Coptic Encyclopedia states that his Synaxarion notice is read on that date.

**Which patriarchs were spiritual sons of Saint Menas of Thmuis?**
The four patriarchs were Alexander II, Cosmas I, Theodorus, and Kha’il I. Menas also laid his hands on them at their consecrations.

**When did Saint Menas of Thmuis die?**
The Coptic Encyclopedia gives his death as probably occurring in 768. The date is presented as an estimate rather than a certainty.

**Is Saint Menas of Thmuis the same as Menas the Miracle Maker?**
No: the supplied encyclopedia accounts distinguish the bishop of Thmuis, commemorated on 7 Hatur, from Menas the Miracle Maker, the soldier-martyr commemorated on 15 Hatur.

## Sources
[^1]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 595)
[^2]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 595)
[^3]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 595)
[^4]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 571)
[^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia — Index, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 295)
[^6]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 595)
[^7]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 571)
[^8]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 595)
[^9]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 130)
[^10]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 597)
[^11]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 130)