The Church today honors the memory of Saint Poemen, one of the great hermit in the desert of Egypt, who was the epitome of humiliation and spiritually guided countless monks and laypeople. We also celebrate the memory of Saint Liberius, Pope of Rome, who attended the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and was deemed worthy to receive the title of Confessor for being persecuted by the Aryanophile emperors.
The Church commemorates Saint Phanourius the Great Martyr & Newly Appeared, who is especially popular and many faithful pray to him in order to find lost objects. The relation of the saint to the revelation of things or persons is not based on analogous events in his life, but relates to the way in which he appears.
Specifically, there was no information about the life of Saint Phanourius until the 14th century, and he first came to prominence when an old temple was found in an excavation on the island of Rhodes, with icons of various saints. There was an icon depicting the saint as a young soldier with a cross in his right hand, recounting the twelve martyrdoms he had suffered and bearing the name “Saint Phano”. The then Metropolitan of Rhodes, Nile, renovated that temple and dedicated it to Saint Phanourius who appeared in this way.
What still comes to our minds today is the humility and pure faith of the people, who seek the power of God in their lives with the intercession of Saint Phanourius and all the saints with repentance.
According to tradition, Saint Phanourius is considered as the pre-eminent saint who can help to find (“reveal”) any lost belongings, apparently from the false etymology of his name with the word “φανερώνω” [faneróno]. Likewise, it was widely believed that Saint Phanourius “reveals” to the girls their husband-to-be.
When women lose something, they usually pray to him, and promise to make a fanouropita (sweet fasting pie made up with flour, blackcurrants, sugar, oil, orange zest, etc.) and then share it with other faithful so that the saint’s mother will be forgiven, who, according to tradition, she was a sinner. Many fanouropitas are made on the memory day of Saint Phanourius as a blessing or as a kind of preventive request for help for future losses.
