Saints Minas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus lived during the reign of the Emperor Maximian (305–313) and endured terrible sufferings for their faith in Christ.
Saint Minas, who was sent by the emperor to Alexandria in order to suppress the uprisings that had broken out there, began to openly preach the Christian faith, converting many pagans to Christianity. When the emperor learned of his actions, he sent the prefect Hermogenes to arrest and bring the saint to trial. However, impressed by Minas’s patience, as well as by the miracles he performed, Hermogenes came to believe in the true God. The emperor, enraged, ordered the beheading of Saint Minas, Saint Hermogenes, and Saint Eugraphus, who was the former’s secretary.
The relics of the holy martyrs were cast into the sea, placed inside a metal vessel. Much later, they were recovered and transferred to Constantinople.
Emperor Justinian I built a church there in honor of Saint Minas of Alexandria, while Joseph the Hymnographer composed a canon in honor of the holy martyrs.
