Christian feast day: Menas of Constantinople
Menas of Constantinople
Menas of Constantinople, considered a saint in the Chalcedonian-affirming Church and by extension both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Church of modern times, was born in Alexandria, and enters the records in high ecclesiastical office as presbyter and director of the Hospital of Sampson in Constantinople, where tradition has him linked to saint Sampson the Hospitable directly, and in the healing of Byzantine emperor Justinian I from the bubonic plague in 542. He was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I on 13 March 536. Pope Agapetus I consecrated him to succeed Anthimus I of Constantinople, who was condemned as a monophysite. This was the first time that a Pope consecrated a Patriarch of Constantinople.