Saint Menas
11 November 2026 — May the candle and the lantern keep their light over Heraklion.
Saint Menas is an early Christian martyr honored in the Orthodox and other churches. According to tradition, he was a soldier who left military service and suffered for his faith in the early 4th century. The Church commemorates him on 11 November. In Greece he is best known as the patron saint of Heraklion on the island of Crete. The city's main cathedral bears his name and keeps his revered icon. Each year on this day Heraklion holds a festive liturgy, a procession with the icon through the streets, and a shared celebration meal. The day is also the city's own holiday. Saint Menas is also invoked as a helper of travelers and of those who have lost something. The feast falls on a fixed date in the church calendar and does not depend on the Moon. In the autumn sky above Crete at this time, Pegasus and Andromeda can be seen. So a symbol crosses the sky: a candle and a lantern made of stars, with no image of the saint.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of bright dots and fine lines like a constellation: a single candle flame floating gently across the night sky, with a small lantern of connected star points swaying beside it
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