Great Martyr of the Orthodox Christian Church Saint Fanourios and one of the most popular Saints. His memory is honored on the 27th of August and this day is celebrated by Fanourios and Fanouria.
The Story of Saint Fanourios
The Church does not know where and when he testified, which is why he was unknown to the Synaxarists.
He became famous from the accidental finding of his icon between 1355 and 1369 in Rhodes.
During excavations in the southern part of the old city walls, an ancient Christian church was found with many damaged icons and a well-preserved one, depicting a young soldier holding a cross and a candlelit, while around the image were painted twelve representations of martyrdom suffered by the Saint.
The holy image bore an inscription with the words “Agios Fanourios”. The then metropolitan of Rhodes, Nilos II the Diaspora (1355-1369) rebuilt the church of the Saint, composed his sequence and established his feast on August 27.
Saint Fanourios is considered by the cult tradition as the pre-eminent saint who can help to find (“reveal”) any lost object, apparently from the para-etymological connection of his name with the word “reveal”. Related to this belief is the older belief that Agios Fanourios “reveals” to the girls the man they will take.
Usually, when women lose something, they invoke his help, throwing him a fanouropita (cake with flour, black currants, sugar, oil, orange zest, etc.) and share it to forgive the sins of the Saint’s mother, according to popular tradition she was a sinner. Many fanouropites are made on the day of the feast of the Saint, as a thank-you offer to him or as a kind of preventive request for help for future losses.
