St Fanourius

St. Phanourios, as the patron saint of lost articles, helps people find anything from a missing piece of jewelry to good health and happiness

"Phanourios" comes from the Greek word, "fanerono" (I reveal)

It is an Eastern Orthodox custom in Cyprus that, if you have lost something and you ask Saint Phanourios for help, you bake a Fanouropita (which means a cake for St. Phanourios)

The cake is baked and brought to the Church where it is blessed by the parish priest.

Afterwards the blessed Fanouropita is shared by those at the Church.

Fanouropita

1 cup of sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups orange juice
3/4 cup light or dark raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups flour

Beat sugar and oil together until creamy yellow. Dissolve baking soda in orange juice and pour slowly into sugar mixture. Add other ingredients and pour into a 9" x 13" greased pan. Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick pulls out cleanly. Cut into squares for serving after it's blessed at the Church by the parish priest

The Discovery

When the Hagarenes ruled the isle of Rhodes, one of the rulers wished to rebuild the ramparts of the city that past sieges had ravaged. On the outskirts of the fortress were several ruined dwellings, from which the Hagarenes gathered stones for their construction.

Whilst excavating and reinforcing that place, they discovered a most beautiful church, which was partly buried in ruins. Excavating as far as the floor of the temple, they found many holy icons, all decayed and crumbling. One icon was whole and entire; indeed, it seemed as though it had been painted but that very day. The hierarch of that place, Nilus by name, a man of great sanctity and learning, came and read the inscription of the icon, which said, "The Holy Phanourios."

The Icon

The saint was shown as a young man, arrayed as a soldier, holding a cross in his right hand, at the upper part of the cross there was a lighted taper. Around the perimeter of the icon were twelve scenes of martyrdom, which showed the saint being examined before the magistrate; in the midst of a multitude of soldiers, who were beating him about the mouth and head with stones; stretched out upon the ground while the soldiers flogged him; stripped naked while they rent his flesh with iron hooks; incarcerated in a dungeon; again standing before the tyrant's tribunal; being burned with candles; bound to a rack; cast amidst wild beasts; crushed with a great rock; standing before idols holding burning coals in his hands, whilst a demon nearby wept and lamented; and finally shown standing erect in the midst of a fiery furnace

The Profile

From the twelve scenes depicted upon the icon, the holy hierarch perceived that the saint was a martyr

Immediately a deputation was sent to the rulers, asking for permission to restore the temple

The request was refused

So, the hierarch traveled to Constantinople where he obtained a decree empowering him to rebuild the church

Thus it was restored and can be seen to this day, outside the city.

At one time the isle of Crete had no Orthodox hierarch, but a Latin bishop, for it was ruled then by the Venetians, who had shrewdly refused to permit an Orthodox hierarch to be consecrated whenever one died. This they did with evil intent, thinking that with time they could thus convert the Orthodox to the papist dogmas. If Orthodox men wished to obtain ordination, they had to go to Kythera.

It came to pass that there went forth from Crete three deacons, traveling to Krythera to be ordained priests by the hierarch there; and when this had been accomplished, and they were returning to their own country, the Hagarenes captured them at sea and brought them to Rhodes, where they sold as slaves to other Hagarenes. The newly consecrated priests lamented their misfortune day and night.

But in Rhodes, they heard tell of the great wonders wrought by the Great Martyr Phanourios, and straightway they made fervent supplication to the saint, beseeching him with tears to deliver them from their bitter bondage. And this they did each separately, without knowing ought of what the others were doing, for they had each been sold to a different master.

Somehow, they were all three permitted by their masters to go and worship at the temple of the saint. By chance they came all together and fell down before the sacred icon of the saint, entreating him to deliver them out of the hands of the Hagarenes.

Then they departed, somewhat consoled, each to his own master, hoping that they would obtain mercy. Which did come to pass; for the Saint had compassion upon their tears and hearkened unto their supplication. That night he appeared to the Hagarenes who were the masters of the captive priests, and commanded them to permit the servants of God to go and worship in his temple lest he bring dreadful destruction upon them. But the Hagarenes, thinking the matter sorcery, loaded the priests with chains and made their torments more onerous.

The Great Martyr Phanourios went to them that night and freed them from their bonds, and encouraged them, saying that the following day he would, by all means, free them. He then appeared to the Hagarenes and, reproaching them with severity, said: "If by tomorrow ye have not set your servants at liberty, ye shall behold the power of God!" Thus saying, the holy one vanished. Next morning all in the houses awoke, blind, paralyzed and otherwise tormented with the most dreadful pangs.

They considered what to do, and finally decided to send for the captives. And when the three wretched priests were come, they inquired of them if they were able to heal them; and they answered: "We shall beseech God. Let His will be done."

But the saint appeared again to the Hagarenes on the third night and said to them: "If ye do not send to my house letters of manumission for the priests, ye shall have neither the health, nor the light [of sight] which ye desire." And when they had again conferred with their kinfolk and friends, each one composed a letter of emancipation for his own slave, which were left before the icon of the saint.

Even before the messengers sent to the temple returned, those, who before were blind and paralyzed, were healed; and marveling they set the priests free and dispatched them to their homeland amicably. The priests, though, had a copy of the icon of St. Phanourios painted and took it with them to their own country, and each year the memory of the holy one is celebrated amongst them.