August 27
Who this saint was and when he lived is not known. He is greatly venerated on Rhodes and Crete. In the year 1500, St. Phanourios appeared to people on the island of Rhodes, where he manifested miracles of healing. There, an old icon of him was found, in which Phanourios is portrayed as a young soldier, holding a cross in his right hand, and a lighted taper in his left. St. Phanourios is greatly venerated in Egypt. In Egypt, there exists a tradition that his mother was a grievous sinner whom even he, her son, was unable to correct. Even so, his filial love for his mother was extraordinarily great. He prayed more for his mother’s salvation than for his own. When pagans stoned him to death for the sake of Christ, St. Phanourios prayed to God: “For the sake of my sufferings for Thee, Lord, help all of those who pray to Thee for the salvation of Phanourios’s sinful mother.” In Egypt, many Christians pray thus: “Save, O Lord, the mother of St. Phanourios, and help me, a sinner.” Many receive help through these prayers.
Source: St. Nikolai Velimirovic, The Prologue of Ohrid – Volume Two.
Apolytikion
A heavenly song of praise is brightly sung on the earth; the hosts of the Angels keep an earthly festival now in splendor and radiant joy; from on high, they praise with hymns the suff’rings and struggles; and below, the Church doth laud the heavenly glory thou foundest by thy contests and pains, O glorious Phanourios.