Venerable-Martyr 7th century

Monastic Martyrs Menas David, and John of Palestine

Also known as Menas of Palestine · David of Palestine · John of Palestine

Three Palestinian monks who were shot with arrows by Arab raiders following the fall of Jerusalem, receiving the crown of martyrdom.

Feast Day
April 12
Draft
Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.

Life

Menas, David, and John were three monks of Palestine who, according to the synaxarion, were martyred in the seventh century by Arab raiders who shot them through with arrows. Their deaths are placed after the year 636, when Jerusalem fell to the Arab conquest, and they are honored together as monastic martyrs on April 12.

The surviving account is brief, preserving only their names, their monastic state in the Holy Land, the manner of their death, and its setting in the upheaval that followed the loss of Jerusalem. No further detail of their individual lives has come down in the tradition.