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St [[Menas|Mina]] is a Coptic saint that who was martyred in the fourth century. A great Cathedral was erected at his burial site in Maryout at in the western desert of Egypt west to from Alexandria. Many faithful from all round the Mediterranian used to visit the site and a flourishing community was in that area for centuries till the Arab invasion of Egypt when the Arabs destroyed the church. A German archeologist, Kuffman, carried out excavations in at the site at the beginning of the 20th century, starting in 1905. Pahor resumed these excavations in 1951. The site then was in the middle of the desert and was difficult to reach. Pope Cyril VI founded a monastery near the site and this monastery is one of the main surviving monasteries in Egypt. There are now roads up to the monastery and the area has many cultivated fields.