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Not much is known about St Phanourios's life because all evidence of his life has been destroyed with time. The only evidence that supports a historical date, relating to this saint, is documented in the book "Lives of the Saints", which testifies that his icon was discovered, in Rhodes, around 1500 AD. Some sources support the opinion that the icon was discovered in Cyprus and not in Rhodes.
In the church we have the tradition of [[saints for special purposes]]. St Phanourios assists the faithful in finding what is by revealing a lost or hidden object or matter, directing and/or lost ..revealing actions that should be taken, restoring health and similar situations.
==Discovery of the icon==
==the Phanouropita cake==
The tradition custom of the Phanouropita cake is a cultural creation rather than Greek and Cypriot tradition, preserved in many regions of Greece and Cyprus and spread to the Greek people of the diaspora (Australia, USA, England etc). Though it is not a Holy Tradition, though it has been welcomed and adopted formerly into the church as formal a blessing service, that take no more than 5 minutes to complete. It is offered at vesper services and/or just before the liturgy finishes on the feast day of the saint on [[August 27]]. Many villages in Greece believe that they do this tradition to grant rest for the soul of the saints mother. The church does not formerly hold this position since there is no evidence on the saint's life to confirm if his mother indeed was a fornicator, as this 'heresay' suggests. Despite the church having made this statement on many occassions, the commong people within the church will still express the phrase, "May God grant rest to the soul of Saint Phanourios' mother.".
The pita is small and round, like a cake, and should be made using either 9 ingredients or 11. The basic ingredients include sifted flour, sugar, cinnamon and oil.