Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Healer (

“Panteleimon, saintly champion and healer, intercede with our merciful God to grant our souls remission of sins.

A number of years ago I visited a young mother named Anne who was suffering from cancer. During the course of the prayer asking for the Physician of souls and bodies, our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, to visit her with His gracious Presence, I shared with her the life and miracles of St. Panteleimon, a young Christian hero who lived and testified to the Lord at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century. We were encouraged to find nearby an Icon of the Saint which her mother had brought from Ukraine. Anne placed herself in the care of the Divine Physician.

I myself had become aware of the ministry of St. Panteleimon through Fr. Lorne, a hieromonk with whom I had shared seminary life, who brought me a small Icon from Mt. Athos from the great St. Panteleimon Monastery and encouraged me to ask the Saint for help with a problem which had developed with my spine. I kept the Icon with me during celebrations of the Divine Liturgy. Through various ways my spine has become quite strong, thanks to the Divine Physician and His friend, St. Panteleimon.

St. Panteleimon (whose memory is celebrated on July 27 – which corresponds to August 9 on the Gregorgian Calendar) was born in 284 to a pagan father, Eustorgius (who was converted to the Lord through the ministry of his son), and a Christian mother, St. Eubula (celebrated Mar. 30/April 12) in Nicomedia, modern Izmit on the southern shores of the Black Sea. He was educated as a physician. A Christian priest, St. Hermolaus, survivor of the massacre of 20,000 Christians of Nicomedia in 303 (recalled on Dec. 28/Jan 10), told him about the Divine Physician and the young man was baptized. Eastern sources say that his name prior to Baptism was Pantaleon (“in all things like a lion”), the name by which western Christians still honour him, and then was changed to Panteleimon which means “all-merciful”.

During his short earthly ministry as a physician Panteleimon brought about amazing healings to those fortunate enough to be visited by him, utilizing both education, skill and above all life in the Spirit of God. His Vita says that it was out of envy for the success that fellow physicians accused him before the Emperor Maximian of using magic. Panteleimon fearlessly proclaimed his faith before the fierce pagan emperor, even obtaining a miracle for a man who had been given up as hopeless by the other physicians.

Instead of believing, the emperor became more and more angry and ordered both the healed man and the youthful physician to be executed. St. Panteleimon could not be touched by the tortures. Finally he himself encouraged the soldiers who had been ordered to behead him to carry out their orders and he entered into the glory of the Lord in 305 – at approximately 21 years of age.

But as my own experience has shown he continues to be very much alive in the Church. His relics are found in various places, including the Church of the Dormition in Lviv. Anne’s miracle was not in obtaining an earthly healing. Instead she reposed in the Lord with the miracle of profound faith and hope, and continues to care for her family and friends through her intercessions before the Divine Physician.

O youthful Great Martyr and Physician, Panteleimon, grant that through your prayers and example we, who honour you, young and not so young, may be encouraged to seek the grace of our Master to bring peace and healing to this world. Amen.