SAINT PANTELEIMON
THE GREAT MARTYR AND HEALER
SAINT PANTELEIMON
St.
Panteleimon was born in 271 A. D. in Nicomedia, Asia Minor. His name was Panteleon. His parents were named Storgios and
Evouli. But his mother never was
blessed with enjoying her son because she died soon after giving birth. His pagan father sent Panteleon to learn the
Greek language. After his Greek studies,
he was sent to study under the great doctor Efrosinos where he would study
medicine. Efrosinos was considered the
best doctor of that time and his patients included the Emperor Maximinian and
many other leaders of society. In a very
short time, the modest and charismatic Panteleon was considered the best
physician amongst all his classmates.
One day
the Emperor heard about the exceptional student that Panteleon was and he
expressed the desire that he would be chosen to be his personal physician when
Efrosinos died. At that time lived a
very pious priest named Ermolaos who had known Panteleon’s Christian mother
before she died. Ermolaos met Panteleon
one day and heard that he was studying medicine and he said to him: “You are able to heal the sick with medicine
but if you believe in Jesus Christ you will be able to heal every illness
without medicine.” After this meeting
with the pious priest, Panteleon happened to come upon a young boy who had just
been bitten by a poisonous snake. Upon
encountering him, Panteleon remembered the words of the pious priest and with
faith called upon Jesus Christ to give life back to the young man. After this prayer the young man immediately
stood up as if nothing had ever happened to him. This whole event happened before a crowd of
people who were watching the encounter.
All the people were amazed at what happened and they all thanked God and
the young doctor.
After his
encounter with the young boy who had been bitten by the snake, Panteleon
believed that Jesus was able to heal the infirmities of body and soul. This prompted him to go immediately to Fr.
Ermolao and requested that he be baptized a Christian. After his conversion to Christianity Panteleon
looked for ways in which he could help his father to come and believe in the
true God. One day someone approached
Panteleon and asked him if he could heal his blindness. He told Panteleon that he had visited many
doctors in an attempt to find a cure for his blindness. In fact he had spent a lot of his money on
these doctors in order to find a cure.
He then said that Panteleon was his last hope for a cure. But Panteleon’s father Storgios, told him not
to attempt to cure an incurable affliction for in doing so he might lose the
fame he had acquired as being a good doctor.
Not listening to his father Panteleon then asked the blind man: “What
will you give me if I manage to heal your blindness?” He responded by saying: “I will give you
whatever is left over from mine inheritance.”
Panteleon then responded: “Whatever you plan to give me I want you to
give to the poor people.” The Saint then
made the sign of the Cross over his eyes and he immediately was healed. When Storgios saw the miracle he also
believed in Jesus Christ. He then went
to his home and shattered to pieces all the marble statues he had of the pagan
gods which he had been worshipping until that moment. After this, Storgios lived for another year
doing the will of God, performing good deeds and preaching to the world about
Jesus Christ. He then died a peaceful
death and his soul was joined once again with his beloved Evouli. After this, Panteleon gave his whole
inheritance from his father to the Church and to the poor. He also continued his practice as a physician
healing people with medicine and performing miracles for all those who had a
need.
At some
point, the doctors who had attempted to heal the blind man ran into him one day
and became jealous of Panteleon for having healed him. Because of these feelings the doctors were
looking for an opportunity to destroy the trust the Emperor had in the
Saint. Around the year 304 AD the
Emperor Maximinian was visiting Nicomedia for a short time. It was at a time when Saint Panteleon had
just healed a Christian who had been tortured by the pagans for his faith. When this happened the envious doctors went
to the Emperor and reported to him that Panteleon healed an enemy of paganism
and was healing people in the name of Jesus Christ. Upon hearing this, the Emperor called the
previously blind person and asked him: “was it science or Jesus Christ that
restored your sight for you?” He
answered and said to the Emperor: “I spent all my financial resources with
those doctors for so many years in their attempt to heal me. But Panteleon by simply using the Cross of
the Nazarene was able to cure me immediately and from that moment on I also
believe in his God. The Emperor insisted
that all people including Christians should worship the idols. This is why the Emperor ordered the former
blind man be beheaded because of his faith in Jesus Christ.
The
Emperor then called Panteleon that he admired so much in order to find if what
they were saying about him was true.
Panteleon then said to the Emperor: “Your honor, Jesus Christ is the
person that can heal all incurable diseases of the body and the soul. If you would like, we can bring to you a sick
person so that you too can believe in the true God. The Emperor, out of curiosity, ordered that a
paralyzed person be brought to him that no doctor had been able to heal. Then the Emperor’s pagan priests came forward
and began praying before the marble statues of the pagan gods in an attempt to
heal the paralyzed man. But after
praying for many hours the priests got tired and stopped praying. At this point Saint Panteleon prayed with
profound faith and then said to the paralyzed man: “So that everyone should
come to know the infinite love of God, Jesus Christ heals you, get up and
walk.” Immediately the miracle
happened. The paralyzed man then got up
and walked by himself. Everyone present
was astonished and did not know what to say.
Many of those present who saw the miracle believed in Jesus Christ.
The
Emperor Maximinian became very angry and ordered his soldiers to torture the
Saint so that he no longer would attempt to talk about Jesus and perform
miracles in the presence of many people.
The soldiers then took the Saint and stripped him and tied him to a pole
and then began ripping at his flesh with iron hooks. The glorified Saint endured the pain for the
love of Christ and his blessed blood poured freely upon the ground. The soldiers then lit torches and burned the
wounds of Panteleon. At this point
another miracle took place. The burning
torches fell from the hands of the soldiers and the wounds of the Saint were
instantly healed. The Emperor became
even angrier at seeing this and decided to torture the Saint even more. He ordered that boiling lead be prepared into
which they would put the Saint.
As soon
as the lead melted, they placed the Saint into it. Suddenly Jesus appeared in the likeness of
the priest Ermolao and entered the fire.
When this happened the fire immediately went out and the melted lead
cooled down. The Emperor could no longer
endure to see the Saint survive in the midst of these miracles and he ordered
that the soldiers tie a heavy rock around the Saint’s neck and throw him into
the ocean to drown. But amazingly,
instead of the Saint sinking to the bottom of the ocean, he appeared to walk on
the surface of the water unharmed. As
soon as Maximinian saw all these unexplainable events unfold before him, he
then ordered the Saint be placed in a cage with hungry lions and tigers so that
he might be torn to pieces. A large
crowd of people gathered to watch the spectacle play out. The people again were
amazed at what then happened. The wild beasts instead of tearing the Saint to
pieces approached him peacefully and licked his hands. After seeing this, the Emperor ordered that
the beasts be put to death. And then
another unusual thing took place. No
vultures or other carnivorous animals came out to eat the dead animals and the
soldiers were forced to bury the carcasses of the dead animals.
After
this the Emperor called the Martyr to appear before him and he said to him:
“Panteleon, I had great admiration for you and I would have made you the
official physician of my palace but you treated me with great disrespect; like
I was your enemy. Who is the person that
made you a Christian?” The Martyr
answered: “It was Fr. Ermolaos who spoke to me about Christ.” At that point, the Emperor ordered that Fr.
Ermolaos be seized along with two of his disciples and they were ordered to
worship the idols. But they would never
do such a thing; so they were tortured and then beheaded. The Emperor then gave another order to behead
the Martyr and then burn his body.
The
soldiers flogged the Saint and then tied him to a dead olive tree in order to
behead him. But when the soldier lifted
the sword to behead the Saint, God intervened; the sword was transformed into a
scythe. As soon as the torturers saw
this miracle they were so startled that they fell down before the Saint and
begged for his forgiveness. The Martyr
Panteleon prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ for the souls of the repentant
soldiers. At that point a voice was
heard from heaven saying: “oh athlete of Christ, let it be done for you
whatever you so desire. From this day
forward you will be called Panteleimon (most merciful one) because you have
helped many people in this life and you will continue to be merciful to the
faithful who turn to me through your intercessions.”
The
executioners decided not to behead the Saint but the Saint encouraged them to
do so in obedience to the Emperor’s command.
The Saint said this for he did not want to lose the crown of martyrdom.
The soldiers proceeded with the execution although down deep they did not want
to. They also asked the Saint to forgive
them before they beheaded him. After
beheading him milk flowed from the neck of the Martyr. In addition to this, the dead olive tree
began to blossom out of respect for the Saint.
The soldiers did not burn his body as ordered by the Emperor but instead
they left the palace and went into the countryside preaching Jesus and telling
the people the miracles they had witnessed.
The Christians came together to gather up the body of the Saint in order
to give him an honorable burial. The
following miracle brings us to the 21st century and shows us how much God loves
us and continues to heal us through His Saints.
ST. LUKE THE PHYSICIAN AND ST. PANTELEIMON
PERFORM AN ASTOUNDING MIRACLE IN A HOSPITAL ROOM
IN SIMFEROPOL, CRIMEA, RUSSIA
ST. LUKE THE PHYSICIAN REPOSED IN 1960 & ST. PANTELEIMON
WAS
MARTYRED IN 305 A D .THEIR DEATHS ARE SEPARATED BY
1655 YEARS AND YET THEY PERFORM MIRACLES IN THE 21ST CENTURY—LIFE
CONTINUES AFTER DEATH.
This
relatively recent miracle took place in a hospital in the City of Simferopol,
Crimea, Russia. The girl’s condition was
very critical and the operation was very difficult and dangerous. The doctor who was scheduled to operate on
her spoke to the mother of the young girl and said to her: “The procedure is a
very difficult and dangerous operation.
I cannot guarantee you anything.
I do not know whether or not your daughter will survive the
operation.” But there was no other
choice; the operation had to take place.
The young girl was prepped and was rolled into the operating room. During the whole procedure the mother of the
girl was waiting in the courtyard of the hospital. With tears in her eyes, she was praying to
Saint Luke the Physician and to Saint Panteleimon the Physician and Healer for
the healing of her daughter. Suddenly,
an unbelievable vision unfolded before her.
The wall of the hospital disappeared and became like a glass wall
through which she could clearly see the operating room.
The
mother could see her daughter on the operating room table surrounded by the
doctor that was to operate on her along with other doctors. Standing next to the doctor was a nurse who
had the responsibility of handing her the operating tools. The mother was also seeing something even
more amazing in the operating room as she looked upon the scene unfolding
before her. Standing on the left side of
the doctor was Saint Panteleimon holding a lit candle. On the right side of the doctor was standing
Saint Luke the Physician who was handing the operating tools from the nurse to
the doctor.
In seeing
this miracle unfolding before her, the mother was beyond herself with
astonishment. She felt that her prayers
had been heard. When the operation was
over, the doctor came out of the operating room with an enthusiastic
smile. She approached the mother and
said to her: “The operation went exceedingly well, unbelievably well.” The mother then explained to the doctor the
unbelievable vision that she saw during the operation. Upon hearing this, the doctor made the sign
of the Cross and related to the mother: “Now I understand what happened. During the course of the operation, as I
needed an operating tool, I didn’t even have time to say what I wanted to the
nurse. By simply thinking what I wanted,
the tool was in my hand.”
The first part
of this translation was made from a Greek video by:
+Fr. Constantine J. Simones, August 4, 2016,
Waterford, CT, USA, cjsimones300@gmail.com
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