“O Champion and Martyr
of God,
imitating the Merciful
and bearing from Him the grace of healing,
cure our spiritual ills
by your prayers,
and set free from the
temptation of the eternal enemy,
those who ceaselessly
cry out, "Save us, O Lord."
I was scrolling through YouTube
as I have been the past few days I recover from medical issues and came across a
few miracles by St. Panteleimon. I have
heard of St. Panteleimon but was unsure of who he really was. Instead of just
recounting his life, I will be both doing that and a recounting a few miracles
associated with him. This wonderful saint of which so many have witnessed his love
for Christ is true example to us all.
The
first thing I want to say is that he was born to a pagan family though his
mother is St. Eubula, his father was a pagan. Raised a pagan he eventually was
Christianized and took the name by which we associate with him today. He was an
exceptionally good doctor, healing people all across the city. Mostly
Christians, these people would come to him for help, and he would not accept
payment, doing this out of the kindness of his heart. Because of the many
healings he performed through the power of Jesus Christ, the rest of city began
to turn away from the pagan practitioners of medicine and sought him exclusively.
When this occurred the many pagans turned against him and sought his life.
Eventually St. Panteleimon was brought before the Emperor Maximian and confessed
to being a Christian. A wonderful example of his testimony is recorded about
his life in the following statement, "[He] suggested that a sick person, for whom
the doctors held out no hope, should be brought before the emperor. Then the
doctors could invoke their gods, and Panteleimon would pray to his God to heal
the man. A man paralyzed for many years was brought in, and pagan priests who
knew the art of medicine invoked their gods without success. Then, before the
very eyes of the emperor, the saint healed the paralytic by calling on the name
of Jesus Christ. The ferocious Maximian executed the healed man, and gave St.
Panteleimon over to fierce torture." These tortures were
beyond the control of any mere man, but through the gift of grace from God
Panteleimon withstood them. His three brothers in Christ Hermolaus, Hermippus,
and Hermocrates who had survived the killing 20,000 Christians earlier in their
lives were brought before the Emperor and beheaded, but Panteleimon remained unafraid
and unharmed. Because of his witness, the Emperor was enraged and ordered that
he too was to be beheaded. According to the sources surrounding his life, it is
said that Panteleimon was taken to an olive tree by the Roman soldiers and was
sentenced to death. There he was tied to the tree and the sword swung to take
his head. When the sword reached the tree, it melted as if it were wax because
he was praying. Panteleimon finished his prayer and heard a voice from heaven
calling him home and that he was to be a passion-bearer. He instructed the
soldiers who were afraid of him to rise to their feet and to complete the
execution. They did so and Panteleimon surrendered his soul into the care of God.
The first miracle that is associated
with Panteleimon occurred shortly after his death. The pagans in their pure
hatred for the saint took his body to the fire to burn the remains as they did
not want anyone to venerate his relics. When the relics were placed on the
fire, they did not burn. The local Christians of the area took his body down
from the fire and buried him on the Island of Andros at the Panachrantos
Monastery. Another miracle occurred
while the saint was still living. He had seen a young boy on the street who had
been killed by a venomous snake. He prayed to God that he might revive the boy
and destroy the snake. When God did, he immediately went and became a Christian.
His father, the pagan I discussed, witnessed his son healing a blind man. The
man was healed by invoking the name of Jesus Christ and both the blind man and
St. Panteleimon’s own father and the blind man who’s sight was restored were
both baptized into the Christian faith because of this miracle. The tortures
that I described are another miracle of St. Panteleimon through God. They
scraped him with iron hooks, threw him into a cauldron of boiling tar, burned
him with fire, and stretched him on a rack. All of these as I stated left St.
Panteleimon unharmed. Prince Izyaslav a prince in the Russian part
of the church had an icon of the saint on his helmet and survived a particularly
vicious battle in the year 1151. On the feast day of the saint, the Russians
have won two important naval battles against the Swedish forces, one in 1714,
and the other in 1720. I also read about
a miraculous healing a woman without a heartbeat at a hospital in Athens that
was very recent. People seek pilgrimages to Andros to pray at the relics of St.
Panteleimon and some of his relics were transferred to Romania where they
remain.
From the life of St. Panteleimon, we
can understand what it is like to be a Christian. We understand that St.
Panteleimon was a great healer. He is invoked in the rights of healing of the
Orthodox Church and he is also sometimes considered the patron saint of
soldiers. St. Panteleimon is a witness for us all when we see the tortures of
this world surrounding us. Instead of fleeing, Panteleimon accepted his torture
willingly even commanding the soldiers to conduct the beheading though he would
repose in the Lord. As a passion bearer we know that there will be times that
come in our future where our own lives will be asked of us. If we are strong in
our faith as St. Panteleimon, we can withstand any tortures the enemy throws at
us. May St. Panteleimon guide us and protect us through his intercession to Our
Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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