Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon

Panteleimon was born at Nicomedia in Bithynia, the son of a pagan father and a Christian mother. He was named Pantaleon, and became a physician at the court of the emperor Maximian. According to his Life, the priest Hermolaus taught him the faith; Pantaleon is said to have revived a child bitten by a viper and was baptized. He treated the sick without payment and gave his wealth to the poor, and the Life says that for this he was renamed Panteleimon, “all-merciful”.

Denounced by rival physicians, he was arrested and, tradition holds, survived several attempts to kill him. He was beheaded c. 305, tied to an olive tree, at which, the Life says, milk flowed from the wound. He is one of the best-loved healer saints in East and West.