Life and Conversion
The sources agree that Panteleimon was born at Nicomedia to a wealthy pagan father, Eustorgius, and a devout Christian mother, Saint Eubula, who taught him the faith in childhood. His birth name is given as Pantaleon or Pantoleon; one tradition glosses Pantaleon as meaning "in all things like a lion." After his mother died during his youth, he pursued the study of medicine under the celebrated physician Euphrosynus and became so accomplished that he was destined for service as physician to the emperor.
His return to Christ is credited to the priest Saint Hermolaus, who according to the OCA account lived with two other priests, Hermippus and Hermocrates, survivors of the massacre of Christians at Nicomedia in 303. Hermolaus instructed and baptized him, after which he took the name Panteleimon. The tradition relates that he was confirmed in faith after invoking the name of Jesus to heal a blind man, a miracle that led to the conversion of his pagan father; the OCA account adds that he was moved by witnessing a dead child revived through prayer and a venomous snake destroyed.
Upon inheriting his father's substantial fortune, he is said to have freed the family's slaves and given his wealth to the poor. He dedicated himself to the suffering, the sick, and the needy, treating patients without charge — the mark of the Unmercenaries — and ministering to imprisoned Christians, so that his reputation spread through the city.
Martyrdom
During the persecution under Diocletian and Maximian, jealous fellow physicians brought charges against him before the emperor. When commanded to apostatize, he confessed his faith openly and, by tradition, healed a paralyzed man through prayer to Jesus Christ as proof of Christ's power, where the pagan priests had failed. The emperor, interpreting the healing as sorcery, condemned him to death and had the healed man executed; his teacher Hermolaus and Hermolaus's companions were also beheaded.
The legendary accounts describe a series of execution attempts said to have failed — burning with torches, immersion in molten lead or boiling tar, drowning weighted with a stone, exposure to wild beasts, and binding to a wheel — together with suspension, scraping with iron hooks, and stretching on racks. He is said to have remained unharmed until he was beheaded, by tradition while bound to an olive tree, which thereafter bore fruit. Before his death he prayed for forgiveness for his torturers, which the tradition connects to his name Panteleimon, "the all-compassionate."
Sources differ on the historical weight of these narratives. The New Advent (Catholic Encyclopedia) account notes that the detailed legends "are all late in date and valueless," while the fact of his martyrdom appears historically supported.
Relics and Shrines
His relics were first venerated at Nicomedia and later transferred to Constantinople, where a vial of his blood is reported to have been preserved from early times. By tradition the blood becomes fluid on his feast day; a similar phenomenon is reported of blood preserved at Ravello in Italy.
Accounts of his head differ across traditions: it is reported at the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos, at the Panachrantos Monastery on the island of Andros, and venerated at Lyons. Further relics are recorded at the Abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris, at Putna Monastery in Romania, and in the cathedral at Constanța. Relics were also brought to Porto, Portugal by Armenian refugees after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and transferred to the cathedral there in 1499.
The Emperor Justinian I is said to have rebuilt his shrine at Nicomedia in the sixth century. The Saint Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos remains a major center of his veneration.
Legacy and Veneration
Panteleimon is honored as one of the Holy Unmercenaries and a Great Martyr and healer. In Orthodox practice he is invoked among the saints named in the mystery of holy unction for the sick, and he is venerated as a protector of soldiers as well as a healer.
In the Western tradition he is counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers (guardian martyrs). He is regarded as a patron of physicians, apothecaries, and midwives, and is invoked against consumption (tuberculosis), headaches, locusts, witchcraft, and accidents. By one tradition, the Venetian character Pantalone of the commedia dell'arte may derive from his name.
His feast is kept on July 27; the Western tradition also records July 28 and February 18.
