Saint Paul the Physician of Corinth

Life

By tradition Saint Paul came from the city of Corinth, where, according to the account preserved by John Sanidopoulos, he was raised by Christian parents. While still young he entered the monastic life, taking tonsure at one of the monasteries, and there he labored much and grew into an experienced ascetic.

His vita relates that he contended with the temptation of the flesh, and that through prayer and the sign of the Cross he drove this struggle from himself. This spiritual conflict forms the background to the trial for which he is chiefly remembered.

The Slander and the Miracle

The central episode of Saint Paul's life is the false accusation brought against him. A woman came to the monastery with a newborn infant and claimed that the monk Paul was the child's father. Rather than deny the charge, the elder endured the slander in humility, and the synaxarion relates that he received the child as though it were truly his own.

According to the account, the townspeople reproached him for breaking his monastic vows, and by one telling led him through Corinth in ridicule. Paul prayed and then asked the infant who its father was. The newborn, stretching out its hand, pointed not to the monk but to a blacksmith, declaring that the blacksmith and not Paul was its father. Seeing this miracle, the people were ashamed and asked the saint's forgiveness.

Gift of Healing

After his vindication, the tradition holds that Saint Paul received from God the gift of healing the sick, and from this he came to be called "the Physician." By his vita, when he laid his hand upon the sick they were made whole. He reposed in peace at the age of seventy.