Life of Saint Penteleimon

Saint Panteleimon was born and raised in Nicomedia in Asia Minor and lived in the years of Maximian. His father’s name was Eustorgios and he was a pagan but after his son’s admonitions he became a Christian.

His mother’s name was Evvouli, who came from a Christian family. He studied medicine from Euphrosynos and was indoctrinated in the Christian faith. He was later baptized by the elder Ermolaos who was a priest of the Church of Nicomedia.

The occasion of his martyrdom was a miracle of the Saint. He had once healed a blind man, who told the king about his healing. He asked him the name of the one who healed him and he told him, Panteleon in the name of Christ, in whom he himself now believed. When the king heard him, he immediately ordered his head to be beheaded. The king arrested Panteleimon himself and ordered his torture in order to deny his faith.

The Saint was severely tortured in various ways, but he endured the pressures after the Lord appeared before him in the form of his spiritual Hermolaus and gave him courage.
After the tortures had no effect, his beheading was ordered and a voice was heard from heaven calling him not as Panteleon but as Panteleimon.

But as soon as the executioner stretched out his hand to cut off the Saint’s head with his sword, the sword bent and the iron melted like wax. In the face of such a miracle, even the soldiers who were at the beheading became Christians. Then Saint Panteleimon voluntarily gave himself up to martyrdom. And another miracle was to happen after his death. They say that blood did not flow from his wound, but milk, and the olive tree, on the tree where he had been tied, suddenly bore fruit.