One day the saint found a dead child on
the street. He had been bitten by a great snake, which was still beside the
child’s body. Pantoleon began to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ to revive the
dead child and to destroy the venomous reptile. He firmly resolved that if
his prayer were fulfilled, he would become a follower of Christ and receive
Baptism. The child rose up alive, and the snake died before Pantoleon’s
eyes.

After this miracle, Pantoleon was baptized by St Hermolaus with the name
Panteleimon (meaning “all-merciful”). Speaking with Eustorgius, St
Panteleimon prepared him to accept Christianity. When the father saw how his
son healed a blind man by invoking Jesus Christ, he then believed in Christ
and was baptized by St Hermolaus together with the man whose sight was
restored.

After the death of his father, St Panteleimon dedicated his life to the
suffering, the sick, the unfortunate and the needy. He treated all those who
turned to him without charge, healing them in the name of Jesus Christ. He
visited those held captive in prison. These were usually Christians, and he
healed them of their wounds. In a short time, reports of the charitable
physician spread throughout the city. Forsaking the other doctors, the
inhabitants began to turn only to St Panteleimon.

The envious doctors told the emperor that St Panteleimon was healing
Christian prisoners. Maximian urged the saint to refute the charge by
offering sacrifice to idols. St Panteleimon confessed himself a Christian,
and 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.

The Lord appeared to the saint and strengthened him before his
sufferings. They suspended the Great Martyr Panteleimon from a tree and
scraped him with iron hooks, burned him with fire and then stretched him on
the rack, threw him into a cauldron of boiling tar, and cast him into the
sea with a stone around his neck. Throughout these tortures the martyr
remained unhurt, and denounced the emperor.

At this time the priests Hermolaus, Hermippus and Hermocrates were
brought before the court of the pagans. All three confessed their faith in
the Savior and were beheaded (July 26).

By order of the emperor they brought the Great Martyr Panteleimon to the
circus to be devoured by wild beasts. The animals, however, came up to him
and licked his feet. The spectators began to shout, “Great is the God of the
Christians!” The enraged Maximian ordered the soldiers to stab with the
sword anyone who glorified Christ, and to cut off the head of the Great
Martyr Panteleimon.

They led the saint to the place of execution and tied him to an olive
tree. While the martyr prayed, one of the soldiers struck him with a sword,
but the sword became soft like wax and inflicted no wound. The saint
completed his prayer, and a Voice was heard from Heaven, calling the
passion-bearer by his new name and summoning him to the heavenly Kingdom.

Hearing the Voice, the soldiers fell down on their knees before the holy
martyr and begged forgiveness. They refused to continue with the execution,
but St Panteleimon told them to fulfill the emperor’s command, because
otherwise they would have no share with him in the future life. The soldiers
tearfully took their leave of the saint with a kiss.

When the saint was beheaded, the olive tree to which the saint was tied
became covered with fruit. Many who were present at the execution believed
in Christ. The saint’s body was thrown into a fire, but remained unharmed,
and was buried by Christians . St Panteleimon’s servants Laurence, Bassos
and Probus witnessed his execution and heard the Voice from Heaven. They
recorded the life, the sufferings and death of the saint.

Portions of the holy relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon were
distributed throughout all the Christian world. His venerable head is now
located at the Russian monastery of St Panteleimon on Mt. Athos.

The veneration of the holy martyr in the Russian Orthodox Church was
already known in the twelfth century. Prince Izyaslav (in Baptism,
Panteleimon), the son of St Mstislav the Great, had an image of St
Panteleimon on his helmet. Through the intercession of the saint he remained
alive during a battle in the year 1151. On the Feast of the Great Martyr
Panteleimon, Russian forces won two naval victories over the Swedes (in 1714
near Hanhauze and in 1720 near Grenham).

St Panteleimon is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a mighty saint, and
the protector of soldiers. This aspect of his veneration is derived from his
first name Pantoleon, which means “a lion in everything”. His second name,
Panteleimon, given him at Baptism, which means “all-merciful”, is manifest
in the veneration of the martyr as a healer. The connection between these
two aspects of the saint is readily apparent in that soldiers, receiving
wounds more frequently than others, are more in need of a physician-healer.
Christians waging spiritual warfare also have recourse to this saint, asking
him to heal their spiritual wounds.

The holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon is invoked in the Mystery of
Anointing the Sick, at the Blessing of Water, and in the Prayers for the
Sick.

The Feast of the holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon is the patronal
Feast of the Russian monastery on Athos. The forefeast starts eight days
before the Feast. Each day after Vespers, Moliebens are sung with Canons in
each of the eight tones. Thus, each day has its own particular Canon. The
second day of the Feast is the monastery feastday. On this day a general
Panikhida is served after Vespers in memory of the founders and benefactors
of the monastery, and kollyva (kutia: wheat or rice boiled with honey) is
blessed and distributed.

The verses of the Ninth Ode of the Canon of the Great Martyr and Healer
Panteleimon from the manuscript of the Athonite service are reprinted in the
“Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” insert into lives values (0, 1975,
No.3, pp. 45-47).