Saint Pantaleon
Pantaleon | |
|---|---|
13th century icon of Saint Panteleimon, including scenes from his life, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai | |
| Great-Martyr and Unmercenary Healer | |
| Born | c. 275 Nicomedia (modern-day Izmit, Kocaeli, Turkey) |
| Died | 305 Nicomedia (modern-day Izmit, Kocaeli, Turkey) |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Anglicanism Oriental Orthodox Church Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Pantaleon Monastery in the Jordan desert, Pantaleon Church built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century, Constantinople |
| Feast | 27 July (Western Christianity, Byzantine Christianity) 19 Epip (Coptic Christianity) |
| Attributes | A compartmented apothecary's (medicine) box, with a long-handled spatula or spoon; a martyr's cross |
| Patronage | Physicians, Apothecaries, midwives, livestock, lottery, lottery winners and victories, lottery tickets; invoked against headaches, consumption, locusts, witchcraft, accidents and loneliness; helper for crying children |
Saint Pantaleon (Greek: Παντελεήμων, romanized: Panteleïmon, lit. 'All-compassionate'), counted in Western Christianity as among the Fourteen Holy Helpers of the Late Middle Ages, and in Eastern Christianity as one of the Holy Unmercenary Healers, was a martyr of Nicomedia in Bithynia during the Diocletianic Persecution of 305 AD.
Though there is evidence to suggest that a martyr named Pantaleon existed, some consider the stories of his life and death to be purely legendary.