St. Panteleimon the Healer

A physician of Nicomedia, the son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, taught the faith by the priest Hermolaus, who healed in the name of Christ and took no fee: the Church counts him first among the Unmercenaries, the doctor saints who would not be paid. Denounced by colleagues whose patients had gone to him, he was martyred around 305 under Maximian. His name was Pantoleon, all a lion, and the Church changed it to Panteleimon, all-merciful. He is remembered at the blessing of water, the anointing of the sick and many services for the sick, and the Russian monastery on the Holy Mountain bears his name and keeps his head. Feast: July 27.