Monday, June 22, 2026

It is the 22nd of June 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Hey- I’m back… a great vacation- can’t recommend the Charles Schultz museum in Santa Rosa enough… of course, he has his own Weekend Edition a few years back. As we did a mega Mailbag this past weekend, I have a hybrid mailbag, but also a biography show today- thanks to another long-time listener and question asker- he is Dr. Rick in Ladysmith… a physician by trade- he wrote:

 

Hey Dan,

 

Just got back from a 12-day “Walking in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul” trip to Greece with my Daughter’s school, and it was awesome…while in Greece, we got to learn quite a bit about the Greek Orthodox tradition, and when people found out about my being a physician, I was asked about St. Pantaleion (Pantaleon?), their patron saint of physicians. I did a little reading, and he has quite a story… Can you do your thing with this Physician to the Emperor and martyr?

 

His feast day is July 27th- so I could have made a note and done it then… but there are no rules for a thing I made up… so, let’s talk about this fascinating character who is very popular in the East and in the West.

 

So- Pantaleon dies about 305- so, an early saint. We’ve got all kinds of stories and discrepancies- so, where do we go? His story is first recorded in detail in the so-called “Martyrology of Jerome”- not written by Jerome, but attributed to him so people would trust it. It’s written in the 5th and 6th centuries and is the first major “encyclopedia” of Christian saints. Pantaleon, who was from Nicomedia, is also mentioned by Greek Fathers and has a tradition in the east as well.

 

Pantaleon’s story is then told again by the Bollandists in the West- Jesuits in the 17th century who put together the “Acta Sanctorum,” and then this comes to us in English through Alban Butler’s “Lives of the Saints”.

 

The story goes- he’s got a Christian mother and a pagan father. His mother raises him in the faith, but then dies- he goes to study medicine under his father’s care. He is quite adept at medicine and rises to the rank of the Emperor’s Physician- it could be Maximian or Galerius- as they were both called Maximianus. Well, this is also the time of Diocletian and the persecution. When Pantaleon’s father dies, he leaves him his great wealth, which inspires jealousy, and Pantaleon’s colleagues turn him in. The Emperor, not wanting to lose his favorite physician, begs him to recant his faith. He doesn’t. So… they bring the torches… but an apparition of Christ appears (in the western versions), and the torches go out. They put him in a pot of boiling lead- Christ appears again- it goes cold and harmless. They threw him in the sea, a stone tied to him… and the stone floats. They throw him to the animals… who go tame and playful. He’s put on the wheel- but instead of breaking him, it breaks. A sword is drawn to behead him, but it bends, and the executioner is converted. All fanciful stories, of course- but meant to attest to the piety and faith of the physician.

 

In the Eastern traditions, he was lumped in with the delightfully named “Holy Unmercenary Helpers”- the opposite of a mercenary- he went about healing people for free and then telling them of the Great Physician. While his name “Pantaleon” translates roughly to “like a lion”- in the Greek-speaking world, it sounded close to Panta-Lehmon, which means “all merciful”- so you’ll see both.

 

He will become especially popular in the West during the Black Death- it makes sense, in fact, he gets memorialized as one of the 14 Holy Helpers- the 14 saints, popularly codified in the German lands- 7 men and 7 women whose saintly works with regard to health and wellness were especially called upon in sickness.

 

You’ll find churches named after him in the German lands where the Holy Helpers are memorialized and in the East, where his cult goes back to a century or so after his death. In Italy, popular legend has it that he reveals lottery numbers in dreams… which seems… well, Jesus famously praises extreme wealth based on games of chance.

 

Did I mention this show is now sponsored by Draft Lords… get your 20-dollar free bet with the code CHA… kidding.

 

Thanks, Dr. Rick, for the question and the chance to dive into this fascinating and widely admired early saint- Pantaleon, or Pantalehmon…

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and from Psalm 86:

Teach me your way, Lord,
 that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
 that I may fear your name.

12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
 I will glorify your name forever.

13 For great is your love toward me;
 you have delivered me from the depths,
 from the realm of the dead.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 22nd of June 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who is wondering if there’s a saint Pantaloon… patron of wearers of silly trousers… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who can’t stand all the betting ads… It’s like we’re in Biff’s alternate version of Hill Valley… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.