This year is an excellent opportunity to dwell on the lives of saints who received the gift of healing from God. If we got acquainted with eight holy healers in January, February concentrates many of them from its very first days. We have chosen to present 8 of the most evident healers with saintly lives that the synaxaria write about.
Martyr Tryphon – February 1
Saint Tryphon lived in the 3rd century and came from a poor but faithful family in Asia Minor. From an early age, God gave him the gifts of healing and casting out demons. One of the persons he had healed was the daughter of an emperor who was possessed by evil spirits.
Even though the emperor rewarded him for healing his daughter, St Tryphon lived simply as a farmer.
During the reign of the pagan emperor Decius, the saint was martyred, and many miracles were performed in front of his relics.
Saint Tryphon is numbered among the unmercenary saints and is the patron saint of farmers and a helper in case of insect invasions.
Saint Peter of Galatia – February 1
Saint Peter lived in the 3rd – 4th centuries in Galatia in Asia Minor, which he chose as a place for his monastic labours.
God gave him the gift of performing miracles to comfort those who were physically or spiritually sick. In his life, it is mentioned that he cured of an eye disease the mother of his biographer, Theodoret of Cyrus.
Also, cutting his belt in two, he tied half of it around the waist of young Theodoret. Many healings happened through this belt, just as through the Apostles’ garments.
Martyr Agatha – February 5
Saint Agatha is a third-century martyr who confessed Christ during the persecution of Emperor Decius against the Christians. After refusing to become the wife of a pagan judge and choosing to remain faithful to Christ, she was tortured by having her breasts cut off.
Saint Peter appeared to her in the cell where she was imprisoned and healed her.
Saint Agatha is considered a patron saint of women with breast cancer.
Saint Julian of Emesa – February 6
The Holy Martyr Julian lived in the 3rd or 4th century in Emesa, now Homs in Syria. The saint was a physician, sometimes considered one of the unmercenary saints.
He was noted for going to the prison to encourage the city’s bishop, Silvanus, the deacon Luke and the scholar Mocius, whom the persecutors of Christians had imprisoned.
Saint Julian was arrested and tortured for eleven months. He was left almost dead, but he managed to reach a cave where he gave his soul into the hands of the Lord.
A church was built above the cave where he died. During renovations in 1970, his holy relics were discovered.
Saint Parthenius, bishop of Lampsacus – February 7
Saint Parthenius was known as a wonderworker from his lifetime.
Although uneducated, he put into practice the teachings of the Holy Scripture he heard in church. His acts of charity brought him to the attention of a bishop who forced him to accept the priesthood.
After his ordination, God abundantly poured out His grace on Saint Parthenius, who healed the seriously ill with the sign of the Holy Cross alone. One of his greatest miracles was the resurrection of a man who had died while building a church on the site of a pagan temple.
Saint Parthenius is the patron saint of cancer patients.
Hieromartyr Charalampos – February 10
Saint Charalampos was born at the end of the 1st century and lived to be 113 or 115 years old. He is considered to be the oldest martyr in the synaxaria.
The saint was a Christian priest in Magnesia, Asia Minor, nowadays Turkey, and confessed Christ during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus.
Several miraculous healings were recorded in his life. The blind regained sight, the disabled walked, and the possessed were delivered from the evil spirits.
Before his martyrdom, he prayed for those who would honour his memory and venerate his relics. He asked God to grant them physical health and salvation.
The saint’s honourable head is kept at the monastery of St Stephen at Meteora, and fragments of his relics are spread in many places in Greece and around the world.
Hieromartyr Blaise – February 11
St Blaise lived in the early 4th century, and although he was a bishop, he withdrew into a cave to devote himself to prayer.
He was found by the soldiers of the pagan emperor Licinius, who arrested him. On his way to martyrdom, the sick were cured by the mere presence of the saint. A woman brought him her child, who had choked on a fish bone. The saint healed him and prayed to God to help anyone calling for his help in such situations. This is why Saint Blaise is called in prayer for throat ailments.
The head of St Blaise is kept in the Konstamonitou Monastery in Mount Athos.
St Bessarion the Great – February 20
Disciple of Saints Antony the Great and Macarius the Great, Saint Bessarion is one of the desert fathers of the 4th-5th centuries.
A deep humility defined his life. He wandered for forty years, gave all his possessions to the poor, and was even willing to sell his Gospel to help a poor man.
Many miracles were performed through his intercession. The synaxaria mention that the saint brought rain, sweetened the seawater, made the sun stand still, raised the sick out of their suffering and drove out demons.
Some hagiographic texts call him Saint Bessarion, “the healer of the Egypt desert”.
Read more: 8 holy healers celebrated in January
Bibliography: Sinaxarion, Lives of the Saints, Vol. 6, February, Ed. St. John Cassian, Bucharest, 2015