The life of St Parthenius of Lampsacus
As a young man he supported himself by fishing, giving away his earnings to those who had less, and from eighteen he began, by the power he attributed to Christ alone, to heal the sick and free those tormented by unclean spirits. Word of this reached Bishop Philetus of Melitopolis, who took the young man under his own instruction and in time ordained him priest. In 325, the same year the wider Church gathered at Nicaea, Archbishop Achilles of Cyzicus raised him to the episcopal see of Lampsacus, a city still largely given over to the old gods, where Parthenius set himself to preaching and healing until the pagan temple there was pulled down and a church built in its place.
One story remembered of him tells of a spirit that begged not to be cast out of the man it had seized; Parthenius answered that he would give it another dwelling instead, and when the spirit asked whom, the saint offered himself, and the spirit fled rather than enter so holy a house.
He is honored today, among other things, as a particular intercessor for those suffering from cancer.
