Hierarch Parthenios, bishop of Lampsacus, was a native of the town of Melitopolis (Asia Minor), where his father, Christodulus, served as a deacon. Parthenius was not taught letters, but he assimilated Divine Scripture well, being present in church at the divine services. He had a good heart, and, engaging in fishing, he distributed the money he earned to the poor.
Filled with God's grace, from the age of eighteen, Parthenios healed illnesses, expelled demons and worked other miracles through Christ's name.
Having learned of the Parthenios' virtuous life, the bishop of Melitopolis, Philip, gave him an education and ordained him a presbyter. In 325, during the reign of Constantine the Great, the archbishop of Cyzicus, Ascholios (Achilles), installed Parthenios as bishop of the town of Lampsacus (Asia Minor). He converted his episcopal town to the Christian faith.
Parthenios went to the Emperor Constantine asking to be given authority to demolish the temples of the idols and build Christian churches in their place. The Emperor received Parthenios with honor, gave him a document for the destruction of the temples, and provided him with means for the construction of a church. Upon returning to Lampsacus, Parthenios ordered that the temples of the idols be demolished and that a beautiful church of God be raised up in the middle of the town.
Finding at one of the destroyed temples a large stone suitable for constructing the holy altar in the church, Parthenios ordered that the stone be dressed and brought to the church's building site. Through the malice of the devil, who had become enraged over the taking of the stone from the temple, the conveyance overturned and the stone killed the driver, Eutychian; but, Parthenios resurrected him through prayer and put the devil to shame.
Parthenios' mercy was so great that he did not refuse healing to any of the multitude of people suffering from bodily ailments and possessed by unclean spirits that came to him or were encountered by him on the roads. The people stopped turning to physicians, since Parthenios healed all illnesses in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ without remuneration. By the great power of Christ's name, Parthenios expelled a multitude of demons from people, houses, and the waters of the sea. When Parthenios expelled a demon from a man who had been possessed by it from childhood, the unclean spirit began to ask Parthenios to give him another place of habitation. Parthenios promised to indicate such a place and, having opened his mouth, said to the demon: "Enter and inhabit me." The devil, as if singed by fire, cried out: "How shall I enter into God's house?" and hid himself in deserted and impassable places. An unclean spirit, expelled by Parthenios from a home where royal purples were manufactured, shouted in the hearing of everyone that the divine fire was driving him into the fiery Gehenna.
Thus, manifesting to men the great power of faith in Christ, Parthenios converted a multitude of idolators to the true God.
Parthenius departed peacefully and was triumphantly buried next to the cathedral church of Lampsacus, in a chapel built by him himself.
PRAYER:
O God, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Parthenios., to be a bishop and pastor in thy Church and to feed thy flock: Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of thy Holy Spirit, that they may minister in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
SOURCE: Mission Clare
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