Venerable Paul the Physician

The Venerable Paul the Physician was born in the city of Corinth. He was tonsured a monk while still a youth, and through tireless labour he acquired great spiritual experience.

Once, at the prompting of a demon raging with envy, a woman slandered the venerable father. She brought a newborn child to the monastery and declared that she had borne it by the monk Paul. The elder endured the slander with humility; he did not justify himself and accepted the infant as his own son. When they began to reproach the saint for breaking his monastic vows, he said: “Brethren, let us ask the child himself who his father is!” The newborn stretched out his hand towards a smith and said: “This is my father, and not the monk Paul!” Those who witnessed the miracle bowed down before the ascetic and asked his forgiveness. From that time on the Venerable Paul received the gift of miraculous healing, which is why he was called the Physician. The saint was over seventy when he died.