Свети Пантелеймон в старобългарската традиция
St. Panteleimon in the Old Bulgarian Tradition

Summary/Abstract: The veneration of St. Panteleimon, one of the most distinguished healer-saints in Christianity, began immediately after his martyr's death in 306. The large number of written monuments dedicated to him (hymns, panegyrics, epigrams, etc.) were made by the higher aristocracy and the spiritual elite in Byzantium or with funds provided by them. The purpose of the present study is to elucidate when and in what way did the cultus of the saint-unmercenary penetrate in Bulgaria and what traces did it leave in the different strata of Bulgarian material and spiritual culture. The conclusion is made that St. Clement of Ohrid (Ochrida) had a decisive role in the confirmation of the cultus of St. Panteleimon after the disciples of SS Cyril and Methodius came to Bulgaria around 886. This role for the confirmation of the cultus within the then broad borders of Bulgaria is attested to by a number of facts: for instance, the building of a monastery dedicated to the saint in the Patleina locality near Preslav and of another one also dedicated to him in the city of Ohrid (called "Stari Sveti Kliment"), where St. Clement "prepared his own grave himself", the simultaneous glorification of SS Panteleimon and Clement on July 27 reflected in an early written monument - the Assemani Gospel (the end of the 10th century). Together with the iconography the article mentions the folklore additions to the image of the healer-saint, who combined the power of fire and the purifying force of water in a kind of Christian transformation of remnants from the pagan heritage.

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