MARTYR PAMPHILUS

The Greek name Pamphilus translates as “beloved by all.” It is the origin of the common Russian surname Panfilov, and, as a result, the Panfilov Division’s Twenty-Eight Guardsmen, who heroically died fighting the Nazis in the early months of World War II during the Battle of Moscow. The martyrs of the Resistance bore the name of martyrs of the faith without knowing it. Secular things have theological tectonics, and saints and their names are much closer to us than we think. Saint Pamphilus was a priest in Caesarea of Palestine. He spent his entire life translating, preserving, and editing biblical texts. In late 307 or early 308, he was arrested by pagans, tortured, and imprisoned. On February 16, 310, he was executed. The memory of Pamphilus is celebrated together with the other eleven martyrs, thus creating a symbolic resemblance to the twelve Apostles, or Christ with his eleven disciples before the Passion. When the original church of Saint Sophia was expanded by Emperor Constantius II around 340, the relics of Pamphilus and his disciples were transferred to Constantinople and placed in the basilica.

1 There is a legend in popular piety that once Nicholas the Wonderworker and John Cassian of Rome, saints who historically had nothing in common except that they had nothing in common, found themselves together. In response to a peasant’s request to push a cart stuck in the mud, John refused so as not to soil his abbot’s robes, but Nicholas helped. For this, it is said, the memory of Nicholas is celebrated three times in the Russian tradition, and and in universal Orthodoxy, even every Thursday together with the Apostles, while the memory of Cassian is celebrated only once every four years, on February 29, that is, only in a leap year. Theology adds its own bitter irony to this, claiming that John Cassian was too zealous in his criticism of St. Augustine for his teachings on grace and predestination, which is why he became such a “leap year saint.”

2 Pope Gregory XIII’s calendar reform in 1582 and the refusal of the Russian, Georgian, Serbian, and other Churches to switch to the new calendar led to this legend being refuted by itself. The fact is that the calendars shifted. Now February 16, that is, February 29, if this year is a leap year, falls on the day of remembrance of the great hero of the faith of the Ancient Church, the martyr Pamphilus.

3 However, supporters of “calendar punishment” for saints could find a smart argument here as well. Pamphilus considered himself a disciple of Origen and continued his work; whereas Eusebius of Caesarea not only considered himself a disciple of Pamphilus, but in memory of him, took his name, becoming “Eusebius Pamphilus.” Everything would have been fine, except that Eusebius himself was on the side of the Arian heretics and also idolized Emperor Constantine, considering him a messianic figure. St. Augustine, as we cannot help but recall John Cassian, could not accept such an attitude toward the emperor. He preferred Theodosius the Great to Constantine. Let us recall that Origen was considered a heretic by many in the East. Does this mean that, because his feast day falls on February 29, Pamphilus, like Cassian before him, is also a saint who has been “punished by the calendar”? Of course, this is not the case. If it is a leap year, then the saints’ day on February 29 is “moved” to March 1. But thanks to this tradition, it is easy to remember St. John Cassian and the martyr Pamphilus, so that we may celebrate them. This is God’s unexpected providence, helping us to preserve the memory of the saints.