Panaretos

Panaretos was Metropolitan of Paphos in Cyprus and is canonized as a saint of Cyprus. He was born around 1710 at Peristeronopigi near Famagusta, in hard times under Turkish rule. His parents, pious and well off for that time, taught him his first letters; then he attended the Greek school in Nicosia and settled at the half-⁠ruined Monastery of St Anastasios in his village.

He was ordained and for many years was abbot of the Monastery of the Mother of God in Pallouriotissa, at Nicosia. At that time a Turkish rebel, Halil, with two thousand men, wanted to occupy Nicosia and seized the surrounding villages; at Kythrea they broke the church doors and trampled the Holy Lamb. Panaretos, at risk of his life, was an angel of comfort to the suffering and a defender of the persecuted. For this the clergy and people elected him in 1767 Metropolitan of Paphos.

He shepherded his flock sacrificially. He forgave those who admitted their faults and was strict, as needed, with the incorrigible. It is told that a lying, fraudulent priest, rebuked three times, became mute after the bishop told him to be silent; then he fell ill, repented by signs, and the bishop forgave him and loosed his tongue, and the priest died in peace. Panaretos always prepared for the hour of death and knew his end beforehand. Shortly before his repose he told his chancellor that his friend was coming, the former Bishop Parthenios of Karpathos, to hear his confession; he was found at the shore, on a ship driven by wind toward Paphos. He confessed him, celebrated the Liturgy the next day and communed him, then stayed also for the funeral service. The saint's relics were fragrant and cured many of the sick.