Saint Patapios is known as a Patron and Healer of those with Cancer and Dropsy (today known as Edema), among other things. In his biography recorded by Saint Andrew of Crete, we are informed of various miracles he worked in his life, and among those were the healing of a man with dropsy and a woman with breast cancer. Below are more details:
1. There was a man in Byzantium who suffered from dropsy, which abnormally distended his abdomen. He had spent all his property on physicians, whom he profited to some degree, but he himself gained no benefit at all. When he saw that he could not be cured by human means, he hastened to the Saint and showed him his pitiful ailment, begging him to show mercy upon him and beseech the Lord on his behalf. When the Saint beheld this forlorn sight, he felt pity; for the symptoms of the ailment were not limited to his abdomen only, but were present throughout his body. His skin was swollen, causing him to suffer indescribably distress. First, the Saint prayed with tears before the Lord; then he made the sign of the Cross over the abdomen and anointed him with oil from a lamp, saying, "May the Lord Christ, Who cured the victim of dropsy, also cure you today, for He is merciful." As he said this, the bonds of the fluids in the sufferer's abdomen were loosed. All the unclean water passed through by natural process, and the sick one was cured in an instant, to the awe and astonishment of the onlookers.
2. A certain woman was afflicted by a painful and hideous sickness: breast cancer, which also produced worms which fed on her flesh. She experienced profound pains, not only in the chest area but also throughout her body. Her interminable suffering and anguish reached her heart, putting her close to death. Perceiving that the physicians were consuming her substance to no avail, while the worms continued to devour her flesh, she appealed to the great Patapios. She fell at his feet and mourned pitifully, "O servant of God, heal me, the unfortunate one! Have mercy on me, the forlorn one! Even before my grave, the worms consume me and inflict such pain on me that I yearn for that which is undesirable for all - dreadful death." The Saint replied, "If you have pure faith in the Lord and do not doubt that you can be cured, then in accordance with your faith, let it be done." Then she sighed from the depths and said, "I believe, O Lord, that just as You know all hidden and unknown things clearly, so You are omnipotent in divine grace. Therefore, as You are merciful, cure my ills." Then the Saint asked her to show him her malady. When he beheld her affliction, he remarked, "Dreadful is you illness and difficult to cure, but faith more than conquers, and hope bears fruit in the cure. Go, therefore, in peace, and you shall suffer these pangs no longer." As he said these things, the woman was healed, and she left rejoicing and glorifying God, declaring the miracle everywhere and praising the Saint before all.
