Pancratius of Taormina is venerated as the first bishop of Taormina in Sicily and one of the apostolic missionaries who, by tradition, carried the Gospel to the island in the first century. According to the synaxarion he was born during the earthly lifetime of Christ to parents native to Antioch, and he became personally acquainted with the Apostle Peter, who later sent and ordained him to the episcopate. He is honored as a hieromartyr, having been stoned to death by pagans at the end of his ministry. The Church commemorates him on July 9 and again on February 9.
The tradition relates that Pancratius's father brought him as a boy to Jerusalem to see Jesus, and that the family, witnessing Christ's miracles and teaching, drew close to the disciples of the Lord, especially the Apostle Peter. After his parents died, Pancratius renounced the possessions he had inherited and withdrew to Pontus, where he lived in a cave in prayer and contemplation. The Apostle Peter, passing through that region, visited him there and took him first to Antioch and then to Sicily, where the Apostle Paul was also present.
In Sicily the Apostles Peter and Paul together consecrated Pancratius bishop of Taormina. The account stresses the speed and success of his mission: in the span of a single month he built a church and celebrated the divine services in it, and the number of believers grew so quickly that almost all the people of Taormina and the surrounding cities accepted the Christian faith. After a period of peaceful governance of his flock, pagan opponents conspired against him, fell upon him, and stoned him to death, so that he ended his life as a martyr.
Pancratius of Taormina is to be distinguished from the younger Martyr Pancratius of Rome, who suffered under Diocletian. His relics are recorded by the tradition as being kept in a church bearing his name in Rome. He is also commemorated on February 9 together with the bishop-martyrs Marcellus of Sicily and Philagrius of Cyprus, who are likewise counted among the apostolic missionaries sent to evangelize the western Mediterranean.
