Lives of the Saints
1. THE HOLY GREAT MARTYR PANTELEIMON
Panteleimon was from Nicomedia, born of a Christian mother and a pagan father. His mother was called Eubula and his father Eustorgius. As a young man he studied the medical sciences. The priest Hermolaus summoned him to himself, taught him the faith of Christ, and baptized him. Panteleimon miraculously healed a certain blind man whom other physicians had treated in vain; he healed him by the name of Christ, and baptized him. Out of envy, the physicians denounced Panteleimon as a Christian, and Panteleimon appeared before Emperor Maximian for trial. "And he stood before the earthly emperor in body, but in mind he stood before the Heavenly King." Before the emperor he freely declared himself a Christian, and before the emperor's very eyes healed a certain paralyzed man of a long-lasting illness. This miracle drew many pagans to the faith of Christ. The emperor subjected him to torments, but the Lord appeared to him several times and delivered him whole and unharmed. Then also St. Hermolaus, together with Hermippus and Hermocrates, suffered. Condemned to death, St. Panteleimon knelt in prayer. At that moment the executioner struck him with the sword upon the neck, and the sword bent as though it were of wax. And the executioner could not slay him until the saint finished his prayer and himself said that they should behead him. His relics became a source of healing. Panteleimon was beheaded beneath an olive tree, which afterward became laden with fruit. Panteleimon means "all-merciful." The all-merciful God received his righteous soul and glorified him among His great saints. This wondrous martyr suffered honorably for Christ in his youth on July 27 in the year 304. St. Panteleimon is invoked in prayers at the blessing of waters and at the anointing of the sick, together with St. Hermolaus and the other Unmercenaries and wonderworkers. The most glorious church dedicated to this saint is found on the Holy Mountain.
2. ST. CLEMENT, ARCHBISHOP OF OHRID
Clement was a disciple of Sts. Methodius and Cyril. After the death of St. Methodius, Clement, under pressure from the Germans, departed from Moravia southward. With Gorazd, Naum, Sava, and Angelarius -- all together called the Five Companions -- he crossed the Danube, was received as a guest by Tsar Boris Michael, and then came to the region of Ohrid. He first founded a monastery in Belitsa, where he had his first episcopal see. Later he moved to Ohrid, whence he developed a great archpastoral and educational activity for all the surrounding area, near and far. In Ohrid St. Clement built a church to St. Panteleimon. He had many disciples who copied books in Slavonic letters for the Slavonic people. In this activity St. Naum especially aided him. He worked miracles during his lifetime, just as his relics manifest healing power to this very day. After great labor and faithful service to God, he reposed peacefully in Ohrid in the year 916. His wonderworking relics rest in the former Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, which was later named after St. Clement.
3. THE BLESSED NICHOLAS, FOOL FOR CHRIST OF NOVGOROD
Nicholas was the son of wealthy parents. He abandoned his riches and as a fool for Christ ran through the streets, and through his foolishness taught the people. His companion in the same ascetic feat was the Blessed Theodore. Once, running before the people, they both crossed the river upon the surface of the water. He reposed in the Lord in the year 1392.
4. THE VENERABLE ANTHUSA
After a long ascetic feat of solitary life, Anthusa founded a monastery of ninety sisters. During the time of iconoclasm under Constantine Copronymus, all ninety nuns were slain, and the Venerable Anthusa herself then also died in the year 759.
5. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE MARTYRS, DROWNED IN THE SEA IN THRACE
“He stood before the earthly emperor in body, but in mind he stood before the Heavenly King.”
Hymn of Praise
The Five Companions, pleasing unto God,
Worthy bearers of the Gospel's honey,
Throughout the wide white world they carried the faith,
Until they came to rest beside the blue lake.
With even greater toil from thence to labor,
To sweeten man's bitter life with the Lord.
Clement the hierarch, a true servant of God,
Who endured many torments and reproaches,
For Ohrid he became the banner of Christ,
With him holy Naum, Angelarius and Sava,
And the blessed Gorazd -- the Five Companions,
All men of God, God's faithful laborers.
A thousand years in heaven they have lived,
A thousand years the people have marveled at them.
They spared not their toil, they baptized the nations,
With glory they were crowned, for they loved God.
Ohrid preserves the glory of the Five Companions,
For all Slavdom they are both pride and splendor.
Reflection
If thou givest alms to the poor, know that however much good thou doest thereby to thy neighbor, thou doest as much to thyself, and even more to thyself. St. Anthony says: "From our neighbor come both life and death." And St. Peter of Damascus writes: "Just as the poor should thank God and love the rich who do them good, so also, and even much more, the rich should thank God and love the poor, because the rich are saved by the Providence of God, both in this age and in the age to come, on account of their almsgiving. For without the poor, the rich not only cannot obtain the salvation of their souls, but cannot even escape the temptations that come from wealth." Alms given out of vanity, or with contempt, profit nothing. In earlier times the wealthy would carry gold to the desert-dwellers and implore them to accept it. It rarely happened that the desert-dwellers gladly accepted alms; even when they did accept them, they accepted them out of compassion for the rich. The poorest of men accepted alms out of compassion!
“The poorest of men accepted alms out of compassion for the rich!”
Contemplation
Contemplate the miraculous deliverance of Israel from Sisera and his forces (Judges 4), namely:
1. How the Lord had compassion on the cries of the enslaved Israelites and granted them victory over Sisera;
2. How the prophetess Deborah sent a small force to Mount Tabor against Sisera, who had nine hundred chariots of iron and a vast army;
3. How the forces of Sisera were shattered, and Sisera perished.
Homily
on on the Prophesied Scoffers of Holy Things
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts (II Peter 3:3)
Does a mirror change and warp when a scoffer stands before it laughing and mocking the mirror? No, the mirror does not change and does not warp, but remains as it was. Neither does God, brethren, change or warp when scoffers laugh at Him and mock Him. The unchangeable and most pure God knows that the scoffer mocks only himself. By his mockery of God's holy things, the scoffer warps himself and makes himself a monstrosity. But the holiness of God stands untouched.
O how already in our time, in our days, many scoffers have arrived! Many, very many -- yet their multitude is more powerless than the One Alone. What is a multitude of dust before a strong wind? One need only wait, armed with patience, until the strong wind blows.
Many, very many scoffers have arrived who mock the Word of God. They offer their own words in place of God's, unholy in place of holy, putrid in place of wholesome, death-bearing in place of life-giving. But the Word of God is as a mighty wind, and their words are as dust.
Scoffers have arrived, many, very many, who mock the works of God, and still more shall come. They praise their own works above the works of God, and claim that the works of their hands are better and more rational than the works of God. Their works are theft; for all the good they have built, they have built from God's material and after the pattern of God's structures; and all the evil they have built, they have built from the devil's material and after the pattern of the devil's structures. With what, then, does the dust boast? With what shall the scoffers boast tomorrow, when wild donkeys trample with their hooves upon their graves?
O most pure Lord, holy are Thy words and mighty as a strong wind, and holy are Thy works, and there is neither number nor measure to them. O most pure Lord, save our tongue from mockery, and save our life from scoffers. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“Does a mirror change when a scoffer stands before it laughing? Neither does God change when scoffers mock Him.”